Publication

This paper uses the changes in the political architecture of states affected by the Arab Spring to examine the characteristics and vulnerabilities, institutional capacity and legitimacy, and possible trajectories of change in Arab states in the early 21st century. More specifically, the author examines Arab 1) state-formation and state-building; 2) state fragility and weakness; and 3) state failure and collapse. He contends that the Arab Spring represents the culmination of the ongoing crisis in authoritarian Arab regimes, and in Arab statehood itself.