Research Library

How does a country’s constitutional form of governance — specifically, if it is a presidential or parliamentary system — influence its susceptibility to a military coup? The author examines the issue in Political Science Quarterly

Nonresident fellow Valentine Moghadam argues that women’s legal status, social positions, and collective action prior to the Arab Spring helped shape the nature of the 2011 mass protests as well as the political and social outcomes of individual countries.

What has the Arab Spring meant for women’s rights in the region? Three years after the mass social protests of January and February 2011, when and where can we expect the promises of democracy and equality, and the revolutionary spirit of unity and purpose, to be realized? This article takes stock of significant events and possible future directions, with a focus on prospects for a women-friendly democratization.

The new leadership in Doha is entering a “post-Arab Spring” regional landscape that is almost diametrically opposed to the propitious convergence of Qatari interests and the revolutionary upheaval in North Africa in 2011.

Women have been central to the events that have shaken Tunisian politics since the Arab Spring. This article addresses how Tunisia came to occupy a premier position in regard to women's rights and discusses some of the current debates on women's rights in Tunisia following the Arab Spring.

This article focuses on three early cases of the Arab Spring — Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco — to discuss causes and likely outcomes, gender dynamics, prospects for genuine democratization, and the connection between feminist movements and democratization. A comparative and international perspective highlights similarities and differences across the Arab cases and between the Arab Spring and other "democracy waves."

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When U.S. President Barack Obama addressed the…