Socioeconomic Protests In Mena And Latin America

This edited volume presents a detailed account of the dynamics of socioeconomic contention in Egypt and Tunisia since 2011. Combining quantitative and qualitative methods, it analyses what has happened to the socioeconomic grievances that played a key role in the mass mobilizations of 2010 and 2011. The book is based on an original data set of socioeconomic protests in the two countries and on in-depth case studies that cover the two most important types of socioeconomic contention: labor protests and protests by socioeconomically disadvantaged people outside the formal economy. Drawing on a systematic review of comparative research on Latin America, the authors argue that the dynamics of socioeconomic contention in contemporary Egypt and Tunisia reflect a deep-seated crisis of popular sector incorporation. This work promises to enrich the scholarly and the political debates on Egypt and Tunisia, the MENA region and on contentious politics in times of political change. Chapter 10 of this book is available open access under a CC BY 4.0 license at link.springer.com.

In the tumultuous aftermath of the Arab uprisings, Tunisia charted a unique path that has earned it praise as ‘a beacon of hope’ in a troubled region. Since the 2011 revolution, it has embraced a new culture of democracy, based on pluralism, civilian rule and the peaceful transfer of power. Equally noteworthy are the country’s burgeoning civil society, its various institutional reforms and its progressive new constitution, which upholds individual freedoms and champions women’s rights. But in spite of these achievements, daunting challenges remain. Although Tunisia has succeeded in defusing many crises, its transition has been uneasy; its democracy is fragile and its future continues to be uncertain. As the country emerges from decades of authoritarian rule, it faces enormous political, social, economic and security challenges, which are undermining its peaceful evolution. It is this state of fragility that A Fledgling Democracyseeks to capture. Focusing on the socio-political dynamics that have unfolded in this North African nation since the revolution, the contributors to this volume shed light on how Tunisia has navigated its first decade of democratic transition, and reflect on what the ongoing changes and challenges mean for the country today.

This book examines the connection between affects, mobilisation, and political transformation. Offering unique insights into the affective and emotional dynamics of occupied Tahrir and Taksim Squares, this book builds a novel understanding of urban mass protests and their capacity to “travel” across time and space. Its Midān Moment concept breaks new ground in affect and emotion studies with a focus on political transformation in Egypt and Turkey. It is based on empirically grounded research which covers the 2011 and 2013 uprisings and their authoritarian aftermath. This book will appeal to scholars and students interested in affect and emotion studies in a range of disciplinary areas, including political science, sociology, anthropology, area studies, cultural studies, gender studies, and postcolonial studies.

This book focusses on the interaction between different kinds of violence and radicalization. Current research criticizes linear models of radicalization and assumes that individuals are involved in radical actions even without extremist preferences. In recent years, the research on radicalization and the use of violence has increasingly been focused on this phenomenon of individual radicalization. However, radicalization is a manifold phenomenon on various levels and exists in miscellaneous variations. The book provides an impetus for analysing social situations that contain the potential for the emergence of conflict. This is done through new outlooks on the role of emotions, the influence of narratives and representations, the connection between (non)violence and emancipation and, lastly, new approaches and perspectives on deradicalization.

This handbook explores the political economy and governance of the Americas, placing particular emphasis on collective and intertwined experiences. Forty-six chapters cover a range of Inter-American key concepts and dynamics. The flow of peoples, goods, resources, knowledge and finances have on the one hand promoted interdependence and integration that cut across borders and link the countries of North and South America (including the Caribbean) together. On the other hand, they have contributed to profound asymmetries between different places. The nature of this transversally related and multiply interconnected hemispheric region can only be captured through a transnational, multidisciplinary and comprehensive approach. This handbook examines the direct and indirect political interventions, geopolitical imaginaries, inequalities, interlinked economic developments and the forms of appropriation of the vast natural resources in the Americas. Expert contributors give a comprehensive overview of the theories, practices and geographies that have shaped the economic dynamics of the region and their impact on both the political and natural landscape. This multidisciplinary approach will be of interest to a broad array of academic scholars and students in history, sociology, geography, economics and political science, as well as cultural, postcolonial, environmental and globalization studies.

Offers Fresh Insight into Crucial Debates over the Causes of Diverging and Converging Political Trajectories in the Region This coauthored monograph examines how business groups have interacted with state authorities in the three central Andean countries from the mid-twentieth century through the early twenty-first. This time span covers three distinct economic regimes: the period of state-led import substitutive industrialization from the 1950s through the 1970s, the neoliberalism of the 1980s and 1990s, and the post-neoliberal period since the earlier 2000s. These three countries share many similarities but also have important differences that reveal how power is manifested. Peru has had an almost unbroken hegemony of business elites who leverage their power over areas of state activity that affect them. Bolivia, by contrast, shows how strong social movements have challenged business dominance at crucial periods, reflecting a weaker elite class that is less able to exercise influence over decision-making. Ecuador falls in between these two, with business elites being more fragmented than in Peru and social movements being weaker than in Bolivia. The authors analyze the viability of these different regimes and economic models, why they change in specific circumstances, and how they affect the state and its citizen

This Element argues that the low dynamism of low- to mid-income Arab economies is explained with a set of inter-connected factors constituting a 'segmented market economy'. These include an over-committed and interventionist state with limited fiscal and institutional resources; deep insider-outsider divides among firms and workers that result from and reinforce wide-ranging state intervention; and an equilibrium of low skills and low productivity that results from and reinforces insider-outsider divides. These mutually reinforcing features undermine encompassing cooperation between state, business and labor. While some of these features are generic to developing countries, others are regionally specific, including the relative importance and historical ambition of the state in the economy and, closely related, the relative size and rigidity of the insider coalitions created through government intervention. Insiders and outsiders exist everywhere, but the divisions are particularly stark, immovable and consequential in the Arab world.

Investigating key features of contemporary Egypt, this volume includes Egypt’s modern history, politics, economics, the legal system, environment, and its media and modes of cultural expression. It examines Egypt’s capacities to meet developmental challenges, ranging from responding to globalization and regional competition to generating sufficient economic growth and political inclusion to accommodate the interests and demands of a rapidly growing population. The macrohistory of Egypt is complemented by the microhistories of specific institutions and processes that constitute separate sections in this handbook. The chapters revolve around political economy: it is shaped by the people and their abilities, political and legal institutions, organization of the economy, natural and built environments, and culture and communication. Politics has been overwhelmingly authoritarian and coercive since the military seized power in 1952; consequently, the contributions address both the causes and consequences of unbalanced civil–military relations, military rule, and persisting authoritarianism in the political society. This multidisciplinary handbook serves a dual purpose of introducing readers to Egypt’s history and contemporary political economy and as a comprehensive key resource for postgraduate students and academics interested in modern Egypt.