After the fall of Mubarak, Ben Ali, and Qadafi, the Arab World faces multiple challenges especially with regard to political transformation and governance. The diverse experiences highlighted the vital role of the periphery and of seemingly marginal actors. Although the political landscape of the region changed within months, such developments were rooted in long-term transformations of governance structures. This volume examines the questions of how politics and the state in the MENA is shaped and challenged beyond the center. It develops a novel perspective in Middle Eastern studies center on micro-politics, assess its contribution to the understanding of authoritarian rule and its transformation. It closely links innovative (anthropologically inspired) analytical concepts and ethnographic in-depth case studies from the Arab world. Based on the debates on politics from below and dynamic concepts of state, all the chapters focus on informal institutions, non-elite actors, and the dynamic and contradictory relationship between state and society.

The contributors link innovative analytical concepts and ethnographic in-depth case studies from the Arab world. Based on the debates on politics from below and dynamic concepts of state, all the chapters focus on informal institutions, non-elite actors, and the dynamic and contradictory relationship between state and society.

"I came to the Sahara to be buried." After witnessing the collapse of the World Trade Centre, Jeehan Nathaar leaves her New York life with her sense of identity fractured and her American dream destroyed. She returns to Morocco to make her home with a family that's not her own. Healed by their kindness but caught up in their troubles, Jeehan struggles to move beyond the pain and confusion of September 11th. On this desiccated landscape, thousands of miles from Ground Zero, the Dune sings of death, love, and forgiveness.