Conclusion

The Middle East went through a turbulent phase in 2009 and 2011 with very little movement on democratic governance. The reassertion of the rigid and unresponsive political orders across the region, even worse the nightmare of Syria and Yemen, point to the return of a familiar pattern. The conceptualisation of the Middle East through the prism of contentious politics continues to be apt at capturing the game of cat-and-mouse played by the ruling regimes and their opponents. The Middle East continues to suffer from the absence of political representation and responsive governments. This does not bode well for the future as various opposition actors negotiate their responses to state repression and raise questions about the limits of compromises they are willing to make.