The revolutionary wave that swept the Middle East in 2011 was marked by spectacular mobilization, spreading within and between countries with extraordinary speed. Several years on, however, it has caused limited shifts in structures of power, leaving much of the old political and social order intact. In this book, noted author Asef Bayat-whose Life as Politics anticipated the Arab Spring-uncovers why this occurred, and what made these uprisings so distinct from those that came before.

Revolution without Revolutionaries is both a history of the Arab Spring and a history...