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Urban Subalterns in the Arab Revolutions: Cairo and Damascus in Comparative Perspective
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Abstract This paper investigates the role of urban subalterns both as participatory agents in the Arab revolutions and as mediating forces against revolutionary action. It argues that during revolutionary periods the positioning of subalterns as a political force should be understood in relation to their socio-spatial location in the urban political configuration. Looking at the protest movements in Cairo and Damascus, the paper examines the differentiated locations of subaltern actors in each to demonstrate how their positioning in relation to state and government has shaped their engagement in the revolutions. In Cairo, the mobilization of subaltern forces was anchored in spatialized forms of everyday interaction between popular forces and agents of government. These interactions were formative of urban subjectivities that entered into the making of “the people” as the subject of the Revolution. In Damascus, the configuration of the urban space and the Syrian regime's modes of control made it difficult for subaltern forces to mobilize on the same scale as in Cairo or to form a unified opposition. The regime instrumentalized socio-spatial fragmentation among subalterns, in effect turning some segments, as buffers for the regime, against others. In analytical terms, the paper underscores the common conceptual ground between the categories of “urban popular forces” and “urban subalterns.” This ground covers their socio-spatial positionality, their bases of action, and the factors shaping their political subjectivities.
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“Detailed qualitative studies of different Syrian localities since early 2011 strongly indicate that villages, towns, or cities without ties to dense regime-based patron-client networks before the uprising have indeed been very likely to experience violence in the early phase of the civil war.”
From The Ba'athist blackout? Selective goods provision and political violence in the Syrian civil war (2015) · cites this paper as Ismail, 2013
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“Taken together, there is ample qualitative evidence supporting the claim that the selective redistribution of scarce resources took place in areas where the regime had strong clientelist networks.”
From The Ba'athist blackout? Selective goods provision and political violence in the Syrian civil war (2015) · cites this paper as Ismail, 2013
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“Those areas with weak ties to these networks faced an increased risk of violence during the civil war”
From The Ba'athist blackout? Selective goods provision and political violence in the Syrian civil war (2015) · cites this paper as Ismail, 2013
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“those areas with strong ties have remained calm”
From The Ba'athist blackout? Selective goods provision and political violence in the Syrian civil war (2015) · cites this paper as Ismail, 2013
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Metadata
- Authors
- Ismail, S.
- Affiliations
- SOAS University of London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Ismail, Salwa
- ORCID
- Ismail, Salwa
- Venue
- Comparative Studies in Society and History
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2013-09-19
- Volume
- 55
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 865-894
- ISSN
- 0010-4175 (ISSN-L)
- 1475-2999
- OpenAlex
- W1983811879
- Cited by
- 80
- References
- 28
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 29 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 2
- FWCI
- 11.36
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Comparative Studies in Society and History (publishedVersion)
- SOAS Research Online (SOAS University of London) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- SOAS Research Online (SOAS University of London) (acceptedVersion)
- SOAS Research Online (SOAS University of London) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Economic and Social Research Council (ES/H020969/1)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Middle East Politics and Society
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Middle East and Rwanda Conflicts
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Arab Spring and North African Politics
- Keywords
- Arab Spring, Egyptian revolution, Syrian revolution, protest movements, urban space, political subjectivity, state control, mass mobilization, Cairo, Damascus
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