This chapter explores inclusions and exclusions embedded within the Omani economy as experienced by citizens and foreigners. The chapter shows, first, that contestations around labour market belonging and experiences emerge within the local structures of segmentation and the global nature of Oman’s labour market. Second, in order to understand economic belonging and citizenship in the Gulf, class has to take a central role. The production of difference and competing identities of local regionalism, tribal and community affiliation, religion, interior and coastal cultures, race, heritage, and gender all matter but need to be understood alongside the intervening variable of class. The subjectivity of experiences and perceptions of inclusion and exclusion exposes how the politics and practice of difference in global capitalism produces tensions, value, and forms of power that manifest in labour and class relations. These dynamics also generate resistance and contestation around the boundaries of inclusion and exclusion.

Chapter 4 examines issues of citizenship and religion, with a particular focus on the status of non-Muslims and women. After discussing the problematic notion of citizenship in the Arab world, the chapter analyzes the specific meaning and scope of citizenship in the post-2011 constitutional systems. The chapter shows, on the one hand, that despite significant improvements with respect to the past, non-Muslims and women are still excluded from full citizenship, which remains a prerogative of male Muslims. On the other hand, however, over the past few years, prominent religious leaders and institutions have called for a more equality-based approach toward citizenship’s rights for all people, irrespective of one’s sex and religious belief. Given the profound influence that religion exerts on law and society in Arab countries, these calls might well lead to the adoption of legal reforms aimed at reducing discrimination against women and non-Muslims, and might represent a first step toward replacing the differentiated citizenships that currently exist in Arab countries, with one single, full, and inclusive citizenship.

Chapter 2 discusses the systems of government and the distribution of powers under post-2011 Arab constitutions. It first examines the issue of the overconcentration of authority in the hands of the head of state (with the notable exception of the 2014 Tunisian Constitution, which provided for a genuine semi-presidential system and a fairly robust system of checks and balances [at least on paper]). A special focus is placed on the emergency regimes: Despite some attempts to prevent abuses, the new constitutional provisions governing states of emergency continue to grant the executive branch a significant degree of discretionary power. Furthermore, the chapter shows that not only horizontal but also vertical separation of powers has remained weak. The last part of the chapter discusses the main reasons for the overconcentration of power, namely the constitutional tradition, the patriarchal family, the “top-down” constitution-making processes, and external influences. One of the major consequences of the overconcentration of authority was to undermine the principle of popular sovereignty.

This book was originally completed in November 2022, at the time of the Israeli election and the formation of a new government. The Epilogue was added more than a year later, in March 2024. This addition was necessary since Israeli society has been experiencing two unanticipated major crises. First, the government’s planned ‘judicial reform’ divided society into two sharply antagonistic blocs that battled each other for many months. Second, the sudden October 2023 outbreak of the Hamas–Israel War in and around Gaza has already had profound results. The ‘judicial reform’ is presently dormant, while the Gaza War is intense and continuing. This therefore is an ‘interim epilogue’, an analysis of critical events whose outcomes are uncertain, and that will influence and mold society for years, if not decades, to come.

Recent decades have been characterized by the growth of diverse religious movements among both Israeli Jews and Israeli Palestinians. The various haredi sects have grown rapidly and strive to be autonomous enclaves, religious nationalists have successfully colonized the West Bank, and the ‘repentance movement’ struck roots among Mizrachim. Mystical movements have also flourished and pilgrimages to saints’ tombs extensively practiced. These diverse movements interact and some young haredim also leave their enclaves to join secular society. Among Israeli Palestinians, the ‘religious turn’ has also been significant, and the Islamic Movement has grown in size and influence.

Modern Hebrew was invented among Eastern European Jews as part of the Enlightenment and nineteenth-century nationalist development, and it became a cardinal feature of the Zionist Movement. Hebrew became the language of the small Jewish community in Palestine, and following 1948, immigrants to Israel were trained in the language. A thriving spoken and written Hebrew culture emerged. Hebrew is the language of Israeli pop music, and three genres – nationalist ballads, rock, and musica mizrachit – compete for popularity. Hebrew is challenged by the global power of English as a dominant language.

How were post-Arab Spring constitutions drafted? What are the most significant elements of continuity and change within the new constitutional texts? What purposes are these texts designed to serve? To what extent have constitutional provisions been enforced? Have the principles of constitutionalism been strengthened compared to the past? These are some of the key questions Francesco Biagi addresses. Constitution-Building After the Arab Spring: A Comparative Perspective examines seven national experiences of constitution-building in the Arab world following the 2011 uprisings, namely those of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. This interdisciplinary book, based largely on the author’s own work and research in the region, compares these seven national experiences through four analytical frameworks: constitution-drafting and constitutional reform processes; separation of powers and forms of government; constitutional justice; and religion, women, and non-Muslims within the framework of citizenship.