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Read JOEL BEININ's essay: Pasts and Futures of Contentious Arab Politics
Read RASHID KHALIDI's essay: What Inhibits Social and Political Transformation in the Middle East?

A panel discussion with JOEL BEININ (Stanford) and RASHID KHALIDI (Columbia University) moderated by SEAN YOM (Temple University).

THE MIDDLE EAST HAS A LONGSTANDING REPUTATION as a place of contention, where ethnic groups and global powers alike have struggled over land, trade routes and, more recently, valuable resources such as oil. The Arab Spring of the early 2010s added a new dimension to the region’s contentious politics, as internal tensions between rulers and populaces erupted into a series of revolts, which have since inspired similar protests around the world. A decade later, two leading thinkers on the impact of the Arab Spring, JOEL BEININ and RASHID KHALIDI, assess the prospects for the region  going forward. They will discuss the likelihood of democratic change, the factors that inhibit social transformation, the historical context of the current era of contentious politics, the often overlooked actors at the urban and regional peripheries, how patterns of political activism have changed over time – and the enduring relevance of these movements to popular struggles for dignity, justice, and bread the world over.