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Surviving the Arab uprisings: Political regimes and state responses

The Arab uprisings threatened authoritarian states across the Arab world with unprecedented levels of mobilization. The nature of these challenges, the states’ responses and the outcomes have been, however, markedly uneven. In accounting for this divergence, while some approaches have examined the s...

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Main Author: Ahmed, Hood
Format: Thesis
Published: AUC Knowledge Fountain 2018
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access_status_str Open Access
author Ahmed, Hood
author_browse Ahmed, Hood
author_facet Ahmed, Hood
author_sort Ahmed, Hood
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv The author retains all rights with regard to copyright. The author certifies that written permission from the owner(s) of third-party copyrighted matter included in the thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study has been obtained. The author further certifies that IRB approval has been obtained for this thesis, or that IRB approval is not necessary for this thesis. Insofar as this thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study is an educational record as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 USC 1232g), the author has granted consent to disclosure of it to anyone who requests a copy.
description The Arab uprisings threatened authoritarian states across the Arab world with unprecedented levels of mobilization. The nature of these challenges, the states’ responses and the outcomes have been, however, markedly uneven. In accounting for this divergence, while some approaches have examined the structural preconditions for transitions, others have emphasized the impact of interactions between different political actors. This thesis draws on both approaches through examining how the state’s institutional structure shapes the opportunities and constraints of states in employing different authoritarian strategies. It examines why and how different regimes have used different authoritarian strategies to survive and stabilize. In responding to threats of instability, some states use measures of legitimation through concessions and accommodations, others use measures of cooptation through including strategic actors into the regime elite, while some resort to repression, whether through physical violence or restrictions of political and civil rights. The thesis uses Michael Herb’s regime typology and uses Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Egypt as its cases to examine how different institutional structures reinforce the choice of strategy. Through comparing state responses across cases and across time for each case, the thesis explains how authoritarian strategies vary across different regimes and across time for each regime. The thesis concludes by analyzing the costs and benefits of different authoritarian strategies and how they contribute to different patterns of stability.
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institution American University in Cairo (Egypt)
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license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from AUC Knowledge Fountain — bepress
publishDate 2018
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spelling oai:fount.aucegypt.edu:etds-2512 Surviving the Arab uprisings: Political regimes and state responses Ahmed, Hood The Arab uprisings threatened authoritarian states across the Arab world with unprecedented levels of mobilization. The nature of these challenges, the states’ responses and the outcomes have been, however, markedly uneven. In accounting for this divergence, while some approaches have examined the structural preconditions for transitions, others have emphasized the impact of interactions between different political actors. This thesis draws on both approaches through examining how the state’s institutional structure shapes the opportunities and constraints of states in employing different authoritarian strategies. It examines why and how different regimes have used different authoritarian strategies to survive and stabilize. In responding to threats of instability, some states use measures of legitimation through concessions and accommodations, others use measures of cooptation through including strategic actors into the regime elite, while some resort to repression, whether through physical violence or restrictions of political and civil rights. The thesis uses Michael Herb’s regime typology and uses Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Egypt as its cases to examine how different institutional structures reinforce the choice of strategy. Through comparing state responses across cases and across time for each case, the thesis explains how authoritarian strategies vary across different regimes and across time for each regime. The thesis concludes by analyzing the costs and benefits of different authoritarian strategies and how they contribute to different patterns of stability. 2018-09-04T07:00:00Z thesis application/pdf https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/1504 https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/2512/viewcontent/Surviving_20the_20Arab_20Uprisings_20__20Hood_20Ahmed.pdf The author retains all rights with regard to copyright. The author certifies that written permission from the owner(s) of third-party copyrighted matter included in the thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study has been obtained. The author further certifies that IRB approval has been obtained for this thesis, or that IRB approval is not necessary for this thesis. Insofar as this thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study is an educational record as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 USC 1232g), the author has granted consent to disclosure of it to anyone who requests a copy. Theses and Dissertations AUC Knowledge Fountain Authoritarianism Arab uprisings Stability Repression Cooptation Legitimation Regime
spellingShingle Authoritarianism
Arab uprisings
Stability
Repression
Cooptation
Legitimation
Regime
Ahmed, Hood
Surviving the Arab uprisings: Political regimes and state responses
title Surviving the Arab uprisings: Political regimes and state responses
title_full Surviving the Arab uprisings: Political regimes and state responses
title_fullStr Surviving the Arab uprisings: Political regimes and state responses
title_full_unstemmed Surviving the Arab uprisings: Political regimes and state responses
title_short Surviving the Arab uprisings: Political regimes and state responses
title_sort surviving the arab uprisings political regimes and state responses
topic Authoritarianism
Arab uprisings
Stability
Repression
Cooptation
Legitimation
Regime
url https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/1504
https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/2512/viewcontent/Surviving_20the_20Arab_20Uprisings_20__20Hood_20Ahmed.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT ahmedhood survivingthearabuprisingspoliticalregimesandstateresponses