Read more
"A decade has now passed since protests in the Middle East captured the attention and imagination of audiences around the world. The story of how those protests began is now familiar to most, but no less striking to recall. On December 17, 2010, Mohamed Bouazizi, a fruit seller in the central Tunisian city of Sidi Bouzid set himself on fire after enduring harassment from local police. Bouazizi's action quickly sparked a wave of protests throughout the country, finding deep resonance amongst thousands of Tunisians frustrated by mounting corruption, exclusion, diminished opportunity, and the seeming indifference of their regime. Those protests soon spread beyond Tunisia to cities throughout the Arab world, tapping into similar grievances among citizens vis-áa-vis their respective regimes, and fronting a major challenge to decades of authoritarian rule. In the span of three months, four long-standing authoritarian leaders were forced from power. The initial euphoria felt by many in the region existed alongside a sense of trepidation about the changes to come both from those eager for change and those with a stake in preserving the pre-existing order. In the years since 2011, that euphoria has been tempered and the different paths since taken by states are testament both to the difficulties of change and to the struggle of challenging the logic and structure of authoritarianism in the region"--
List of contents
Part I. Introduction and Argument: 1. Introduction; 2. A political economy of democracy aid; Part II. Marketing Democracy: 3. Ideas and the institutional architecture of democracy Aid; 4. Neoliberalism on the Nile: US democracy aid in Egypt; 5. Reforming the kingdom: US democracy aid in Morocco; Part III. Securing Democracy: 6. The politics of democracy aid after the Arab uprisings.
About the author
Erin A. Snider is an Assistant Professor of International Affairs at Texas A&M University's Bush School of Government and Public Service. She was a Fellow at the New America Foundation, a Postdoctoral Fellow at Princeton University's Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance, a Gates Scholar at the University of Cambridge, and a Fulbright Scholar in Egypt. Her research has been published in International Studies Quarterly, PS: Political Science and Politics, and Middle East Policy, amongst others. She holds a PhD in politics from the University of Cambridge.
Summary
Drawing on extensive fieldwork in Egypt, Morocco, and Washington DC and recently declassified government documents, this book focuses on the construction and practice of democracy aid in the Middle East, showing how democracy aid can reinforce, rather than challenge authoritarian regimes.
Additional text
'Across decades, the United States has spent billions of dollars to promote democracy, particularly in the Middle East. Yet, these efforts have borne little fruit. Snider brilliantly combines the lenses of political economy analysis with a decade of extraordinary fieldwork to explain why. In key cases, she powerfully elucidates how meaningful political reform is routinely subordinated in favour of 'negotiated deals' serving the agendas of the pivotal actors in both donor and recipient states.' James Morrison, London School of Economics and Political Science
