Arab Uprisings One Year Later
National University of Singapore, 24-25 May, 2012
On December 17, 2010 the dramatic self-immolation of a frustrated Tunisian, Mohammed Bouazizi, set in motion a series of uprisings that radically altered the political, economic, and social landscapes of the Middle East and North Africa. This “Arab Awakening” spread with an intensity and import few could have predicted, resulting in the overthrow of some long-standing autocrats and attempts at deeper entrenchment on the part of others.
Citizens also exhibited astonishing levels of persistence and coordination in the face of grave threats to their lives and livelihoods, while the international community demonstrated varying degrees of engagement and apprehension. As the fog of the present parts to give us a clearer view of the recent past, observers are gaining ever-widening perspectives on the causes and consequences of these stirring events.
On May 24-25, 2012, the Middle East Institute at the National University of Singapore will bring together leading experts as well as rising scholars for a two-day conference that will explore and expand upon current debates over the origins, dynamics, and future of the uprisings from a wide range of perspectives. Specifically, the first day of the conference will tackle questions regarding the various factors that help to explain the emergence of these events, the role of media and social networks in their proliferation, and the functions and responses of diverse people, institutions, and ideologies. The second day will examine the cross-national implications, present in-depth case studies of the most affected countries, and explore the multitude of repercussions on the global system. That day will conclude with speculations on the future of the Arab Uprisings and the accompanying regional changes that this new era is likely to witness.
Submission Guidelines:
We invite submissions that directly address the issues described in the proposed panels below or that analyze other relevant themes. We welcome papers from diverse disciplines, reflecting various methodologies, but all should be written for a general academic audience rather than for a specific discipline. Researchers from Asia and the Middle East are especially encouraged to apply.
MEI will provide economy airfare plus the three nights’ accommodation for those whose papers are accepted to present at the conference. The authors of papers selected for publication in a conference volume will receive an additional honorarium of SGD$1000 (approx. $830 USD).
Interested contributors should submit a 500-word abstract and a CV by Dec. 20, 2011. Please visit www.mei.nus.edu.sg/events/
Proposed Panels and Topics:
Explanations: Economic, Social, Cultural and Religious factors Suggested topics: Economic policies and conditions; Opportunity gaps (employment, education, housing, etc.); Socio-cultural conditions; Historical factors; Demographic, religious, or ideological dynamics; Corruption, security, and political entrenchment; Other possible contributing factors.
Network Effects: Media and Social Communication Suggested Topics: Information technology, media use or media coverage; Social networks and social movements; Civil society, informal politics, and counter-culture
Protest Dynamics: Actors, Discourses, and Conceptualization Suggested Topics: The role of the military and elites; Comparative regime responses; Chain reactions and spillover effects; Conceptualizing the uprisings; Discourses of protest (democracy, Palestine, Islamism, anti-imperialism, artistic expressions); Protester demographics: women, youth, and other groups.
Case Studies: Case studies of any country in the region impacted by the uprisings, including those which have experienced significant political change, those where further change is likely to occur, or others who have resisted it and why.
Cross-national Perspectives and Reciprocal Relations: Comparing Middle Eastern and Asian Models; Asia and the Arab Uprisings: Two-Way Effects; Effects on the non-Arab Middle East
Implications for the Regional and Global System: The “Awakening” and transnational terrorism; China and the awakening Arab world; Washington’s ambivalent perspective; The US-Israel strategic design challenged; Saudi Arabia and the “counter-revolution”?; Shifting world powers and regional realignments
The Future of the Arab Uprisings: Strategies for political reform and reconstruction; The end of imperialism or a new guise?; An Arab world: leaping forward or falling back?; Prospects for democratization
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