Essay On The Arab Spring

The Arab Spring in 2011 resulted in the spread of revolts against the harsh autocratic governments in various Arab countries and the fights for citizen’s political rights and civil liberties. It highlighted the importance to the people of these regions, and of the world, that the political tensions be resolved with respect for international standards. The Arab Spring has inspired people all over the world over, encouraging many to stand up to their own autocratic rulers. An important outcome of the Arab Spring is that it has mobilized the public as activists for positive change. Social media has played an extremely important role in the Arab Spring, creating awareness among other Arab countries as well as the United States. For example, In January 2011, Tunisia underwent their “Jasmine Revolution” which ended the authoritarian regime of former President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali. It sparked activism for political change in many parts of the Arab world. Currently, civil and political liberties have expanded, and Tunisia has experienced far less violence than some other transitional countries, which is illustrated in the data results. However, the use of social media caused the autocratic governments to suppress the public’s civil liberties even more than before the Spring. The effects of the Spring also led to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak being forced to resign in 2011, as a result of 18 days of protests and a harsh government crackdown that caused more than 800 deaths (Freedom House). Unfortunately autocratic President of Syria, Bashar Hafez al-Assad, remains in power and has tight control on both civil liberties and political rights. Despite their success, the Syrian people have continued to try to stand up for their human righ...

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...olent acts against the public. There are also similarities in how the various regimes attested to deal with the uprisings. I found that most of the governments cut off methods communications in attempt to suppress publicizing the issue.

There were some common challenges that the countries have faced throughout these uprisings. Besides Tunisia, most of the challenges that were faced during the uprisings were attributed to the religious divisions (Egypt, Syria and Bahrain) or tribal lines (Yemen and Libya). This in turn gave the autocratic governments the opportunity divide and weaken the public. However, the fight against the various autocratic governments has also brought together many divided groups with their common goals of a revolution. Another challenge that is faced by expelling autocratic governments through military coups, as demonstrated by Egypt and Tunisia