Global Friday Presents
Dr. Mojtaba Mahdavi
ECMC Chair in Islamic Studies
Associate Professor, Political Science
University of Alberta

ABSTRACT: Six Years after the rise of democratic social movements in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), the region is in turmoil and the MENA democratic movements are caught between a number of rocks and many hard places. The rise of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, the ​proxy wars in Syria and Yemen, the return of military regime in Egypt and the collapse of the Libyan polity have replaced hope with despite, and contributed to the revival of old cliché about the Middle East. This cliché, known as the “Middle East Exceptionalism”, suggests the violent and autocratic culture of the Middle East resists democratic ideas and institutions. This presentation will problematize this naïve cliché and shed light on the multiple local, regional and global factors that have led to the rise and crisis of the Arab Spring.

BIO: Mojtaba Mahdavi is the ECMC Chair in Islamic Studies, and an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Alberta. His contributions have appeared in dozens of refereed journals and books in North American, European and Middle Eastern venues. He is currently working on two books entitled: The Unfinished Project of Social Movements in the Middle East and North Africa; and Towards a Progressive Post-Islamism in Postrevolutionary Iran.

Mojtaba Mahdavi is a recipient of several awards and grants including the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), IDRC Canada Partnership Grant, Killam Research Operating Grant, and Visiting Fellow Grant at University of British Columbia, among others.

His research and teaching lie in the areas of contemporary social movements and democratization in the Muslim world; contemporary Islamic political thought; and political economy, comparative politics and international relations of the Middle East and North Africa.

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Global Friday gratefully acknowledges funding from the Dean of CASHS