The Arab Winter

The Arab Spring promised to end dictatorship and bring self-government to people across the Middle East. Yet everywhere except Tunisia it led to either renewed dictatorship, civil war, extremist terror, or all three. In The Arab Winter, Noah Feldman argues that the Arab Spring was nevertheless not an unmitigated failure, much less an inevitable one. Rather, it was a noble, tragic series of events in which, for the first time in recent Middle Eastern history, Arabic-speaking peoples took free, collective political action as they sought to achieve self-determination.

Compares experiences of the Arab Spring for a comprehensive account of how nations handled the challenge of democratic consolidation.

The world watched as the bud of the Arab Spring was buried under the cold darkness of the Libyan Winter.

The world is watching with uncertainity as the "Arab Spring" unfolds. Optimistically named by international media sources, the term "Arab Spring" associates the unrest with ideas of renewal, revival, and democratic thought and deed. Many hoped the overthrow of authoritarian leaders signaled a promising new beginning for the Arab world. Raphael Israeli argues that instead of paving a path toward liberal democracy, the Arab Spring in fact launched a power struggle. Judging from the experiences of countries where the dust is settling--including Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, and perhaps also Syria and Libya--it appears that Islamic governments will fill the vacuum in leadership. The hopes that swept the Islamic world with the Arab Spring have given way to a winter of lost hopes and aspirations, as it becomes increasingly clear that democratic outcomes are not on the horizon. What is worse is that the West seems to have abandoned its hopes for democracy and freedom in the region, instead making peace with the idea that Islamic governments must be accepted as the lesser of evil options. Presenting a clear-eyed picture of the situation, Israeli examines thematic problems that cut across all the Muslim states experiencing unrest. He groups the countries into various blocs according to their shared characteristics, then discusses these groups one by one. For each country, he considers whether the liberal-democratic option is viable and examines what kind of regime could be considered legitimate and stable. This volume offers valuable insights for political scientists, Middle Eastern specialists, and the general informed public eager to comprehend the import of these momentous events.

Overlooked by our media, purposely obscured by our own government, and unnoticed by the vast majority of Americans, the turmoil of the Islamic world’s “Arab Spring” has become an “Arab Winter,” bringing new threats of terror to America. New York Times bestselling author Robert Spencer, an expert on Islam and terrorism, reveals why America is shockingly unequipped to face this threat. InArab Winter Comes to America: The Truth about the War We’re In, you’ll learn why the Obama administration has opted to appease rather than confront Islamic extremists in the United States; how Muslim organizations are pressuring witnesses to terror crimes not to cooperate with authorities; why the Justice Department has buried select news stories; and much, much more. The “Arab Spring” uncorked a jihadist genie in North Africa and the Middle East. It is about to wreak its mayhem here, with renewed terrorism. Americans need to inform themselves of the threat—and ensure that their elected government in Washington takes action. Robert Spencer’s Arab Winter Comes to America sounds the alarm and shows what needs to be done. It is essential reading.

The monarchical presidential regimes that prevailed in the Arab world for so long looked as though they would last indefinitely, until events in Tunisia and Egypt made clear their time was up. This book exposes for the first time the origins and dynamics of a governmental system that largely defined the Arab Middle East in the 20th century.

In times of crisis, how do people conceptualise and communicate their experiences through different forms and channels? How can original research in cognitive linguistics, discourse analysis and crisis studies advance our understanding of the ways in which we interact with and communicate about crisis events? In answering these questions, this volume examines the unique functions, features and applications of the metaphors and frames that emerge from and give shape to crisis-related discourses. The chapters in this volume present original concepts, approaches, authentic data and findings of crisis discourses in a wide range of organisational, political and personal contexts that affect a diverse body of language users and communities. This book will appeal to a broad readership in linguistics, sociological studies, cognitive sciences, crisis studies as well as language and communication researchers and practitioners.

Drawing on approaches from critical discourse analysis, corpus linguistics, and cognitive linguistics, this book critically examines metaphorical language used in global media coverage and political statements on the events of the Arab Spring. The volume begins by summarising key events of the Arab Spring, tracing the development of protests from Tunisia and Egypt to Libya and Syria as well as the wider impact on the region. Ullmann builds on this foundation to lay out the theoretical frameworks to be applied to an extensive corpus of natural language and actual discourse highlighting Western, Middle Eastern, and North African perspectives which integrate theoretical work on metaphor, blending theory, and semantic prosodies. Methodological considerations on corpus selection and different conceptualisations of politics and mass media, generally and across countries, are discussed, with the final chapters outlining the overarching themes across metaphors in the corpus and how these metaphors were ultimately framed in the mass media and political landscape. This book will be of particular interest to students and scholars interested in critical discourse analysis, language and politics, and corpus linguistics.