Authoritarian governments and remnants of the old regimes that were toppled in Egypt, Yemen, Libya, and Tunisia are opposed to popular demands for genuine political and economic reform. They have used all means at their disposal - hard power and soft power, to undermine the revolutionary achievements of 2011 and to thwart all attempts at democratisation. 
In Egypt, the military deposed the first ever elected president in a coup led by General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. In Syria, the Assad regime has employed its military might to kill its people and destroy the country in order to stay in power. In the Gulf, Sunni regimes have pursued a bloody sectarian crackdown against the opposition - liberal and Islamist - and have accused Iran of meddling in their domestic affairs. This lecture will address diverse authoritarian responses to the democratic impulse and analyse the long-term implications of the on-going counter-revolution. 

Dr Emile Nakhleh is a retired Senior Intelligence Service Officer, a Research Professor at the University of New Mexico, a National Intelligence Council Associate, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.  He has published frequently on the Arab Spring in the Financial Times and the Inter Press News Service. He is the author of numerous academic books and journal articles, including A Necessary Engagement: Reinventing America’s Relations with the Muslim World and Bahrain: Political Development in a Modernizing Society.