Abstract

The hermeneutic category of "Arab Spring" needs to be radically questioned. The uprisings were a symptom of a broader crisis of the Arab state as such, as highlighted by an analysis of the Egyptian and Syrian cases. Old socio-political structures are undergoing profound transformations, which are certainly not over yet; however, the stalemate between Islamism, on the one hand, and authoritarianism, on the other hand, seems to prevent the development of new and effective reform movements.