According to the DAWN 2021 Annual Report about the Arab world, the region’s peoples “continue to aspire to democratisation and respect for human rights.” Tyrannical rule and foreign governments’ support of it are key impediments to democratisation. The old social contract stipulated that regimes could rule as they saw fit as long as they provided for the safety and wellbeing of their peoples. Those pacts have clearly failed. Regimes are no longer able to fulfil their part of the bargain, and peoples’ aspirations have gone unmet. The time for a new social contract based on different assumptions…