Spring forward?

The Arab Spring conjures up the image of a massive move to democracy in the Middle East and North Africa. In reality, of course, the picture is rather more nuanced. Indeed, developments and consequences have been so radically different within the states of the region, that it seems somehow misleading to talk about one Arab Spring as a singular phenomenon. If there is an Arab Spring, it is an experience as diverse as Spring-time in Paris, in Kinshasa and in Antarctica.

The pressure for change throughout the region has been met by the full panoply of possible responses. In one area, the Gulf, change has hardly occurred at all. The monarchies of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region have adopted a strategy of nominal appeasement, granting minor reforms or concessions. Saudi Arabia has offered women the right to vote and even to stand in elections. However, the elections themselves have a rather more limited meaning that one might expect. And women remain barred from