Women and Democracy after the Arab Spring: Theory, Practice, and Prospects

Abstract

The collapse of authoritarian regimes in the wake of the Arab Spring initially raised hopes for the emergence of new democracies premised on robust conceptions of citizen rights, including those of women. While some countries, such as Libya, Syria, and Yemen, have descended into violent conflict, others have adopted new political and social structures. This chapter will focus on the relatively nonviolent cases of the Arab Spring—Tunisia, Egypt, and Morocco—and provide a comparative analysis of women’s roles in the democratic processes since the onset of the Arab Spring. The chapter concludes with insights on the characteristics of a women-friendly democracy and on the long-term prospects for women’s rights across the The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.