Monarchies and Republics, State and Regime, Durability and Fragility in View of the Arab Spring

In trying to ascertain the different trajectories followed by monarchies and republics since the "Arab Spring" in 2011, analysts and academics concur that a gap has opened, despite continuing debates as to whether analysing this imbalance between types of polity can help in understanding and explaining these diverse trajectories. Examining the Gulf monarchies produces the following arguments: (1) the monarchy versus republic issue is important for analysing Middle East politics in light of the Arab Spring and (2) the state as a frame of reference is important for understanding the nature of political change. Here, our analytical approach to the durability of the Gulf monarchies incorporates the concept of social order and the impact of pre-state patterns. Both "state" and "regime" are needed in the analytical framework, since, in this specific case, they are different categories, yet two sides of the same coin. Thus, state legitimacy equals regime legitimacy.