Revolt and revolution in the modern Middle East: 1830-2012/Revoltes et revolutions dans le Moyen-Orient moderne: 1830-2012/Rebelion y revolucion en el Medio Oriente moderno: 1830-2012

• Published in: Regions & cohesion 2012-12, Vol.2 (3), p.22
• Main Author: Campos, Camila Pastor de Maria
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Decolonization; Revolutions
• ISSN: 2152-906X
• DOI: 10.3167/reco.2012.020303

Framing current mobilization in the Middle East through the social metamorphosis of the last two hundred years underscores transformations afforded by the region's participation in the making of a global, institutional, productive, and ideological modernity. This paper explores the emergence of new social agents and the social movements they have sought and precipitated. Ottoman modernity was characterized by fierce debates and the emergence of new activities and public spaces, which afforded the mobilization of established and novel social agents. These debates were forcefully suspended by mandate administrations and their local collaborators. The process of decolonization in mid-century and the wave of revolutions that unfolded in its wake brought historically marginal sectors to power in much of the region, who institutionalized their own visions of the common good. This paper presents a critical overview of the forms mobilization has taken in the region over the past decades--the social landscape and the dynamics of mobilization that have afforded the revolts and revolutions unfolding today. Finally, I discuss coverage of the uprisings in the Arab and international online press, pointing to synergies and gaps evidenced in interpretations of women's participation in the riots and the Islamist presence in postrevolutionary consolidation processes. Keywords: mandate period, Middle Eastern modernity, postcolonial social pact L'analyse des mobilisations populaires actuellement en cours au Moyen-Orient a travers les metamorphoses sociales survenues dans les deux siecles derniers, met en evidence les transformations offertes par la participation de la region dans la realisation d'une modernite globale institutionnelle, productive et ideologique. Le document explore l'emergence de nouveaux acteurs sociaux et les mouvements sociaux qu'ils ont poursuivi et precipite. La modernite ottomane a ete caracterisee par des debats houleux et l'emergence de nouvelles activites et espaces publics qui facilitaient la mobilisation des acteurs sociaux etablis et nouveaux. Ces debats ont ete suspendus par les administrations mandataires et leur collaborateurs locales. Le processus de decolonisation au milieu du vingtieme siecle et la vague de revolutions qui se sont deroules dans son sillage ont mene secteurs historiquement marginaux au pouvoir dans une grande partie de la region, memes qui ont institutionnalise leurs propres visions du bien commun. Le document presente un ape