This paper discusses the structural crisis of global capitalism and the prospects for systemic transformation in the next several decades in world historical perspective. We consider the contemporary network of global counter-movements and progressive national regimes that are seeking to transform the capitalist world-system into a more humane, sustainable and egalitarian civilization. How has the global financial crisis affected the network of counter-movements and regimes, including the Pink Tide populist regimes in Latin America, the Arab Spring democracy movements and the anti-austerity movements in Europe and the U.S.? We consider how the New Global Left is similar to, and different from, the global counter-movements in earlier world revolutions. The point is to inform collectively rational responses to the current crisis and to consider the prospects for the formation of a democratic global commonwealth.

The Arab Uprisings and their transformational impact across MENA have generated immense debate about the future of the region’s countries during a period of reorganizational crisis in the international political economy. At this stage of the unfolding region-wide transition in the MENA, this paper performs a two-step theoreticopractical examination of the processes between and after the Uprisings. A discussion will ensue on the prospective changes these nations will face in terms of the potential trajectories of systemic change between the embedded path-dependencies of the established regimes and the patterns of change demanded by the subversive Islamic factions.