I.B. Tauris Handbook of Authoritarianism in the Arab World

Dana El Kurd is Associate Professor at the University of Richmond, US, and a Senior Non-Resident Fellow at the Arab Center in Washington, US. She is author of Polarized and Demobilized: Legacies of Authoritarianism in Palestine (2020). El Kurd is an expert on Arab and Palestinian politics, and regularly writes for outlets such as The Guardian, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, and more, as well as appears on media such as the BBC, Aljazeera, and others.

At a moment when the majority of people across the globe are living in nondemocratic systems, this book asks an urgent question: what can the Arab world teach us about authoritarianism? Spanning the many faces of authoritarianism, it offers an impressive collection of rigorous comparative analyses by a truly diverse set of contributors, many with lived experience in the region. Essential reading for anyone trying to understand not just the Arab world, but why authoritarianism keeps winning, and what it takes to resist it.

• List of ContributorsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction to the Handbook, Dana El KurdSection 1: Strategies, Practices, and Institutions The International Dimension of “Arab Authoritarianism, Benjamin Schuetze, Elia El-Khazen, Charlotte Mueller, and Philipp Wagner Authoritarian Entanglements with Settler Colonialism: Exploring Dynamics of Moroccan-Israeli Normalization and the Palestine–Western Sahara Connection, Abdulla Moaswes and Meriem Naïli Rule and Networks in the Middle East and North Africa, Ammar Shamaileh The Dynamics of Kuwait’s Hybrid Political System Luai Allarakia Post-2003 Iraq: Between Authoritarian Practices and Democratizing Tendencies Fanar Haddad Youth and the Reinvention of State-Managed Politics in Sisi’s Egypt Hesham Sallam Egypt’s Repressive Apparatus in the Age of Counterrevolution Hossam El-HamalawySection 2: International, Transnational, and Transregional TrendsTwo-tiered Digital Authoritarianism: Archiving the Gaza Genocide on Instagram Alexei Abrahams The Regional Politics of Authoritarian Resilience in the Arab WorldSalam Alsaadi The U.S. Security Approach to Gulf Monarchies Alexandra Stark China’s Role in the Middle East: Authoritarian Practices and Their Transregional Diffusion Julia Gulor-Haller Actually Existing Multipolarity Elia AyoubSection 3: Political Economy of Authoritarianism National Transformation Schemes: Saudi Arabia and Vision 2030 Andrew LeberThe Facade of Sustainability: Neoliberal Authoritarianism in Renewable Energy Development Projects in the SWANA Region Khaoula Bengezi Taxation in Arab States Moritz Schmoll Informal Authoritarian Bargains Max Gallien Arab Youth: Education, Employment, and Political Participation Rawan Nuseibeh Global Actors, Local Autocrats: Unveiling the Resilience of Arab Authoritarianism Evrim GörmüsSection 4: Identity Gendered Disinformation and Authoritarianism in the Middle East and North Africa Anwar MhajneAuthoritarian Co-optation of Religious Minorities: The Case of Christians in Egypt and Syria Miray Phillips Race, Xenophobia, and Populist Authoritarianism: The Case of Violence Against Sub-Saharan Migrants in Kais Saied’s Tunisia Shreya Parikh Section 5: Ideology Authoritarian Populism in the Arab World: From Nasser to Saied Abdelkarim Amengay Utilization of Tolerance, Coexistence, and Moderate Islam in Emirati National Identity and UAE Foreign Policy Hamdullah Baycar State of "Assad's Syria": The Uniqueness of the Model Between Past and Present Yassin al-Haj SalehSection 6: Resistance Protest Dynamics and Authoritarian Repression in the Arab World: What Do We Know a Decade After the Arab Spring? Amir Abdul Reda and Youssef Assarssah Feeling Revolution: Affect and the Afterlives of the Arab Uprisings Yasmeen Mekawy Political Mobilization in Arab Countries: Grievances, Efficacy, and Identity Miquel Pellicer and Tareq Sydiq Gender, Oppression, and Women's Resistance in Occupied Western Sahara Joanna Allan