̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Glen Rangwala

Unexpected experiences: Glen Rangwala reflects on Cambridge's first virtual Open Days

zs332 — Thu, 23 Jul 2020 11:00:22 +0000

Glen Rangwala, admissions tutor for Trinity College and director of the undergraduate programme in Politics & International Relations, was preparing for the ̽��ֱ��’s virtual Open Days – and wondered if anyone would show up.

Old suspicions remain after the Arab Spring

mjg209 — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 12:19:25 +0000

Western hopes that the Middle East's new democrats will be grateful for their support in ousting dictatorial regimes is misguided, a leading researcher will tell a debate on the aftermath of the first wave of the Arab Spring.

Glen Rangwala, lecturer in the Department of Politics at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, will be speaking at the Cambridge Festival of Ideas debate Where Next for the Arab Spring? on 25th October.

He says: "Old suspicions in the region of Western powers have not ended with the Arab Awakening - this was seen most obviously in the 'video riots' last month. Many politicians here and in the US assume that because Western governments are helping with democratic transitions or participated in the ousting old rulers, this will bring closer relations between the West and the Middle East. That is wrong: democrats throughout the Arab world saw the West as supporting the old autocrats until the very last moment, and even then remaining only lukewarm to the prospect of democratic revolution. ̽��ֱ��idea that the Middle East's democrats will be grateful to the West is misguided; old suspicions remain."

Rangwala will argue that despite the fact that many of the countries that experienced popular revolution, particularly Egypt and Tunisia, are currently going through large-scale economic change and seeking external investment this will not necessarily bring closer relationships with outside powers. In fact, economic problems mean many are seeing new waves of migration to Europe, and the rise of nationalist and leftwing parties that challenge more vocally than the Islamists the alliances with Western countries.

He will also touch on Western suspicions about popular political forces in the Arab world, particularly the Islamic parties, even when they are not totally justifiable. He says: " ̽��ֱ��Arab Awakening has the potential to perpetuate, even deepen, the awkward relations between the Arab world and the West, even as their political systems come to resemble one another all the more."

Also taking part in the debate, which will be chaired by Ed Kessler, Executive Director of the Woolf Institute, is Paul Rogers, Professor of Peace Studies at the ̽��ֱ�� of Bradford. He will argue that the Arab Spring promises much that will prove difficult to realise.

He says: "Continuing resistance from autocracies, high expectations of reform and deep societal divisions all make the process fraught. If the Arab Awakening does succeed it will also serve to marginalise radical Islamists. If it fails their power will be renewed."

Other speakers include writer and commentator Nesrine Malik, who will talk about the impact on women of the Arab Spring, and Dr Toby Matthiesen, Abdullah al-Mubarak Research Fellow in Islamic & Middle Eastern Studies at Pembroke College, Cambridge. He will be talking about how the Arab Spring protests affected the Gulf states, particularly Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, and how these states responded to protests both at home and in the wider Arab world.

̽��ֱ��debate is one of many at this year's Festival of Ideas, a 12-day celebration of the arts, humanities and social sciences.

̽��ֱ��biggest free festival of its type in the UK, it takes place from October 24-November 4, and features more than 170 mostly free events in and around Cambridge.

With a theme of ‘Dreams and Nightmares’, this year’s festival features talks and presentations from a range of leading academics, journalists and thinkers, including renowned BBC correspondent Kate Adie, Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, Radio 4 Controller Gwyneth Williams and Executive Editor of ̽��ֱ��Economist Daniel Franklin.

As well as discussions and debates on some of the biggest issues facing mankind, this year’s Festival of Ideas includes opera at the Fitzwilliam Museum, real ghost stories at the Scott Polar Research Institute and ‘Just a Minnow’ at the Zoology Museum.

It will also feature dozens of events and activities for children, including a performance by children’s poet Benjamin Zephaniah and a talk by Charlie and Lola creator Lauren Child, as well as live graffiti demonstrations, storytelling and print workshops.

̽��ֱ��Festival of Ideas is supported by Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� Press, Arts Council England, Barclays, Cambridge City Council, Anglia Ruskin ̽��ֱ��, ESRC Festival of Social Science, Irwin and Joan Jacobs, Heffers and Darwin Anniversary Festival.

*Where next for the Arab Spring? takes place at the McCrum Lecture Theatre in Bene't Street on 25th October from 7.30-9pm. More information: www.cam.ac.uk/festivalofideas/

A debate at the Cambridge Festival of Ideas asks What next for the Arab Spring?

" ̽��ֱ��idea that the Middle East's democrats will be grateful to the West is misguided; old suspicions remain."

Glen Rangwala

Hossam el-Hamalawy, Creative Commons

tahrir

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̽��ֱ��myth of the Arab Spring

ns480 — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 14:00:17 +0000

̽��ֱ��western media tends to portray the political uprisings in the Middle East as being broadly motivated by similar reasons and led by similar groups of tech-savvy young people, but surveys of people in the region paint a very different picture, a leading Cambridge researcher will tell a debate on the Arab Spring next week.

Glen Rangwala, a lecturer in the Department of Politics and International Studies, will tell a debate on the Arab Spring at this year's Cambridge Festival of Ideas that although the idea of the ‘Arab Spring’ is accepted by a large proportion of people in Arab countries, the reasons they are aligning themselves with it are very different and have grown more diverse the longer it has gone on. ̽��ֱ��debate is supported by Research Councils UK (RCUK) Global Uncertainties programme.

POLIS has conducted a survey with pollsters YouGov which monitors evolving popular opinion across 18 Arab countries throughout 2011. ̽��ֱ��poll uses a mix of internet-based polling and door-to-door surveys and tracks how the answers have changed since the early days of the Arab Spring.

̽��ֱ��poll shows people's political priorities ranged widely across the region. In Bahrain, the aspiration for civic equality has been the overriding theme around which national views have converged. In Syria, the freedoms of speech and of association dominate, although these two themes barely register in other Arab countries. In Tunisia and Egypt, the first two countries in which long-established governments were overthrown, the research shows personal security has come to dominate popular concerns, among both those who strongly supported the national revolutions and the small proportion who remain unsure of its benefits. Declining personal incomes are central to the support in Yemen for the protest movement.

In most Arab countries, Rangwala says the poll found those who support the Arab Spring most strongly also reported real or anticipated increases in their personal incomes so a financial motive was also evident. Interestingly, in view of media coverage, the poll showed over 35s are slightly more likely to take part in protests than younger people; concern over unemployment is most consistently expressed in countries that have not experienced significant protests so far; and use of the Internet for organising protests varied enormously across the region.

Rangwala says what clearly emerges from the research is the idea of a series of uprisings with different grievances, often different types of participants, and quite distinct types of political aspirations.

He adds: “What appears to unite them is the very idea of the Arab Spring, within which supporters, activists and even opponents of political reform contextualise the protests they see in their own countries. If people identify their national protest movements with the broader region-wide phenomenon of the Arab Spring, the perceived success of a civic uprising in one country will reinforce the estimations of the likelihood of similar achievements at home.”

New research shows true picture of what and who is behind the political uprisings.

If people identify their national protest movements with the broader region-wide phenomenon of the Arab Spring, the perceived success of a civic uprising in one country will reinforce the estimations of the likelihood of similar achievements at home.

Glen Rangwala

RamyRaoof from Flickr

Celebrating in Tahrir Square

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