ESCWA. The present report studies the Arab middle class; an important social group that is relatively little understood despite the fundamental role it has played in shaping the economic and social development outcomes in the Arab region. This report contributes to the ongoing debate about factors that led to the Arab uprisings and the difficult transitions to democracy that followed the departure of long-standing dictators by marking elements influencing middle class allegiances, specifically those that weakened their well-established alliances with ruling regimes.