Friday, July 29^th 2011

John Agnew

 The Arab Spring: A Single Event?

The recent series of revolts against dictators in some countries of the Arab World is widely seen as expressing a calculus of resentments and mobilizations that all share in common.

While there are certain common motifs that deserve emphasis Professor Agnew will draw attention to the differences between the various cases and discuss those countries that have not seen much upwelling of dissent on a mass scale. 

Such a comparative approach avoids the danger of over-generalizing from one case to all others and enriches understanding of the complexities of political change in countries with long histories of centralized despotic power.

John Agnew is Distinguished Professor of Geography at UCLA. Before coming to UCLA in 1996, he taught for many years at Syracuse University in New York. A native of England and a resident of Westlake Village, he specializes in the political geography of Europe and the Mediterranean World.

His most recent books include “Berlusconi’s Italy: Mapping Contemporary Italian Politics” (2008), “Globalization and Sovereignty” (2009), and the “Sage Handbook to Geographical Knowledge” (2011).