Uploaded November 2021 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
International IDEA and The Edinburgh Centre for Constitutional Law welcomed Zaid Al-Ali to discuss his recent publication, Arab Constitutionalism: The Coming Revolution. Al-Ali is IDEA’s Senior Programme Officer in Constitution-Building in the Africa and West Asia region. His research and work focuses on constitution-building and peace-building, particularly in Arab countries.
Al-Ali’s previous work experience includes having practiced international commercial arbitration for 12 years and working for the United Nations on Iraqi constitutional and parliamentary reform for five years. Since 2011, he has implemented projects on and provided assistance to the large majority of constitutional reform initiatives in Arab countries. He has also overseen the establishment of the Arab Association of Constitutional Law, the region’s first regional network of constitutional experts.
Other discussants included Dr Michelle Burgis-Kasthala, Professor Nathan Brown (George Washington University), and Professor Mohammad Fadel (University of Toronto). The event was chaired by Dr Asanga Welikala and Dr Adem K Abebe (International IDEA).
Arab Constitutionalism: The Coming Revolution
After the 2011 uprisings started in Tunisia and swept across the Arab region, more than a dozen countries amended their constitutions, the greatest concentration of constitutional reform processes since the end of the Cold War. This book provides a detailed account and analysis of all of these developments. Individual accounts are provided of eight different reform processes (including Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Sudan), with particular focus on the historical context, the political dynamics, the particular process that each country followed and the substantive outcome. Zaid Al-Ali deconstructs the popular demands that were made in 2011 and translates them into a series of specific actions that would have led to freer societies and a better functioning state. A revolution did not take place in 2011, but it is inevitably part of the region's future and Arab Constitutionalism explores what that revolution could look like.
International IDEA and The Edinburgh Centre for Constitutional Law welcomed Zaid Al-Ali to discuss his recent publication, Arab Constitutionalism: The Coming Revolution. Al-Ali is IDEA’s Senior Programme Officer in Constitution-Building in the Africa and West Asia region. His research and work focuses on constitution-building and peace-building, particularly in Arab countries.
Al-Ali’s previous work experience includes having practiced international commercial arbitration for 12 years and working for the United Nations on Iraqi constitutional and parliamentary reform for five years. Since 2011, he has implemented projects on and provided assistance to the large majority of constitutional reform initiatives in Arab countries. He has also overseen the establishment of the Arab Association of Constitutional Law, the region’s first regional network of constitutional experts.
Other discussants included Dr Michelle Burgis-Kasthala, Professor Nathan Brown (George Washington University), and Professor Mohammad Fadel (University of Toronto). The event was chaired by Dr Asanga Welikala and Dr Adem K Abebe (International IDEA).
Arab Constitutionalism: The Coming Revolution
After the 2011 uprisings started in Tunisia and swept across the Arab region, more than a dozen countries amended their constitutions, the greatest concentration of constitutional reform processes since the end of the Cold War. This book provides a detailed account and analysis of all of these developments. Individual accounts are provided of eight different reform processes (including Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Sudan), with particular focus on the historical context, the political dynamics, the particular process that each country followed and the substantive outcome. Zaid Al-Ali deconstructs the popular demands that were made in 2011 and translates them into a series of specific actions that would have led to freer societies and a better functioning state. A revolution did not take place in 2011, but it is inevitably part of the region's future and Arab Constitutionalism explores what that revolution could look like.
