On Political Order and the “Arab Spring”

A year has passed since a young vegetable vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, immolated himself after his cart and dignity were taken away by police in the provincial Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid. Since the death of the 26-year-old, millions of similarly disenfranchised, poor, and prospect-less Arabs have risen in revolt across North Africa and the Middle East in a phenomenon widely dubbed the “Arab Spring.”