Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Scholar, non-resident Senior Fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs (Doha), and Toda Peace Institute Scholar (Japan). He is the author of numerous academic articles and books, including Rethinking Arab Democratization: Elections without Democracy (OUP, 2009), and the editor of The Routledge Handbook of Middle East Politics: Interdisciplinary Inscriptions (2020). He is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Protest and co-author, with Layla Saleh, of the new book Revolution and Democracy in Tunisia: A Century of Protestscapes (Oxford University Press, 2024).
Syria’s reinvigorated civil society must assert itself not just in negotiations with the new government, but also in its dealings with Europe. Neo-colonial assumptions regarding minorities and gender are a source of tension that Europe would do well to reflect on.
Since 7 October, the Palestinian cause has reinvigorated Tunisian civil society, creating a wave of public activism reminiscent of the revolution of 2011. But today there is a major difference: perceived western hypocrisy over Israel has severely damaged the credibility of the democratic agenda.
Kais Saied’s power grab in Tunisia did not take place in a vacuum. A combination of constitutional dysfunction, a self-serving party system and festering social tensions had left the country at breaking point. Now the man many hailed as a saviour threatens the achievements of the democratic revolution of 2011.