The conventional reading of authoritarianism and contentious politics in the Arabic speaking World has often implied that democratic liberals are entirely absent in the region, or that if they do exist, they are either entirely ineffectual or self-interestedly complicit in the authoritarian structures under which they live. It is a dark and accusatory narrative in which everyone becomes a tragic part of the mosaic of repression and dictatorship. But as I will argue, the reality is less tragic and more nuanced. The argument goes that both authoritarianism and democratic liberalism are rooted in the region and its history, have consistently impacted upon and shaped its political and social developments, and yet have embodied different communities and occupied different and parallel sociopolitical and cultural spaces. And while Western colonialism and the environment of authoritarian rule, rentier-states, and ideological purists (including radical Islamists) have sought to suffocate liberal activists and their ideas as well as blunt their impact, liberals have still managed to be heard and to generate change -- although to do so, the liberal democratic movement has had to emerge and re-emerge, and re-invent itself many times over the past two centuries. In so doing, democratic liberals have offered original and organic, home-grown conceptions and solutions that are inspired by local contexts, circumstances, and predicaments. Ultimately, the region’s relationship with liberal and democratic ideas is considerably more complex, local, and indeed richer, than most academic studies and the general media suggest.