Beyond the Economics? The Role of Cultural Factors in Socio-Political Destabilization of the Arab Spring

Journal of Asian and African Studies. 2025. P. 00219096251324557–00219096251324557.

Shishkina A.

This article is aimed at analyzing the combinations of factors that triggered the processes of socio-political destabilization of the Arab Spring, and which can be considered in addition to the context of purely economic or political explanations of revolutionary episodes. Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) is chosen as a tool for analyzing the data, which allows to acquire intra-case generalizations while considering the specifics of particular cases. The author concludes that the low level of subjective happiness, the active participation of women in protest movements, and the presence of intra-elite conflict are capable of playing an important role in the processes of socio-political destabilization in the countries of the Arab Spring. At the same time, factors like the presence of a high number of football fans in the political field of the country are capable of catalyzing protest sentiments and playing a significant role in the development of destabilization processes, but only if the revolutionary mechanism has already been launched. QCA analysis showed that this factor at the low level of socio-political destabilization does not lead to a change in the political regime.

Keywords: Arab spring, relative deprivation, socio-political destabilization, intra-elite conflict, women in politics

Publication based on the results of: State Resilience and National Security of Russia in the Context of the World Order Transformation (2025)