Gilbert Achcar taught and researched in Beirut, Paris and Berlin. He is currently Professor of Development Studies and International Relations at SOAS, University of London. His other works include Perilous Power: The Middle East and US Foreign Policy, co-authored.

'A detailed and searching account of the Arab Spring' New York Review of Books 'One of the best analysts of the contemporary Arab world.' Le Monde 'How does one tell the story of a revolutionary moment when the cataclysmic events are still underway, when the future remains remarkably uncertain, and where upheavals continue to characterise the day-to-day conduct of politics? Gilbert Achcar's' The People Want provides a felicitous response to this question. ... Any reader who would like a clear-eyed, theoretically grounded, and lucid assessment of what the Arab uprisings have wrought so far would benefit from this book.' Laleh Khalili, The Middle East in London