ABSTRACT
Change and continuity in the political arena of West Asia is a vast subject encompassing multiplicities of issues. Continuity gives society a sense of history, required knowledge and essential lessons for progress and regeneration. Upheavals in West Asia that began with the uprising in Tunisia in late 2010 and then spread to the entire region, affecting every other country in the region in good measure or small, have sparked off undeniable transformative changes, accompanied by large-scale social and political turbulence. The turmoil in West Asia, and particularly in the Arab world, can be understood through four perspectives: a tussle between tradition and modernity; conflict between individual and group identity in the region; failure of Pan-Arabism and secularisation in the Arab world; and multiple developmental crises in the Arab states. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
