The future of popular mobilization in the Middle East and North Africa: Insights from 10 years of struggle

Ten years after the start of protests in the Middle East and North Africa, the process of grassroots mobilisation demanding a substantial change of the status quo continues. Over the last decade, Arab squares have been witnessing the emergence and transformation of popular resistance movements, as well as national governments’ responses against the backdrop of an increasingly conflictual geopolitical context in the broader region.

The joint IAI-ECFR-CeSPI project "10 years of protests in the Middle East and North Africa. Dynamics of mobilisation in a complex (geo)political environment" has analysed the local, national and international dimensions of the last decade of protests in the Middle East and North Africa by focussing on the case studies of Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia. Coming to its conclusion and drawing on its comparative findings, the final conference of the project now looks at the future of the uprisings, posing new questions for further debate on this important theme:
How have mobilisation processes across the Middle East and North Africa been speaking to each other in the last decade? What do the different protest movements’ hopes and strategies tell us about present and future challenges to political change in the different countries and at the regional level? What are the perspectives and perceptions from the squares concerning ongoing political dynamics, external cooperation and the future of the region?

Benefiting from the insights of experts who directly took part in the research effort as well as researchers and activists who joined the protests, the final conference of the project will provide an opportunity to look at the future of popular mobilisation in the Middle East and North Africa by critically analysing mobilisation dynamics in the region and exploring perspectives of activists in selected national contexts and the broader region.