The Arab Spring Meets the Occupy Wall Street Movement: Examples of Changing Definitions of Citizenship in a Global World

Abstract

The essay takes the logic of Empire/multitude as a starting point for the study of forms of citizenship in an increasingly global world. The neo-liberal models of development that emerged in the South and the North in the 1980s have contributed to high levels of exclusion, expensive national security states, and economic crisis. While there are many historical economic and political differences between these models, there are also important similarities that can be seen in the protest movements that responded to them. The comparative study of the Arab Spring and the Occupy Wall Street movement offer interesting insights into the development of the multitude as a global actor. The results are economic and political agendas that reflect the specificities of these different regions of the global world and their intersection.

Keywords:

• Multitude
• Arab Spring
• Occupy Wall Street

Notes

By the Arab world, I am referring to the Arabic-speaking world which includes the 22 member states of the League of Arab States mostly in North Africa (but including Mauritania and Somalia) and Southwest Asia.

Waleed, 6 April Movement, American University, Washington, DC.