The people want : a radical exploration of the Arab uprising / Gilbert Achcar ; translated from the French by G. M. Goshgarian.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Achcar, Gilbert.

Language:

English

French

Subjects (All):

Arab Spring, 2010-.

Protest movements--Arab countries--History--21st century.

Protest movements.

Revolutions--Arab countries--History--21st century.

Revolutions.

Information technology--Political aspects.

Unemployment.

Youth--Political activity.

Economic conditions.

Politics and government.

History.

Arab countries--Politics and government--21st century.

Arab countries.

Arab countries--Economic conditions--21st century.

Youth--Political activity--Arab countries.

Youth.

Unemployment--Arab countries.

Information technology--Political aspects--Arab countries.

Information technology.

Physical Description:

xii, 310 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, [2013]

Summary:

""The people want.": This first half of slogans chanted by millions of Arab protesters since 2011 revealed a long-repressed craving for democracy. But huge social and economic problems were also laid bare by the protestors' demands. Simplistic interpretations of the uprising that has been shaking the Arab world since a young street vendor set himself on fire in Central Tunisia, on 17 December 2010, seek to portray it as purely political, or explain it by culture, age, religion, if not conspiracy theories. Instead, Gilbert Achcar locates the deep roots of the upheaval in the specific economic features that hamper the region's development and lead to dramatic social consequences, including massive youth unemployment. Intertwined with despotism, nepotism, and corruption, these features, produced an explosive situation that was aggravated by post-9/11 U.S. policies. The sponsoring of the Muslim Brotherhood by the Emirate of Qatar and its influential satellite channel, Al Jazeera, contributed to shaping the prelude to the uprising. But the explosion's deep roots, asserts Achcar, mean that what happened until now is but the beginning of a revolutionary process likely to extend for many more years to come. The author identifies the actors and dynamics of the revolutionary process: the role of various social and political movements, the emergence of young actors making intensive use of new information and communication technologies, and the nature of power elites and existing state apparatuses that determine different conditions for regime overthrow in each case. Drawing a balance-sheet of the uprising in the countries that have been most affected by it until now, i.e. Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, Libya and Syria, Achcar sheds special light on the nature and role of the movements that use Islam as a political banner. He scrutinizes attempts at co-opting the uprising by these movements and by the oil monarchies that sponsor them, as well as by the protector of these same monarchies: the U.S. government. Underlining the limitations of the "Islamic Tsunami" that some have used as a pretext to denigrate the whole uprising, Gilbert Achcar points to the requirements for a lasting solution to the social crisis and the contours of a progressive political alternative."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

1 Fettered Development 7

The Facts 10

Poverty, Inequality, Precarity 15

Informal Sector and Unemployment: The Bouazizi Syndrome 22

Youth Underemployment 26

Female Underemployment 29

Graduate Unemployment 32

Fetters on Development 35

2 The Peculiar Modalities of Capitalism in the Arab Region 38

The Problem of Investment 39

Public and Private Investment 41

A Specific Variant of the Capitalist Mode of Production 50

1 Rentier and Patrimonial States 54

2 A Politically Determined Capitalism: Nepotism and Risk 60

The Genesis of the Specific Regional Variant of Capitalism: An Overview 67

3 Regional Political Factors 76

The Oil Curse 77

From "Arab Despotic Exception" to "Democracy Promotion" 85

The Muslim Brothers, Washington, and the Saudis 93

The Muslim Brothers, Washington, and Qatar 100

Al Jazeera and the Upheaval in the Arab Mediascape 108

4 Actors and Parameters of the Revolution 114

Overdetermination and Subjective Conditions 114

The Workers' Movement and Social Struggles 123

New Actors and New Information and Communications Technologies 129

States and Revolutions 136

5 A Provisional Balance Sheet of the Arab Uprising 144

Coups d'État and Revolutions 144

Provisional Balance Sheet No. 1: Tunisia 145

Provisional Balance Sheet No. 2: Egypt 148

Provisional Balance Sheet No. 3: Yemen 155

Provisional Balance Sheet No. 4: Bahrain 160

Provisional Balance Sheet No. 5: Libya 163

Provisional Balance Sheet No. 6: Syria 172

6 Co-opting the Uprising 188

Washington and the Muslim Brothers, Take Two 189

Nato, Libya, and Syria 197

The "Islamic Tsunami" and the Difference between Khomeini and Morsi 208

Conclusion: The Future of the Arab Uprising 218

The Difference between Erdogan and Ghannouchi... 218

... And the Difference between Erdogan and Morsi 225

Conditions for a Genuine Solution 235.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780520274976

0520274970

0520280512

9780520280519

OCLC:

838792306