Popular Mobilisation and Authoritarian Reconstitution in the Middle East and North Africa: Ten Years of Arab Uprisings

The 2011 uprisings and the ensuing protests that re-emerged in 2018–2019 across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are representative of cyclical challenges between the forces of change and those promoting a continuation of the authoritarian status quo in the region. While geopolitical tensions have led to the present ascendency of counterrevolutionary and status quo oriented forces in the MENA, the uprisings continue to live on in the memories and aspirations of societies, having had a significant impact on the sociopolitical consciousness of the region. Employing history to underlining the reoccurring relationship of tension between reform and authoritarian reconstitution across the region in the post-World War II era, the analysis warns about the perils of a returning complacency with forms of authoritarianimposed stability in the MENA, underlining how renewed protests and uprisings are likely only a matter of time.