The Arab Spring has brought a lot of attention to the use of social media in the Arab world. Whether social media was one of the catalysts or the sole agent of the socio-political movement has been an object of endless debate. Nevertheless, it can be agreed that social media usage has increased in the region and is paving the way for enduring changes in all spheres of public and private life. G...

A fter losing the presidential elections in Iran in 2009, candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi and his supporters claimed electoral fraud and confronted the regime forces in bloody clashes. In January 2011, president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (in office since 1987) fled Tunisia after massive demonstrations spread through the country. After that, a number of Arab countries experienced their own demonstra...

...................................................................................................................... vi LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. ix INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................1 MENA REGION PRE-ARAB ...