On the question of authority in the Arab Spring

Abstract

This article is a comparative theoretical study of authority in the Arab Spring which draws upon the work of Max Weber and Khalil Ahmad Khalil, and examines the theoretical importance of a shift away from authority understood along the lines of single, charismatic individuals. I argue that the central implication of the lack of dominant leaders in the Arab Spring is the potential for the growth of a popular form of charismatic authority. This popular understanding of charisma would have several important consequences for building a more broadly inclusive arrangement of democratic rule. First, it would allow for the self-realization of ordinary citizens in a way that was not possible in an authoritarian setting, where popular aspirations and demands were realized only abstractly, if not simply denied, by being invested in the figure of an ‘inspirational leader.’ This self-realization relies upon an important reversal of an image of Arab publics as incapable of self-governance. Second, it would signal a shift towards greater collective control in governance. In place of the relations of dependency and clientelism that have plagued many Arab societies since the formal end of modern colonial rule, popular charisma represents the prospect of political relations founded upon broad-based control, and towards this end, it would signal an embrace of greater accountability for those in positions of power. Finally, it can provide lessons beyond the context of authoritarianism, meaning for democratic theory, by outlining the consequences involved in investing undue authority in single leaders or offices.