Product Description: Monarchical presidential regimes in the Arab world looked as though they would last indefinitely―until events in Tunisia and Egypt made clear their time was up. This is the first book to lay bare the dynamics of a governmental system that largely defined the Arab Middle East in the twentieth century, and the popular opposition they engendered...read more

The Dawn of the Arab Uprisings sheds light on the historical context and initial impact of the mass uprisings that have shaken the Arab world since December 2010. The volume documents the first nine months of the Arab uprisings and explains the backgrounds and trajectories of these popular movements and regime strategies to contain them. It provides critical analysis and at times first-hand accounts of events that have received little or superficial coverage in Western and Arab media alike. While the book focuses on those states that have been most affected by the uprisings, inlcuding Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Libya, Yemen, and Syria, it also covers the impact on Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Algeria, Palestine, Lebanon, and Iraq.As the initial phase of the uprisings subsides, counter-revolution sets in, and grand narratives crystallize, it is important to take note of the diversity of reactions that emanated from activists, scholars, and others as the uprisings were first unfolding. In this sense, the volume archives the realm of possibilities, both imaginative and practical, optimistic and pessimistic, that were opened up as people sought to make sense of the rapidly unfolding events.The volume features a Forward by Roger Owen, an Introduction by the editors, and an Epilogue by Madawi al-Rasheed. The bulk of the volume is divided into three sets of sections. The first section contains theoretical, conceptual , and comparative chapters. The next set of sections (each with an introduction) contain chapters on Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Yemen, and Syria. The third section (with an introduction) is entitled "Regional Reverberations," and features chapters on Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Algeria, Iraq, Palestine, and Lebanon. The authors, many of whom live in the countries affected, provide unique understanding and first-hand accounts of events that have received superficial and partial coverage in Western and Arab media alike. The Dawn of the Arab Uprisings covers the full range of issues involved in these historic events, from political economy, to the role of social media, to international politics, gender, labor, and impact on culture, making this the ideal one-stop introduction to the events for the novice and specialist alike.

This book contains 14 invited contributions written by distinguished authors who participated in the VIII International Conference on Computational Plasticity held at CIMNE/UPC (www.cimne.com) from 5-8 September 2005, in Barcelona, Spain. The chapters present recent progress and future research directions in the field of computational plasticity.

Product Description: When Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait in August 1990, the Gulf states became the focus of frenzied international interest for the second time in a decade, the first having been during the Iraq-Iran war, 1980-8. Both events posed major threats to the regional state system which had evolved over almost two centuries...read more