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Author

Dina Bishara

Other affiliations: University of Alabama
Bio: Dina Bishara is an academic researcher from Cornell University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Authoritarianism & State (polity). The author has an hindex of 5, co-authored 9 publications receiving 160 citations. Previous affiliations of Dina Bishara include University of Alabama.

Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article proposed the concept of "ignoring" to capture situations in which government officials appear dismissive (either through inaction or contempt) of popular mobilization, with discernible consequences for subsequent mobilization.
Abstract: I propose the concept of “ignoring” to capture situations in which government officials appear dismissive (either through inaction or contempt) of popular mobilization. The concept refers not only to actions by regime officials but also captures protesters' perceptions of those actions. Examples of ignoring include not communicating with protesters, issuing condescending statements, physically evading protesters, or acting with contempt toward popular mobilization. Existing conceptual tools do not adequately capture these dynamics. Although repression and concessions have been extensively theorized, scholars lack conceptual tools to understand responses that fall short of both repression and concessions. I introduce the concept of “ignoring” as a useful tool to focus on a subset of actions on the part of regime officials who are the targets of mobilization, with discernible consequences for subsequent mobilization. Drawing on research on the role of emotions in protest politics and on framing and social movements, I argue that ignoring protests can trigger emotional responses that encourage people to engage in protest, such as anger, indignation, and outrage. By integrating protesters' perceptions of the behavior of the targets of mobilization, not just of the security forces, the concept of “ignoring” helps explain protesters' reactions and their future mobilization, in a way that conventional concepts such as tolerance cannot capture. This analysis has important implications for broader theoretical debates on the relationship between regime response to protests and subsequent mobilization. Most importantly, it urges scholars to consider how ignoring can interact with other responses to mobilization, thereby altering the dynamics of the infamous the “concession-repression dilemma.” I use evidence from workers' protests in late Mubarak Egypt to illustrate these dynamics.

64 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a closer look at the take-over of power by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) is imperative to an understanding of a political system at a decisive crossroads, but also of the pathdependent implications of the military's engagement in politics.
Abstract: Though there are many expectations regarding the interim character of the current political order, the future of Egyptian democracy remains highly uncertain. A closer look at the take-over of power by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) is imperative to an understanding of a political system at a decisive crossroads, but also of the path-dependent implications of the military’s engagement in politics. We project that, irrespective of the institutional framing and the results of the current political transformation, the military will play a decisive role in the country’s political future. In addressing its role during the current revolutionary events, we account for the reason for the military’s engagement in politics, the path of the take-over of political power, and the military’s management of politics. Thus, our analysis will attempt to provide preliminary answers to three questions: When and how did the Egyptian military intervene directly in revolutionary politics? Why did it intervene? And how does it manage the transformation?

63 citations

Book
30 Aug 2018
TL;DR: In this article, Bishara examines the relationship between labour organizations and the state to shed light on how political change occurs within an authoritarian government, and to show how ordinary Egyptians perceive the government's rule.
Abstract: Successive authoritarian regimes have maintained tight control over organized labor in Egypt since the 1950s. And yet in 2009, a group of civil servants decided to exit the state-controlled Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF), thereby setting a precedent for other groups and threatening the ETUF's monopoly. Dina Bishara examines this relationship between labour organizations and the state to shed light on how political change occurs within an authoritarian government, and to show how ordinary Egyptians perceive the government's rule. In particular, Bishara highlights the agency of dissident unionists in challenging the state even when trade union leaders remain loyal. She reveals that militant sectors are more vulnerable to greater scrutiny and repression and that financial benefits tied to membership in state-backed unions can provide significant disincentives against the exit option. Moving beyond conventional accounts of top-down control, this book explores when and how institutions designed for political control become contested from below.

25 citations

01 Jan 2014
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present an analysis of the role of unions in the Tunisian and Egyptian transition from dictatorship to democracy, focusing on the role played by organized labor in mitigating political conflict and helping the process along.
Abstract: Egyptian and Tunisian unions have played radically different roles in their countries’ transition from authoritarian rule since the ouster of longstanding Presidents Hosni Mubarak and Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in early 2011. The legacy of different variations of authoritarian rule as well as the history of the respective labor movements has had significant consequences for their ability to shape post-transition politics. Whereas the Egyptian labor movement is fragmented, and control over labor organizations has become a battlefield for competing political forces in Egypt, organized labor emerged as an actor in its own right, playing a leading role in the Tunisian transition by mitigating political conflict and helping to move the process along. In both Tunisia and Egypt, “official” unions will need to address issues of internal reform to become more effective representatives of their members’ interests. In addition, the legal framework will have to be significantly altered, at least in Egypt. German and European policymakers, unions, and political foundations should support steps toward more effective and empowered unions that can represent workers’ rights by encouraging legal reform and supporting independent unions through training and exchange.

14 citations

Book ChapterDOI
30 Sep 2012

12 citations


Cited by
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01 Jan 2016
TL;DR: The case study research principles and practices is universally compatible with any devices to read and will help you to get the most less latency time to download any of the authors' books like this one.
Abstract: Thank you for reading case study research principles and practices. As you may know, people have search numerous times for their favorite novels like this case study research principles and practices, but end up in malicious downloads. Rather than reading a good book with a cup of tea in the afternoon, instead they juggled with some infectious virus inside their laptop. case study research principles and practices is available in our book collection an online access to it is set as public so you can get it instantly. Our book servers hosts in multiple countries, allowing you to get the most less latency time to download any of our books like this one. Kindly say, the case study research principles and practices is universally compatible with any devices to read.

848 citations

Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 2002
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the impossibility of the impossible to the inevitable and the inevitability of Russian mobilization and the accumulating 'inevitability' of Soviet collapse, and conclude: nationhood and event.
Abstract: 1. From the impossible to the inevitable 2. The tide and the mobilizational cycle 3. Structuring nationalism 4. 'Thickened' history and the mobilization of identity 5. Tides and the failure of nationalist mobilization 6. Violence and tides of nationalism 7. The transcendence of regimes of repression 8. Russian mobilization and the accumulating 'inevitability' of Soviet collapse 9. Conclusion: nationhood and event.

668 citations

MonographDOI
01 Apr 2017
TL;DR: Ketchley as discussed by the authors provides the first systematic account of how Egyptians banded together to overthrow Husni Mubarak, and how old regime forces engineered a return to authoritarian rule, drawing on a catalogue of more than 8,000 protest events, as well as interviews, video footage and still photographs.
Abstract: This book considers the diverse forms of mass mobilization and contentious politics that emerged during the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 and its aftermath. Drawing on a catalogue of more than 8,000 protest events, as well as interviews, video footage and still photographs, Neil Ketchley provides the first systematic account of how Egyptians banded together to overthrow Husni Mubarak, and how old regime forces engineered a return to authoritarian rule. Eschewing top-down, structuralist and culturalist explanations, the author shows that the causes and consequences of Mubarak's ousting can only be understood by paying close attention to the evolving dynamics of contentious politics witnessed in Egypt since 2011. Setting these events within a larger social and political context, Ketchley sheds new light on the trajectories and legacies of the Arab Spring, as well as recurring patterns of contentious collective action found in the Middle East and beyond.

158 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The concept of regime change cascades was first proposed by as discussed by the authors, who showed that regime change can occur in protest calling for regime change as well as revolution in the name of change, but these rarely lead to actual regime change.
Abstract: Works on the 1848 revolutions, 1989 collapse of European communism, 1998–2005 postcommunist color revolutions, and 2011 Arab uprisings frequently cross-reference each other, implying what is called here the concept of a “regime change cascade.” Research on these “Big Four” events shows that cascading can occur in protest calling for regime change as well as revolution in the name of regime change, but these rarely lead to actual regime change. Regime change cascades can occur through demonstration effects and active mediation, although common external causes and contemporaneous domestic triggers can cause events outwardly resembling them. Regime change cascades tend to occur where (a) there exists a common frame of political reference, (b) unpopular leaderships are becoming lame ducks; (c) elites lack other focal points for coordinated defection, and (d) structural conditions supporting a new regime type are in place. Cascading to hybrid regimes or autocracy may be more likely than cascading to democracy.

118 citations