ABSTRACT
In the wake of the tumultuous events of 2011, the restructuring of North Africa has necessarily been a slow and tortuous process. Nor have events followed a single, linear path towards an unambiguous democratic future. Indeed, one of the lessons of the past year has been that, despite a predominant pattern of peaceful demonstrations (except in Libya) and shared demands for dignity, respect and social justice, the ‘Arab Spring’ has been a profoundly national experience with quite distinct national outcomes. Indeed, this national dimension has been even more accentuated in the Middle East and raises speculation as to what it was that actually occurred and what paradigms, if any, we can adduce to explain it, not to speak of how we understand the outcomes themselves.
