Revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa

What began as street protests in Tunisia in 2010 sparked a revolutionary wave across the Arab world. Mass mobilizations, violent reprisals, and civil wars eventually ousted longstanding autocratic rulers. Why did so many ordinary people desire such profound change? What alternatives to the old regimes did they see? What did they achieve? Only through a historical lens can we answer these questions and understand in a way that takes us beyond images from the nightly news. This course covers revolutions in the Middle East and No. Africa and address themes of social movements, state building, development, and democracy over the past 200 years.