Weekly Question: "Authoritarian Persistence"

Why has the MENA region been so resistant to democratic reform? In light of the Arab Revolts of 2011, what do you think of Bellin’s argument? Is it still relevant? Why/why not? Also, how would she explain what happened in Tunisia and Egypt? Is it accurate to say, as some do, that the region’s civil society is “weak and… an ineffective champion of democracy” (Bellin 2005: 22)?