Despite the tumultuous events that swept the Arab world since the 2011 uprisings, it seems that many of the long-standing categories deployed in constructing an understanding of Middle East politics continue to persist. The euphoric reactions that gave rise to a very short-lived state of criticism of the long-held assumptions about the region’s “exceptionalism” in resisting democratization soon devolved into discussions about “enduring authoritarianism”. Civil war, regional conflict, weak parties, terrorism, and Islamism continue to be the currency dominating the research agenda on politics of the region. As a dataset presented by another paper on this panel shows, the mainstream political science research agenda continues to define the region through a particular prism of “high politics” of regimes and states. The paper investigates why this research agenda survives despite shattering events during the past two decades. It questions the persistence of binaries in the study of the Middle East politics despite the demise of such binaries elsewhere in the discipline. It also shows the convergence between the research agenda of the discipline and the hegemonic discourse of ruling regimes of the region, which the scholarship is predominantly critical of. The papers show that what the region has been experiencing is much more than a failed attempt at ‘democratic transition’ and no less than a historical transformation. Moving beyond the focus of politics as regime-change the paper further reflects on why politics of the region is not only defined through the ballot box, wars, street protests, but also in stadiums, universities, and cafes. The paper will investigate how the public sphere has been reshaped over past five years and how politics of contestation continue to manifest even in the most seemingly subdued environments. In doing so, the paper de-construct salient categories in Middle East politics, moving away from binaries of Islamists versus seculars and military dictatorships versus elected regimes as a way for understanding political developments in the region.