Invitation to BookTalk at IIE on "The Second Arab Awakening"

Marwan Muasher's new book The Second Arab Awakening and the Battle for Pluralism is founded on his long experience as a diplomat and on a deep understanding of Arab history. Many in the West are profoundly disappointed that the euphoria of the "Arab Spring" has not yielded the results of their expectations.

While his important book is not about immediate events or policies or responses to the Arab Spring, it instead takes a long, judicious view of political change in the Arab world, beginning with the first Awakening in the nineteenth century and extending into future decades when—if the dream is realized—a new Arab world defined by pluralism and tolerance will emerge.

Marwan Muasher, former foreign minister of Jordan, asserts that all sides—the United States, Europe, Israel, and Arab governments alike—were deeply misguided in their thinking about Arab politics and society when the turmoil of the Arab Spring erupted. He explains the causes of the unrest, tracing them back to the first Arab Awakening, and warns of the forces today that threaten the success of the Second Arab Awakening, ignited in December 2010.