Published with Palgrave Macmillan, Defending Dictatorship considers the Arab Spring from the perspective of governments that faced protest to ask: can dictatorship be defended? Are monarchies more stable than republics? And what is the role of Islam in the relationship between ruler and subjects? Tracing the recent history of Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain, the book explores the factors that led to protests between 2010-13 and analyses speeches given by leaderships in response to unrest to understand why some governments fell while others remained.