The protests that swept across the Middle East and North Africa in late 2010 and 2011 confounded long-time observers of the region, in both the media and academia. After addressing the conditions in the Middle East and North Africa that produced these attempts at revolution, Amin Saikal and Amitav Acharya explore the global impact of the protests, both in terms of their ideological influence on opposition groups and the prospects for democratic transition in a variety of authoritarian and semi-authoritarian governments. Examining states at the heart of the uprisings, such as Egypt, Tunisia and Libya in addition to other Middle Easter states, like Iran, as well the Asian states of China, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, this book concentrates upon 'democratization' as the central theme. Did the protests have a galvanizing effect of democratization processes throughout Asia? And if not, why? Touching on perennial issues in politics – for example, democracy, authoritarian rule and social protest – this book is vital for researchers of politics and international relations.

Amin Saikal's profile page

Amitav Acharya's profile page

Amin Saikal is Director of the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies and Professor of Political Science at the Australian National University. He has been a visiting fellow at the University of Cambridge and Princeton University, as well as at Sussex University's Institute of Development Studies. He has also been a Rockefeller Foundation Fellow in International Relations. He is the author of a number of works on the Middle East, Central Asia and Russia, including Islam and the West: Conflict or Cooperation? (2003); The Rise and Fall of the Shah: Iran from Autocracy to Religious Rule (2009), Modern Afghanistan: A History of Struggle and Survival (I.B.Tauris, revised 2012) and States of Crisis: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Iran (I.B.Tauris, forthcoming).
Amitav Acharya is Professor in the School of International Service, American University, Washington, D.C., USA, having previously held Professorships at the University of Bristol and York University, Toronto. His recent books include Whose Ideas Matter? (2009); Beyond Iraq: The Future of World Order (co-edited, 2011); Non-Western International Relations Theory (co-edited, 2010); and The Making of Southeast Asia (2011).