Revolutions in the Middle East

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“We want to be, I think, an example for the rest of the Arab world, because there are a lot of people who say that the only democracy you can have in the Middle East is the Muslim Brotherhood.” said King Abdullah II of Jordan when asked about his country and the possibility of democracy in the Middle East. There have been many questions asked about whether or not Arab countries had the capability to achieve democracy (Baroud). Out of all of the countries of the Middle East, Israel is the only democracy and is also the only non-Arab country (Baroud). Three examples of revolutions against the government in the Middle East are Egypt, Libya, and Syria. There are major differences between the tree such as death toll and length of the conflict. There were also some similar patterns such as reasons for starting, use of social media, and the end results. The World involvement in the conflict varies from one revolution to the next, but all have the world’s watchful eye on them. John Locke was a seventeenth century French philosopher who once said, “All mankind... being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions.” His ideas were that men have natural rights: life, liberty, and property; and when those rights are being taken away, it is justifiably correct to rebel against your government. This philosophy has fueled many revolts and civil wars around the world. A similarity between most of these conflicts is the battle over basic needs of the people, following Locke’s philosophy.
There were revolts on the 40th anniversary of 1973 Arab-Israeli War in the major squares of Egypt ("Egypt News Update"). High security had already been put in place in preparation in large cities as the revol...

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...“Libya in Maps.” Map. BBC. BBC, n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2013. .
Parks, Cara. “What’s Going on in Egypt?” Huffington Post: n. pag. The Huffington Post. Web. 18 Oct. 2013. .
Rettig, Jessica. “Death Toll of ‘Arab Spring.’” US News. U.S. News & World Report LP, n.d. Web. 8 Jan. 2014. .
Stephen, Chris. “Assassination Pushes Libya towards Civil War Two Years after Gaddafi’s Death.” The Gaurdian. Guardian News and Media, 19 Oct. 2013. Web. 6 Feb. 2014. .
“Syrian Civil War.” Britannica School. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2013. Web. 17 Sep. 2013.

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