Conclusion

Abstract

This rich and wide-ranging volume makes an important contribution to understanding protest in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in terms of the tools and methods of both classical social movement theory and of contentious politics. The volume sits comfortably alongside other recent interventions,¹ in a field energized by the Arab uprisings. These brief concluding remarks highlight some of the ways in which this book both draws MENA research into larger disciplinary conversations about mobilization and illuminates important dynamics on the ground. The strongest chapters, I will argue, suggest ways to deepen or exceed the limits of by now conventional concepts, whether objectivist or constructionist, in studies of contestation.