The speed, spread, and democratic thrust of Arab revolutionary uprisings conjure up the revolutionary waves of 1848 and 1989 in Europe. Spearheaded by educated youth, the Arab uprisings have been brought to fruition by the masses of ordinary people (men, women, Muslims, and non-Muslims) who have mobilized at an astonishing scale against authoritarian regimes in pursuit of social justice, democratic governance, and dignity. If this broad observation is valid, then these social earthquakes are likely to unsettle some of the most enduring perspectives on the region. To begin with, they should undermine “Middle East exceptionalism,” with its culturalist focus informed by assumptions of “stagnant culture,” “fatalist Muslims,” and “unchangeable polity.” In political science, students of “regime stability” and the “authoritarian resiliency” of Arab states may have to reevaluate their conceptual premises. The analytical relevance of the concept of “rentier state” as the political basis of authoritarian stability might likewise need serious reformulation. The blatant cash handouts by some Arab Gulf states to “buy opposition” during the wave of protests in February and March 2011 do not seem to have worked.

Although scholarly focus on elite politics as a key factor shaping the political dynamics in the region is likely to stay, the study of the social basis of politics—the politics of ordinary people and especially youth—might get more attention. Scholarly work on youth in the Middle East had already begun in the late 1990s, largely from the perspective of the labor market. But the study of youth as political actors has been almost non-existent (exceptions include Linda Herrera and Asef Bayat, eds., Being Young and Muslim: Cultural Politics in the Global South and North [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010] and Asef Bayat, Life as Politics: How Ordinary People Change the Middle East [Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2010]) and should now draw serious attention. Finally, the largely civil and democratic character of the current political uprisings stands in clear contrast to the prevailing Islamist politics of the 1980s and 1990s. Scholarship on “political Islam” is likely to take a back seat in favor of themes and methods that bring Middle Eastern politics into the global realm of social theory and comparative work.