In the early years of the new millennium the Arab world was complex with diverse sociopolitical scenarios. Saudi Arabia's political prominence, the wealth of the Gulf, and the resurgence of Jordan and Morocco with their respective young monarchs ascending to the throne, contrasted with the fragile economic conditions, poverty, censorship, corruption, pervasive frustration and evaporating political credibility of other Arab nations like Tunisia and Egypt. In Tunisia, the Ben ʿAli government responded to dissent with repression; citizens were routinely denied access to the web, to such an extent that Reporters without Borders labeled Tunisia an ‘internet enemy’ (cf. Perkins, p. 215). Meanwhile, in Egypt the state monopolized dissemination of information and opinion formulation of the media (cf. Osman).

Some contemporary political theorists (cf. Brumberg; Zakaria) tried to define the historical juncture these nations were going through by coining terms such as ‘illiberal democracies’ or ‘liberalized autocracies’, so as to depict the increasing deliberation that was underway in the Middle Eastern region. Not by chance, by 2011 the precarious political situation of Tunisia was about to erupt in a decisive turning point that has had ongoing repercussions on the whole region to the present.

The Tunisian ‘revolution for dignity’ (Perkins, p. 214) overthrew the Ben ʿAli regime and offered inspiration to victims of similarly repressive autocracies in Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Syria and Bahrain, but with painful downsides. In this, the WikiLeaks disclosures of 2010 was instrumental in fomenting regime opponents (cf. ibid.), especially in Tunisia and Egypt (Mabon). Anti-government protests broke out quickly. Social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, internet blogs and Skype became platforms where young people expressed their animosity toward the political entourage, and at the same time served as communication vehicles that globally broadcasted information and images taken with mobile phones. These vernal uprisings employing technology were followed by an extraordinary number of other historic happenings within a few years, such as the birth of the Islamic State – often referred to as IS, ISIS or by its Arabic name, dāʿiš – huge migration flows toward Europe, international instability and closure of borders.

All these events have had an impact on language teaching, since the discipline is not ‘the result of trends succession’ (cf. Balboni in Serragiotto 2004, p. xxii), but follows the pendulum swings of history, politics and societal changes.