This monograph offers a unique conceptual bridge between economic geography and Middle Eastern political economy. Arab economies are confronted with enormous structural difficulties such as high rates of youth unemployment in a challenging demographic context, exacerbated by intense spatial disparities. These structural problems demonstrate the breakdown of the "Arab social contract", a social arrangement centered on a strong role of the state in welfare and employment provision, for which regimes demanded acquiescence to authoritarian rule. The book argues that the Arab social contract can be understood in terms of regulation theories known in economic geography and sociology. It uses the approaches such as the regulation school, national systems of innovation, social systems of production, and varieties of capitalism to analyze the structural difficulties of Arab economies and current reform efforts. The basic assumption is that Arab economies are currently faced with a structural crisis. After the breakdown of the Arab social contract, there is a mismatch between the economic and institutional spheres of society. The challenge is for Arab societies to develop new forms of socio-institutional regulation. The book proposes ways towards such new modes of regulation by developing a framework for regulation specifically targeted towards Arab societies, and by applying it to the cases of Tunisia and Jordan.

This book deals with the waves of revolutions in North Africa labelled as the Arab Spring. Each of the countries in the region was affected by the Arab Spring and has experienced specific processes and consequences. Due to the complexity of the phenomenon, any kind of comprehensive research and analyses need an interdisciplinary approach to deal with the Arab Spring from multiple perspectives. This volume brings together a group of scholars from various disciplines covering different aspects of the revolutionary changes in the North African countries. Beyond the Arab Spring in North Africa collects diverse studies with an emphasis on specificity. Chapters deal with a wide range of topics that include both minor as well as major themes. These include the formation of youth movement in Egypt long before the Arab Spring and their subsequent participation in the revolution; analysis of Tunisian women's participation in Arab Spring events; spatial disparities in Tunisia and their impact on the revolution with special focus on Sidi Bouzid as one of the socio-economically weakest areas; rights and social status of sexual minorities in Tunisia; polemics over the role of New Media as both revolutionary and contra-revolutionary tools; broader discussion over the prospects for multilateral cooperation and regional integration in the studied area; reflection of the Arab Spring in the Czech media; impact of the work of 'Ali 'Abd al-Raziq on the debates over political secularism in Islamic society; as well as a general debate over democratization in North Africa, or Arab states as such. Beyond the Arab Spring in North Africa will find its readers in all relevant social sciences dealing in various contexts with the contemporary North Africa.

This monograph offers a unique conceptual bridge between economic geography and Middle Eastern political economy. Arab economies are confronted with enormous structural difficulties such as high rates of youth unemployment in a challenging demographic context, exacerbated by intense spatial disparities. These structural problems demonstrate the breakdown of the "Arab social contract", a social arrangement centered on a strong role of the state in welfare and employment provision, for which regimes demanded acquiescence to authoritarian rule. The book argues that the Arab social contract can be understood in terms of regulation theories known in economic geography and sociology. It uses the approaches such as the regulation school, national systems of innovation, social systems of production, and varieties of capitalism to analyze the structural difficulties of Arab economies and current reform efforts. The basic assumption is that Arab economies are currently faced with a structural crisis. After the breakdown of the Arab social contract, there is a mismatch between the economic and institutional spheres of society. The challenge is for Arab societies to develop new forms of socio-institutional regulation. The book proposes ways towards such new modes of regulation by developing a framework for regulation specifically targeted towards Arab societies, and by applying it to the cases of Tunisia and Jordan.