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The conference is organized under the auspices of the Oriental Institute,Czech Academy of Sciences and Centre français de recherche en sciencessociales (CEFRES) in Prague, with the kind support of Groupe de Rechercheset d'Etudes sur la Méditerranée et le Moyen-Orient (GREMMO, Lyon) andCercle des Chercheurs sur le Moyen-Orient (CCMO).Since 2009, the protest movements have spread like wildfire throughout theregions of the Middle East and North Africa. On a closer look, theprotests were far from uniform, both in terms of their origins as well astheir objectives. Some were provoked by electoral fraud, others by growingsocial discontent. Although factors such as corruption and ineptgovernmental responses to the needs of the time featured everywhere, civicrights and political freedoms were at the top of the demonstrators’ agenda in someplaces, while they had already become the norm elsewhere. Furthermore, themasses turned out on the streets in places as culturally and historicallydiverse as Iran (2009), the Arab countries (2011), Israel (2011) andTurkey (2013). Indeed, apart from sharing the same geographical location,the very centers of protest, such as Cairo, Istanbul, Tehran and Tel Aviv, donot have that much in common, ethnically, socially or politically.Some issues are common, however, such as the calling for a renewal of therelationship between the state and its citizens, the issues raised by thehectic urbanization of the previous decades, the interface between thereligious and secular worlds, structural challenges within thesesocieties, and, above all, the fallout from the 2008 economic crisis andthe subsequent renewed centrality of social conflicts. Even so, these commonly sharedissues had a variety of different impacts on Middle Eastern societies, dueto the wide diversity of contexts. Keeping this diversity in mind, theconference aims to bring together political scientists, historians,geographers, sociologists, anthropologists and other academics who havespecialized in studying relevant countries/societies. Instead of trying tobridge the unbridgeable via recourse to abstract theoreticalconstructions, the conference aims at multi-level comparison, based on arespect for the individuality of particular cases.Conference venue: Prague, May 29-30, 2014.Language of the conference: English and French.Guidelines for applications:1) Abstract of around 500 words (in either English or French)2) A short bio, including a list of publicationsThese, together with any other queries, should be sent tozouplna@orient.cas.cz or steuer@orient.cas.czDeadline: March 1, 2014.Conference fee: 30 EURThe organizer does not provide accommodation, but can arrange it (atdiscount rates). Travelling costs are covered by the participants at theirown expense.