[URPE] Call for Papers, Special Issue of the Review of Radical Political Economics on the political economy of the Arab Spring - Deadline 10/31/2012

[Fadhel Kaboub]

*Call for Papers for a special issue of the /Review of Radical Political 
Economics/ on the political economy of the Arab Spring*

In December of 2010, an unemployed street vendor, Mohammed Bouaziz, in a 
small town in Tunisia set his body ablaze in protest of abuse and 
harassment by municipal officers, which sparked the so-called Arab 
Spring of revolutions in 2011. Since then the revolutions have spread 
from Tunisia to Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Syria, and Jordan and 
continue to inspire and mobilize movements and peoples both inside and 
outside the region.  However, while the current revolutions sweeping 
through the Middle East and North Africa have generally been portrayed 
as revolts against authoritarianism, there has been limited research on 
the economic roots of these revolts. In particular, given that media 
coverage and academic studies have underplayed the role of economic 
policies in setting the stage for the uprisings, it is time to 
re-introduce political economy to analyze the causes and effects of 
these revolutions, both regionally and globally.

We invite submissions that address/political economy/ aspects of the 
Arab Spring such as:

What caused the revolutions? In particular, what roles were played by 
neoliberal economic reforms? The demise of welfare states and central 
planning? The decline of particular social structures of accumulation? 
Youth unemployment? The labor movement, the women's movement, and 
Islamic movements? The Israeli-Palestinian conflict in general, or the 
example, in particular, of past Intifadas?

In turn, what were the causes of each of these? For example, what caused 
the decline of the welfare state and central planning? To what extent 
were neoliberal reforms part of a general drive toward "modernization" 
motivated by an Orientalist view of Arab countries as intrinsically 
backward?

What were the political economy dynamics between the autocrats, the 
business elites, the secular middle class, and the working class in the 
region?

Why did revolutions happen in some countries and not others? In 
countries where protests did not lead to regime change, or only limited 
protests took place, why was this so? For example, what role did the 
Gulf Cooperation Council play in insulating countries from the spread of 
the uprisings?

What have been the effects of the revolutions? For example, have they 
imposed new roles of the game upon the World Bank, the IMF, and the EU 
in their interactions with the countries of the region?

How have economic policies changed since the revolutions, and what 
policies should be followed now?

Submissions are due by October 31, 2012, and must follow the 
Instructions to Contributors available in each issue of the /RRPE/, on 
the /RRPE/ section of the URPE website, or at 
*http://www.sagepub.com/journals/Journal201656#tabview=manuscriptSubmission*, 
or from the Managing Editor. All submissions are subject to the usual 
review procedures and they should not be under review with any other 
publication. Send an electronic version in Word (.doc) to Hazel Dayton 
Gunn, Managing Editor, /Review of Radical Political Economics/, 
hg18 at cornell.edu.


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