Arab Spring: Negotiating in the Shadow of the Intifadat (Studies in Security and International Affairs): 9 - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0820348252 ISBN 13: 9780820348254

Publisher: University of Georgia Press, 2015

Synopsis

Beginning in January 2011, the Arab world exploded in a vibrant demand for dignity, liberty, and achievable purpose in life, rising up against an image and tradition of arrogant, corrupt, unresponsive authoritarian rule. These previously unpublished, country-specific case studies of the uprisings and their still unfolding political aftermaths identify patterns and courses of negotiation and explain why and how they occur. The contributors argue that in uprisings like the Arab Spring negotiation is “not just a ‘nice’ practice or a diplomatic exercise.” Rather, it is a “dynamically multilevel” process involving individuals, groups, and states with continually shifting priorities—and with the prospect of violence always near. From that perspective, the essayists analyze a range of issues and events—including civil disobedience and strikes, mass demonstrations and nonviolent protest, and peaceful negotiation and armed rebellion—and contextualize their findings within previous struggles, both within and outside the Middle East. The Arab countries discussed include Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen. The Arab Spring uprisings are discussed in the context of rebellions in countries like South Africa and Serbia, while the Libyan uprising is also viewed in terms of the negotiations it provoked within NATO. Collectively, the essays analyze the challenges of uprisers and emerging governments in building a new state on the ruins of a liberated state; the negotiations that lead either to sustainable democracy or sectarian violence; and coalition building between former political and military adversaries. Contributors: Samir Aita (Monde Diplomatique), Alice Alunni (Durham University), Marc Anstey* (Nelson Mandela University), Abdelwahab ben Hafaiedh (MERC), Maarten Danckaert (European-Bahraini Organization for Human Rights), Heba Ezzat (Cairo University), Amy Hamblin (SAIS), Abdullah Hamidaddin (King’s College), Fen Hampson* (Carleton University), Roel Meijer (Clingendael), Karim Mezran (Atlantic Council), Bessma Momani (Waterloo University), Samiraital Pres (Cercle des Economistes Arabes), Aly el Raggal (Cairo University), Hugh Roberts (ICG/Tufts University), Johannes Theiss (Collège d’Europe), Siniša Vukovic (Leiden University), I. William Zartman* (SAIS-JHU). [* Indicates group members of the Processes of International, Negotiation (PIN) Program at Clingendael, Netherland]

About this title

About the Author

I. WILLIAM ZARTMAN is Jacob Blaustein Professor Emeritus of International Organizations and Conflict Resolution at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, and former president of the Middle East Studies Associations and of the American Institute for Maghrib Studies. Zartman has written, edited, or coedited some twenty books, including Understanding Life in the Borderlands: Boundaries in Depth and in Motion (Georgia).

From the Back Cover

The contributors argue that in uprisings like the Arab Spring, negotiation is not just a nice practice or a diplomatic exercise. Rather, it is a dynamically multilevel process involving individuals, groups, and states with continually shifting priorities and with the prospect of violence always near. From that perspective, the essayists analyze a range of issues and events including civil disobedience and strikes, mass demonstrations and nonviolent protest, and peaceful negotiation and armed rebellion and contextualize their findings within previous struggles, both within and outside the Middle East. The Arab countries discussed include Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen. The Arab Spring uprisings are discussed in the context of rebellions in countries like South Africa and Serbia, while the Libyan uprising is also viewed in terms of the negotiations it provoked within NATO.

Collectively, the essays analyze the challenges of uprisers and emerging governments in building a New Order on the ruins of a liberated state; the negotiations that lead either to sustainable democracy or sectarian violence; and coalition building between former political and military adversaries.

Zartman s collection is the work of a grand master at his best. I doubt that anyone else has the intellectual preparation and scope to undertake such a book as this one.

Allen Keiswetter, Middle East Institute scholar and former deputy assistant secretary of state

I. WILLIAM ZARTMAN is Jacob Blaustein Professor Emeritus of International Organizations and Conflict Resolution at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, and former president of the Middle East Studies Association and of the American Institute for Maghrib Studies. Zartman has written, edited, or coedited some twenty books, includingMorocco: Problems of New Power and Understanding Life in the Borderlands: Boundaries in Depth and in Motion (Georgia).

Cover design: Erin Kirk New

Cover photo:

Author photo: Dupont Photographers

Studies in Security and International Affairs

The University of Georgia Press

Athens, Georgia 30602

www.ugapress.org

ISBN 978-0-8203-4825-4 (paper)

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Georgia Press
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0820348252
• ISBN 13: 9780820348254
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 496
• Editor: Zartman I. William