Approach analogies with caution
Thomas Carothers
Responding to the hopes of the Arab Spring

Approach analogies with caution

Thomas Carothers
01 December 2011
Alliance magazine

When confronted with startling political events, we naturally grasp at ways to make sense of them. Historical analogies promise to demystify a disorienting present through insights from the past. As political change roiled the Arab world early this year, many western observers and policy actors quickly drew analogies to Central and Eastern Europe in 1989.

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