ABSTRACT
The ‘Arab spring’ is part of a growing set of challenges to US hegemony and the capitalist world-system. The global economy is fueling the grievances that motivate protests while also providing tools that aid the spread of global protest movements. The global financial and other crises threaten the legitimacy of the entire system, opening up opportunities for challenges by popular groups even in the most authoritarian contexts. As the US and its Western allies confront more limited budgets, and as slower growth undermines stability in countries whose quiescence has been key to ensuring the flows of resources necessary for the operation of the global capitalist economy, we are destined to see more popular challenges to existing authorities. These challenges should be seen not simply as national challenges, but rather as part of a larger struggle for the transformation of the world-system.
