Revolution without Revolutionaries: Making Sense of the Arab Spring

313 Pages·2017·3.91 MB·English

by  Asef Bayat

Revolution without Revolutionaries
Stanford Studies in Middle Eastern and Islamic Societies and Cultures
Revolution
without
Revolutionaries
Making Sense of the Arab Spring
ASEF BAYAT
Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
©2017 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic
or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval
system without the prior written permission of Stanford University Press.
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, archival-quality paper
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Bayat, Asef, author.
Title: Revolution without revolutionaries : making sense of the Arab Spring /
Asef Bayat.
Other titles: Stanford studies in Middle Eastern and Islamic societies and
cultures.
Description: Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, 2017. |
Series: Stanford studies in Middle Eastern and Islamic societies and
cultures | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017009148 (print) | LCCN 2017010826 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780804799027 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781503602588 (pbk. : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9781503603073 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Arab Spring, 2010- | Revolutions--Arab countries. | Arab
countries--Politics and government--21st century.
Classification: LCC DS39.3 .B392017 (print) | LCC DS39.3 (ebook) |
DDC 909/.097492708312--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017009148
Cover design: Rob Ehle
Cover photo: Asef Bayat
Typeset by Bruce Lundquist in 10/14 Minion Pro
To the known and unknown heroes of the Arab Spring, those who put their lives
on turning their uprisings into meaningful revolution
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To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing
Raymond Williams
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Table of Contents
Preface xi
1. Revolutions of Wrong Times 1
2. Marx in the Islamic Revolution 29
3. Revolution in the Everyday 49
4. Not a Theology of Liberation 69
5. Cities of Dissent 93
6. Square and Counter-Square 113
7. The Spring of Surprise 135
8. Half Revolution, No Revolution 153
9. Radical Impulses of the Social 179
10. The Agony of Transition 205
11. Revolution and Hope 219
Notes 229
Index 275