Abstract
2011 was an extraordinarily eventful year in the world of Arab politics. Unprecedented levels of mass protest shook the foundations of authoritarian regimes across the region. The fall of three long-entrenched dictators in relatively quick succession1 fueled expectations that a regionwide domino effect might be in the making and that authoritarianism’s grip on the region might finally be pried open. The hope was that that the Arab world would, at last, catch the third wave of democratization, an ambition that had long eluded this part of the world.