The Arab Spring and it's effects on Politics and life in the Middle East

“The main legacy of the Arab Spring is in smashing the myth of Arabs’ political passivity and the perceived invincibility of arrogant ruling elites” (Manfreda). This quote basically summarizes the goal and reason behind the Arab Spring. The general aim of the Spring was targeted toward Arab dictatorships (due to the belief that they held rigged elections), the police force and their brutal ways of handling things, the high unemployment rates and basic corruption within the regions (Manfreda). The protesters agreed that they wanted social justice, but they couldn’t agree on how everything should be reformed (Manfreda). The demonstrations began in December of 2010 in Tunisia when a man set himself on fire. He was protesting the humiliation he endured from the police force (Lesch, Haas 230). This is what triggered the beginning of the domino effect of the uprisings. The name, Arab Spring, was developed through the Western media and was chosen due to uprisings occurring in Arab countries (Manfreda). The name has been criticized because the term, “spring,” implies that the uprisings were a positive revolution, it generalizes the situation and makes it sound simplistic (Lesch, Haas 240). It also indicates that the revolts were a consequence of being part of the Arab world, when actually they were due to internal affairs within each region (Dalacoura). The way a lot of Arab countries are run now is due to the effects of these revolts. People’s lives have been changed detrimentally. The Arab Spring affected not only politics, but daily civil life in much of the Middle East.

The revolts in the Middle East began in Tunisia when Muhammad Buazizi set himself on fire on December 17th, 2010 (Lesch, Haas 230). Protests in this area began to spr...

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...ion and uprisings usually don’t accompany these problems. One of the main reasons the activist groups became so forceful was due to the media emphasizing it. The media made a bigger deal out of the Arab Spring than necessary, so the word spread across the countries and it brought courage into more people everywhere causing the revolts to continue to grow. Egypt and Tunisian protests were aired on Qatari-based Al-Jazeera television channel even when there were continuous requests to stop it (Delacoura).

Works Cited

Dalacoura, Katerina. "The 2011 Uprisings in the Arab Middle East: political change and geopolitical implications." International Affairs (2012): 63.

David W Lesch, Mark L Haas. The Arab Spring: Change and Resistance in the Middle East. Westview Press, 2012.

Manfreda, Primoz. "Definition of the Arab Spring." 2011. middleeast.about.com. 26 March 2014.