Publication Date

8-2016

Date of Final Oral Examination (Defense)

6-14-2016

Type of Culminating Activity

Thesis

Degree Title

Master of Arts in Political Science

Department

Political Science

Major Advisor

Michael Touchton, Ph.D.

Advisor

Brian Wampler, Ph.D

Advisor

Isaac M. Castellano, Ph.D.

Abstract

The Arab Spring shocked the world of political science and international relations due to the collapse of many regimes that were commonly seen as stable. This research seeks to uncover how food pricing, which acted as a “threat multiplier,” incentivized unrest. Through the study of five nations from the Arab Spring—Egypt, Syria, Libya, Tunisia, and Jordan—two things are apparent. First, the monarchy of Jordan is the only regime that remained stable. Second, food prices played an important role in the mobilization of protest. This leads to a quantitative analysis between state fragility, food prices, and monarchies in the Middle East and North Africa region. Using the time period of 1995-2014 in the MENA region, I find that food prices are determinant in the state fragility scores and that monarchies are significantly more stable than other regime types.

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