Vol. 14 No. 078 (2026): Issue 078

The Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies and the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies have published the 78th issue of Siyasat Arabiya, a bimonthly peer-reviewed journal of political science and international relations. This special issue, titled “The Arab State after the Uprisings", opens with an introduction by guest editors, Bassel F. Salloukh & May Darwich. It features the following articles: “Theorising the Arab State: Alternative Trajectories, Temporalities, and Conceptions", by Bassel F Salloukh; “The Arab State Through the Eyes of its Citizens: An Individual-Level Analysis", by Abdelkarim Amengay; “The Political Economy of the Arab State", by Melani Cammett; and “The Erosion of the Arab State in Global and Regional Contexts", by May Darwich. The issue further features the study “Dynamics of Fragility in Arab States: The Impact of Economic, Social, and Political Variables on the Trajectory of Fragility (2006–2024)", by Maen Ahmed Fawzy Salhab. The translation section includes Amr Al Mallah's translation of “Social Forces, States and World Orders: Beyond International Relations Theory", by Robert W. Cox. The issue also documents key developments in the democratic transition in the Arab world and Palestine from 1 November to 31 December 2025. Ahmed Qasem Hussein concludes the issue with his review of Azmi Bishara's The Arab State: Origins and Trajectory.

Original Website (English) | Original Website (Arabic)

Published: 2026-01-01

Articles

  • Theorising the Arab State: Alternative Trajectories, Temporalities, and Conceptions Cited once

    Author: Bassel F. Salloukh
    17-73
    This study advances a new approach to theorizing the Arab state after the popular uprisings. It does this in two steps. Suspending the western European model of state formation and bringing the...
  • The Political Economy of the Arab State Cited once

    Author: Melani Cammett
    58-77
    This study traces the evolution and divergence of state–society relations in the Middle East and North Africa through the lens of social pacts and welfare regimes. It asks how governments across...
  • The Erosion of the Arab State in Global and Regional Contexts

    Author: May Darwich
    78-93
    The 2011 Arab uprisings sparked hopes for positive change in the regional politics of the Middle East. The uprisings not only challenged the authority of states at the domestic level but seemed...
  • Introduction: The Arab State after the Uprisings

    Author: Bassel F. Salloukh, May Darwich
    9-16
    We seek, through this special issue, to contribute to the broader scholarly effort aimed at rethinking the trajectory of the formation of the Arab state and its evolution into its current form, by...
  • The Arab State Through the Eyes of its Citizens: An Individual- Level Analysis

    Author: Abdelkarim Amengay
    39-77
    Despite the state attracting considerable attention as a topic of study from Arab thinkers and intellectuals since the 19th century, the study of individual-level orientations toward the state...
  • Dynamics of Fragility in Arab States: The Impact of Economic, Social, and Political Variables on the Trajectory of Fragility (2006–2024)

    Author: Maen Ahmed Fawzy Salhab
    97-118
    This study analyses the dynamics of state fragility in Arab countries from 2006–2024 using the Fragile States Index (FSI, Fund for Peace) and World Bank World Development Indicators (WDI). The...
  • Social Forces, States and World Orders: Beyond International Relations Theory

    Author: Robert W. Cox; Amr Al Mallah (Translator)
    145-121
    This seminal article is one of the founding texts of Critical Theory in International Relations. In this article, Robert Cox advances a critical alternative to traditional International Relations...
  • Milestones in Democratic Transition in the Arab World

    149-152
    This report documents the key milestones in democratic transition in the Arab world during the period from November 1 to December 31, 2025.
  • Documents of Democratic Transition in the Arab World

    153-155
    This section monitors the most prominent political documents related to democratic transition in the Arab world. In this issue, we publish a document from Egypt covering the period from November 1...
  • Palestine Over Two Months

    156-161
    This report documents the most significant Palestinian developments and events related to the Arab–Israeli conflict during the period from November 1 to December 31, 2025.
  • The Arab State: Origins and Trajectory Cited twice

    Author: Ahmed Qasem Hussein
    165-177
    Book Title: The Arab State: Origins and Trajectory