ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the patterns of ethnic exclusion and discrimination evolved around the world, and specifically in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, before and after the Arab Spring. It explains the developments relate to ethnic civil war and processes of democratization. Before the revolutionary political changes, the MENA region was the most repressive and undemocratic in the world. The Ethnic Power Relations (EPR) data distinguish between politically included and excluded groups based on group leaders' access to national executive power. Within the MENA region, ethnic exclusion and discrimination are not uniquely Arab or Muslim phenomena. Countries that exclude larger relative shares of their population because of their ethnic identity experience more and longer spells of ethnic conflict. In this regard, Iran and Iraq lead the way, with six civil war onsets each. Syria represents somewhat of an outlier as it only experienced three onsets of ethnic conflict during the period of observation.
