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The next democracy debate in the Middle East: Democracy and Disorder Podcast Series

People gather during a nationwide strike against the government's refusal to raise wages in Tunis, Tunisia January 17, 2019. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi - RC180C53AD40

The Arab Spring movements that started in 2010 and 2011 across North Africa and the Middle East  sparked a new debate on the future of democracy in the region. Yet in the years since, the region has seen a return to civil war and proxy warfare, most violently in Syria. The Arab world is still searching for a new democratic narrative as it navigates economic downturns, crackdowns, and the occasional possible bright spots, including a nascent democracy in Tunisia. What will the be the next debate on democracy in the region? And what are opportunities for improving good governance?

In this third episode of a four-part podcast series from the Democracy and Disorder Project at Brookings, host Torrey Taussig talks with Salam Fayyad—former prime minister of the Palestinian Authority (2007-13) and a distinguished fellow at Brookings—and Sharan Grewal, a post-doctoral fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings, about these and related issues.

Taussig is a nonresident fellow with the Center on the United States and Europe at Brookings and a Robert Bosch Foundation Fellow based in Berlin.

Related content:

Tunisian democracy at a crossroads

The rise and fall of liberal democracy in Turkey: Implications for the West

Challenges to democracy in East Asia: Democracy and Disorder Podcast Series

Challenges to democracy in Europe: Democracy and Disorder Podcast Series

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