Spring Semester 2017 - first post

All - we're off to a late start on the blog, but here are the first questions! Normally, these questions will be posted on material that will be covered in the following class, but today's questions relate to today's class on confronting coercive institutions (Feb. 17 class) 

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? How would she explain what happened in Tunisia and Egypt?

Also, 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)?