Publication

If the Arab Spring has taught us anything, argues this essay, it's that we need better theories, concepts and approaches to help us understand how countries transition away from autocracy and towards democracy. Indeed, the thinking done thus far on this topic, particularly when it comes to assessing its nature and lasting consequences, is too formulaic, short-term and unscientific for its own good. Absent a 'reviewed and reworked transitological theory' that can be applied to the Arab Spring, our ability to help foster permanent transitions toward peaceful democracy thus remains very limited, both in the Middle East and elsewhere.