In light of the so-called Arab Spring of 2011, this collection of eleven essays analyzes rapidly changing aspects of Arab society in countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea in North Africa and Southwest Asia. Organized into two major sections, the first five essays examine major dimensions of change, while the remaining chapters explore the consequences of these changes and offer policy suggestions. They consider the changing role of women, the Internet's influence on Arab expression, Islamic revival and democracy in Tunisia and Egypt, modern commerce and social entrepreneurship, demographics and economics, US Polices toward North Africa, interfaith relations, trans-Atlantic considerations, and supporting civil society endeavors. The contributors include employees of the World Bank and American and European academics with backgrounds in international relations and social science. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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For every pithy conceptualization of complex events, there are additional lenses through which to examine them. One of the several virtues of this book is precisely that it brings different perspectives to bear on the complexity, diversity, and uncertainty of recent and current events in the Arab world. The thirteen authors concentrate on the critical social forces shaping the region—demography, religion, gender, telecommunication connectivity, and economic structures—and they are painstakingly analyzed and evaluated.—from the foreword by Strobe Talbott, president of the Brookings InstitutionThe Arab Spring will be remembered as a period of great change for the Arab states of North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean. Facing fundamental transitions in governance, these countries are also undergoing profound social, cultural, and religious changes. The European Union and the United States, caught unprepared by the uprisings, now must address the inescapable challenges of those changes. How will the West respond to these new realities, particularly in light of international economic uncertainty, EU ambivalence toward a "cohesive foreign policy," and declining U.S. influence abroad? Arab Society in Revolt explains and interprets the societal transformations occurring in the Arab Muslim world, their ramifications for the West, and possible policy options for dealing with this new world.Arab Society in Revolt examines areas of change particularly relevant in the southern Mediterranean: demography and migration, Islamic revival and democracy, rapidly changing roles of women in Arab society, the Internet in Arab societies, commercial and social entrepreneurship as change factors, and the economics of Arab transitions. The book then looks at those cultural and religious as well as political and economic factors that have influenced the Western response, or lack of it, to the Arab Spring as well as the policy options that remain open.
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