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Providing a longue durée perspective on the Arab uprisings of 2011, Benoît Challand narrates the transformation of citizenship in the Arab Middle East, from a condition of latent citizenship in the colonial and post-independence era to the revolutionary dynamics that stimulated democratic participation. Considering the parallel histories of citizenship in Yemen and Tunisia, Challand develops innovative theories of violence and representation that view cultural representations as calls for a decentralized political order and democratic accountability over the security forces. He argues that a new collective imaginary emerged in 2011 when the people represented itself as the only legitimate power able to decide when violence ought to be used to protect all citizens from corrupt power. Shedding light upon uprisings in Yemen and Tunisia, but also elsewhere in the Middle East, this book offers deeper insights into conceptions of violence, representation, and democracy.

"Palestinian Civil Society examines the development of civil society in the Arab Middle East and the impact of western donors, with particular reference to the Palestinian case. Looking at the evolution of Palestinian civil society organizations from sociological, historical, legal and institutional perspectives, the book sheds light on the involvement of donors in Palestine, and the effect that aid has had on Palestinian civil society at a social, political and ideological level." "Accessible to non-specialists, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of sociology, Middle Eastern studies and development studies."--Jacket

Cet article est une réflexion sur le moment historique des premiers mois de 2011 qui fait entrevoir, derrière le mouvement social révolutionnaire l'esquisse endogène d'une société civile émergente réclamant un État civil. L'auteur revisite le concept de « société civile » – au-delà des formes structurées ou institutionnalisées attendues que sont les ONGs soutenues par l'aide internationale – pour l'étendre à des formes plus spontanées (le cercle familial) ou informelles (la sphère religieuse). Il est ainsi possible de voir le jeu complexe du religieux, notamment dans l'agir collectif. Enfin, l'article défend l'idée que l'État civil peut être une solution pratique et interne susceptible d'articuler une relation constructive entre religion et politique.

This article argues that the symbolic borders of Europe and the existence of external Others have been at times more important than Europe's center or its actual physical boundaries, especially during the first decades after the foundation of the European Communities. Analyzing textual and visual sources taken from some ninety French, Italian, and German history textbooks published between 1950 and 2005, the various sequences in which European integration has been constructed are highlighted. Communism, the first external Other, provided the first minimum common denominator for a nascent political Europe. It was not until the end of the Cold War that a projection of a distinct European identity appeared. Nevertheless, the role of new external Other(s) remains important for the evolution of the discourse of a European identity. This article draws attention to the Others, seeking to embed the Others' perspective in narratives of Europe.

Addressing attempts to define a common European memory on the theme of the Holocaust, and transformations of the Cold War discourses on totalitarianism and democracy. The article conceptualizes the persistent forms and new constellations of alterity that reproduce an East—West divide. The article shows that cognitive debates about Europe hint at constantly shifting relations between various parts of Europe and between Europe and its neighbors. A relational conceptual vocabulary is proposed to describe the debates on Europe following 1989. Cleavages and social distancing can be expressed in terms of different temporal locations (allochronism) which, when merged with a normative stance, can lead to a situation of heterochrony.

Résumé L'article analyse les mutations du leadership palestinien depuis Oslo, mutations qu'il faut placer dans une double perspective historique (querelles intestines à l'Organisation de libération de la Palestine depuis sa fondation en 1964) et sociologique (qui gouverne quoi, par quels biais et au nom de qui ?). L'article suggère que, pour pouvoir apprécier la nature du conflit qui oppose actuellement le Fatah au Hamas, il faut remonter à 1994 et comprendre comment une ancienne garde de l'Organisation de libération de la Palestine (OLP) de retour d'exil (les « returnees » ) a alors noué une alliance avec certains leaders des Territoires, faisant de l'Autorité palestinienne le véhicule privilégié pour le maintien d'un réseau néopatrimonial autour d'Arafat. En se basant sur plusieurs interviews et une analyse sociologique de quelques institutions clés palestiniennes (Parlement, Forces de sécurité, Ministère de l'intérieur, etc.), l'article offre de nouvelles pistes pour comprendre l'émergence d'une nouvelle génération de militants, aussi bien au sein du Fatah que du Hamas, qui a au final débouché sur une impasse après le coup militaire du Hamas à Gaza en juin 2007.

Until recently, the topic of charitable organizations seemed to have fallen in disgrace. Social scientists have given little attention to this sector of associational life. Instead, a great deal has been written on the issues of democratization through pressure groups or on the transformation of social movements into professional organizations while assessing the overall impact of development promoted by donors. Yet three signs point to the need for a better understanding of charitable organizations. First, new research studying Islamic activism through the lens of social-movement literature has offered innovative results. Second, studies on the impact of aid during the second intifada have revealed that charitable organizations as well as Islamic organizations offered a significant amount of emergency support, sometimes competing with professional nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Finally, the fact that Hamas, also known for running a vast network of charitable organizations, achieved such a significant political success in the 2005 municipal and 2006 legislative elections should invite social scientists to consider whether and how political momentum can also be obtained through activism in the charitable sector.