This volume aims at confronting the image of the Middle East as a region that is fraught with totalitarian ideologies, authoritarianism and conflict. It gives voice and space to other, more liberal and adaptive narratives and discourses that endorse the right to dissent, question the status quo, and offer alternative visions for society.

Wael Abu-'Uksa, Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, IsraelLutz Berger, Kiel University, GermanyMichaelle Browers, Wake Forest University, USAAsher Cohen, Bar-Ilan University, IsraelMeir Hatina, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, IsraelSune Haugbølle, Roskilde University, DenmarkMoshe Hellinger, Bar-Ilan University, IsraelRoel Meijer, Radboud University, NetherlandsThomas Philipp, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, GermanyClemens Recker, Heidelberg University, GermanyMathias Rohe, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, GermanyChristoph Schumann, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, GermanyManfred Sing, Leibniz Institute for European History, GermanyJakob Skovgaard-Petersen, University of Copenhagen, Denmark