Socioeconomic Protests in MENA and Latin America

Abstract

This chapter presents the rationale and the topic of the book, the questions that are addressed, and the state of research on which it is based. It critically reflects upon the contentious politics approach as applied in the book, and elaborates the analytical framework that is used to systematically study socioeconomic contention in Egypt and Tunisia. It also gives a brief overview of socioeconomic contention in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) beyond Egypt and Tunisia and lays out the rationale and the limitations of the interregional comparison with Latin America. The chapter concludes with an overview of the contributions compiled in this volume.