Struggles Over History and Identity: "Opening the Gates" of the Kingdom to Tourism

Product of workshop No. 8 at the 2nd MRM 200

Middle East Update

What has been going on in the Middle East in the last few months? Will things change with the new U.S. administration? What are the chances for a renewal of the Iran nuclear deal? Will Syria\u27s President Bashar al-Assad survive? Will Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman continue the war in Yemen? Can Egypt\u27s President Sisi crush the coronavirus? Can the Palestinian Authority get serious peace talks back on track? A panel with experts on the Middle East based in Northwest Arkansas discuss these and other issues in this lively presentation

High-risk political participation: demonstrations and riots under dictatorial regimes

Dans cet article, on contrôle de façon empirique, tout en utilisant un large échantillon de pays, les différentes théories sur dissension et protestation au coeur des régimes autoritaires, où ces activités sont souvent traquées et forcément périlleuses. Les résultats empiriques de l'analyse comparative longitudinale confirment les prévisions de l'approche économique rationnelle à propos de la protestation politique, ainsi que le pouvoir d'explication des facteurs structuraux, de la théorie de la privation relative, des processus de diffusion politique au niveau des régions, le rôle des institutions dictatoriales et, en partie, la théorie de la mobilisation des ressources. On voit aussi que la participation non violente est l'un des principaux déterminants des émeutes et que la protestation précédente détermine de façon décisive la protestation actuelle, quelle qu'elle soit.This article draws on a broad sample of countries to empirically test the different theories on dissent and protest in the context of authoritarian regimes, where such activities are generally repressed and are therefore risky. The empirical results of the longitudinal comparative analysis basically confirm the predictions of the rational economic approach to political protest as well as the explanatory power of structural factors, the relative deprivation theory, the political diffusion processes (at the regional level), the role of dictatorial institutions, and in part the resource mobilization theory. The empirical analysis also shows that non-violent participation is one of the main determinants of riots and that past protest is important in determining present protest (whatever its type)