Authoritarian Regime Resiliency in the Middle East: A Comparative Case Study of Syria and Jordan

Following the onset of the Arab Spring in 2011, the authoritarian regimes of the Middle East were expected to crumble while paving the pathway to democratization. Yet many of these regimes have remarkably survived. Even the regimes that had been toppled following popular protests were displaced by more repressive regimes characterized by the same form of rule as their predecessors. A prominent example of this pattern is Mubarak\u27s regime that was initially displaced by Morsi\u27s democratically elected government until it was overthrown by a coup spearheaded by General Sisi and replaced with a military dictatorship that persists today. The number of authoritarian regimes in the Middle East today is no different than it was pre-2011, hence the purpose of this thesis is to explore the factors that contribute to the resiliency of authoritarian regimes in the Middle East. This will be achieved by comparing two different variants of authoritarian regimes in the Middle East that have experienced similar outcomes, regime survival. Utilizing primary language sources, this thesis will examine (a) Syria that represents an authoritarian regime characterized by republican rule and (b) Jordan an authoritarian regime characterized by monarchical rule (linchpin monarchy)