The Arab Spring as a Challenge for Political Science

Political Science has failed to predict the Arab Spring. The present article aims at using this insight in a productive way by identifying and critically discussing crucial research questions, particularly: Is the Arab Spring of epochal significance, what role do civil society and Islamism play, in what way is the Arab Spring connected with globalization, how to describe and explain the new political diversification of the Arab Middle East and what are the conditions for future political development of the region? The present article heavily relies on the transition paradigm and the rentier state approach: In parts of the Middle East, the Arab Spring has caused open-ended political change, which has been shaped to a high degree by rent income and institutional settings.