Session 2 - New waves of popular protest : practices and new challenges for collective action

Moderated by : Rola El Husseini

Abstract

• What were the Arab Springs all about? (Jean-François Bayart)
• Knowledge and memory in the context of the December revolution in Sudan (Abdel-Wahab Al Afandi)
• In the shadow of Algeria's elites: what transition for Algeria (Hasni Abidi)

This second round table looks at the Arab world as a laboratory for developing and negotiating new forms of relationship with politics. The debate will explore the renewal of repertoires of collective and political action (mobilization processes, the role of parties, reconfiguration of modes of engagement through the use of digital tools, widening the scope of commitment, etc.).

• What is a democrat in the Arab world today? Figures of commitment: militants, activists, ultras, etc. What social categories today call themselves social democrats? What role can democratic political forces play in the transition period?
• What are the differences between the implementation of democratic reforms from above and the practical application of democracy by popular movements? Which model for which Arab countries?
• What are the main factors driving social movements towards democratic demands?
• What are the new forms taken by social movements in the context of contemporary technological developments?
• How are social movements coping with the sectarian factor and the military's hold on society?

Rola El-Husseini (moderator)

Rola El-Husseini holds a PhD from the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) in Paris (2003) and is currently Senior Lecturer and Director of Graduate Studies at the Center for Middle East Studies, Lund University, Sweden. She has held positions at Yale University, Texas A&M University, the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and George Washington University.

Author of Pax Syriana: Elite Politics in Postwar Lebanon (Syracuse University Press, 2012), Rola El-Husseini has also published on Lebanese Hezbollah, Arab Shiism and Iran. She is currently co-editing a book on Lebanese Shi'ism, and is also writing a book on the political representation of Arab women after the 2010-2011 uprisings.

Jean-François Bayart

Jean-François Bayart, a specialist in the historical and comparative sociology of politics, is Professor at the Graduate Institute (Geneva), and holds the Yves Oltramare Chair in "Religion and Politics in the Contemporary World". He is the author of L'Islam républicain. Ankara, Téhéran, Dakar (Albin Michel, 2010) and Violence et religion en Afrique (Karthala, 2018).

Abdel-Wahab Al Afandi

Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies. He previously held the positions of Head of the Political Science and International Relations program at Doha Institute (2015-2017) and Coordinator of the Democracy and Islam program at the University of Westminster (since 1998). He has also worked as a diplomat in Sudan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1990-1997), and as a journalist in London, where he was director or editor of several publications (1982-1990).

Hasni Abidi

Hasni Abidi is a political scientist specializing in the Arab world. He is Director of the Centre d'études et de recherche sur le monde arabe et méditerranéen (CERMAM) in Geneva and Visiting Professor at the University of Paris-XIII. Guest researcher at Paris-I from 2006 to 2011, his work focuses on political developments in the Middle East and Maghreb. He holds a PhD in political science from the University of Geneva, and is in charge of a seminar at the Global Studies Institute on "The EU's Mediterranean Policy". Hasni ABIDI is a consultant to several international institutions and foreign foundations. He has carried out research mandates for Unesco, UNCTAD, UNAOC and the ICRC. He is the author of several books and articles on the region.