US Approaches to the Arab Uprisings

Amentahru Wahlrab is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Texas at Tyler. Michael J. McNeal is Adjunct Instructor in Political Science at the Metropolitan State University, Denver.

• TABLE OF CONTENTSAcknowledgmentsNotes on ContributorsIntroduction: Contesting the Dominant Narratives of the Arab SpringMichael J. McNeal and Amentahru WahlrabWashington’s Liberalist Ideological Stance and Contradictory Policies in the Middle EastMichael J. McNealStrategic or Democratic Interests? Framing US Foreign Policy in the Middle East Uprisings Anthony R. DiMaggio4. The Arab Spring, US Intervention in Libya, and the Lingering Politics of Rwandan RemorseIsaac Kamola5.Whither Wasatiyya? Locating Egypt’s Liminal Actors Five Years after the UprisingMichaelle Browers6.Discourses of Democracy and Gender: How and Why Do Women’s Rights Matter? Meghana Nayak7.Justin Zongo and the Place of the “Arab Spring”: Repression, Resistance, and Revolution in Egypt and Burkina Faso Nicholas A. Jackson8.A Matter of Protest: the Arab Spring in SyriaLarbi Sadiki and Layla Saleh9.Making Revolutionaries out of “Safe Citizens”: Sovereignty, Political Violence, and the Arab UprisingsAmentahru Wahlrab10. The Arab Uprisings and Twenty-First-Century Global Crisis: Is There an Emerging Network of Global Dissent? Eric FattorIndex

"Contesting the dominant representations of the uprisings in the MENA region, US Approaches to the Arab Uprising casts a fresh look at these events as it probes into the conflicting relationship between the rhetoric and reality of US Foreign Policy and its efforts towards democracy promotion in the Arab World. Contributors to the volume unsettle conventional understandings through critically oriented, empirically, theoretically and methodologically rich close readings of the episodes unfolding in a wide-range of places - from Syria to Burkina Faso from Kigali to Washington. Accessible to both academic and non-academic audiences, the edited volume provides a valuable resource to anyone who is interested in coming to grips with this crucial moment in global politics." - Asli Calkivik, Istanbul Technical University, "Unlike many existing accounts of the Arab Uprisings in the early 2010s, this collection critically and astutely examines the crucial links between democratization, pluralism, political agency in the unfolding of these monumental events. Most importantly, this volume greatly contributes to a better understanding of the pivotal role of Western media in creating self-serving and highly misleading discourses about Middle Eastern politics and societies. Highly recommended!" - Manfred B. Steger, Professor of Sociology, University of Hawai'i at Manoa and Honorary Professor of Global Studies, RMIT University