The Arab Spring:
Why has the Arab Spring produced different results across the Middle East?
In the Arab world in late 2010, starting in Tunisia and flowering in Egypt, a movement of people frustrated by their governments, corrupt leaders and a lack of jobs suddenly felt safe to take to the streets. The Arab Spring began when a young Tunisian man set himself on fire to protest government corruption and poor economic conditions. This action inspired a wave of protests across Tunisia, which ultimately resulted in the ousting of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali from power.
The success of the political uprising in Tunisia sparked similar unrest throughout much of the Arab World and Middle East, most notably within Libya, Egypt, Syria, Bahrain, and Yemen. To date, the leaders of Egypt, Libya, and Yemen have also been overthrown.
In those countries that have not experienced government upheaval, a common outcome of the Arab Spring has been sustained civil unrest, political instability, and the extension of political and economic concessions by leaders seeking to appease protesters. Many questions could arise as one contemplated those events. One of these questions would be: Why has the Arab Spring produced different results across the Middle East? This paper is a humble attempt to suggest some answers to this sort of these logical questions.
What is the Arab World?
The Arab world consists of twenty-two countries encompassing all of North Africa and much of the Middle East. The Arab people number over 360 million and while they share a common language, there is a surprising degree of diversity among them, whether in terms of nationality, culture, religion, economics, or politics. (McCaffrey, 3) Most inhabitants of the Ar...
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... Arab states that faced massive protests: high unemployment among the young, corruption and political repression.
In fact, occasional protests occurred particularly in the Shiite east of the country. But the regime successfully used its rich resources to keep the country stable. The revenues from the oil sector allowed Saudi Arabia to offer concessions that helped to depoliticize strategic sectors of society, and to finance and increase security and intelligence forces. When protests occurred in other Arab states, the government immediately imposed a nationwide ban on demonstrations. King Abdullah also announced a vast subsidy program. Furthermore, the royal family received a valuable support from the influential Council of Senior Islamic Scholars which said that demonstrations are not compatible with Islam and therefore declared a ban on protests.
Ajami argues that universalism of Pan-Arabism derived from the universalism of the Ottoman Empire had disappeared after 6 decades. There is no longer a collective Arab crisis and nation states have alternate nationalistic goals. A case in point to support his argument would be the example of Egypt. The country has pertinent political and economic issues to concern itself with. Many face unemployment and the country is on the verge of bankruptcy....
The Arab American community The Arab American community has a population of about 1.8 million Arab descendants or immigrants that has been residing in the US since 1980, they are coming from different parts of the Middle east such as Sudan,Syria,Irak, Morocco, Jordania, Palestine, Somalia, Egypt and Lebano. They began to arrive in Michigan after Detroit in 1967, today is a huge the Arabic American is a huge community in that area of Michigan, They tend to maintain their culture and characterize as being a united community. They are financial support each other through community and religious organizations, they share their resources with other family or community members, here in the Middle East as well, helping their relatives that’s staying in their country to buy land and build houses and establish agricultural business. The Arabic community tends to naturalize as American Citizens, getting involved in the political activity that makes them one of the cultures that enhance in the assimilation process.
In 2010 the Middle East experienced a disturbing series of protests and riots against the government. The term Arab Spring was coined as an allusion for the 1848 revolutions that rocked the Arab world. This devastating revolution saw its inception in a chain of small scale protests for the democratization of the Arabian governments. With its start in Egypt and Tunisia it has not failed in affecting every Arab country from Libya, Sudan and Morocco in the West to Yemen and Saudi Arabia in the East. A branch of the same revolution has successfully managed to become the cause for a civil war outbreak in Syria and even stretched its influence outside the Arab world to affect Iran and Mali.
The authoritarian regimes of the Middles cycled through a pattern of anti-western policy until the globalization effects of economics and information demanded reform. As conservative Arab states try to maintain the autocracy they relied on after gaining independence, their citizens, affected by information and education expansion, challenge their resistant governments as typified by Syria’s unwillingness to capitulate. The proliferation of information and education underscored the protest movements of the Arab Spring because citizens’ contempt for their obstinate governments grew to large under economic pressures, as the current situation in Syria demonstrates.
Joyce, James. “Araby.” The Norton Introduction to Literature, Shorter Eighth Edition. Eds. Jerome Beaty, Alison Booth, J. Paul Hunter, and Kelly J. Mays. New York: W.W.Norton.
...ansformation, before the dust settles, we could see many more countries that have expelled their dictators for a blossoming democracy. Although the path to self-government is harder than it might seem, right now the people of these countries are united behind one cause. However, who knows what will happen once they oust their dictator? Who will come out as the dominating party? Will they share their new power with the rest of the people? Will the people in the Arab world ever get the chance to pursue their dreams? Or are they doomed to continuous power struggles that will deprive the citizens of the liberty they seek.
Maynes, Charles. "The Middle East in the Twenty-First Century." Middle East Journal 52.1 (1998): 9-16. JSTOR. Web. 6 June 2011.
Ibnouf, Fatma Osman. “Women And The Arab Spring.” Women & Environments International Magazine 92/93(2013): 18-21. MasterFILE Elite.Web.31 Mar. 2014.
Joyce, James . “Araby.” Literature: An Introduction to Writing. Roberts, Edgar V. and Jacobs,. Henry E. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2001.
As the Arab Spring enters its second year, major uprisings and revolts have occurred all over the Middle East, pushing for an end to the corrupt autocratic rule and an expansion of civil liberties and political rights. Most recently, images from Syria have emerged, depicting the government’s use of force to suppress the voice of its people. One might ask, “Is this the beginning of a revolution? Is the country on the path to democracy?” To assess this question and examine the future trends in the region, one must look back on the country’s somewhat tumultuous history, the relationship between the citizens and the state, and the political economy.
Political uprisings in the Middle East, especially in Muslim nation states have placed Arabian politics back on the focus point of international politics. Political events in certain Arab countries had an excessive impact on the political development of other neighboring states. Resistances and anxieties within different Arab countries triggered unpredictable actions, sometimes sorely to observe and believe. The authoritarian governments of Arabian countries led from various dictators have created a precarious situation for their people, especially in providing national security and maintaining peace in the region. Jack Goldstone argues that the degree of a sultan’s weakness has been often only visible in retrospect; due in part to the nature of the military-security complex common across Middle East states (Goldstone 1). In addition, the existence of various statesmen with political affiliation is concerned in faithfulness of its armed forces. Usually, the armed national forces of several states, mainly those in Arab countries are loyal and closely affiliated to their leaders, which have a major role in state regimes. Arab uprisings in their early spreading appeared legally responsible and with concrete demands from representatives’ peoples, calling for a more open democratic system and reasonable governance. Even though, the system in which popular frustration with government imposes alters considerably from one state to another. These public revolts against different authoritative governments didn’t halt just in Arab states, but they sustained also in the Far East and in the Eastern Europe. Can we say that the popular uprisings in Arab countries could be attributed to the term of globalization? In fact, globalization is a multi...
Joyce, James. “Araby.” Literature: The Human Experience. Abcarian, Richard et al.,. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2010. 92-96
The Arab Spring has impacted multiple countries in northern Africa and the Arab world and so far since the end of December in 2010, leading to the fall of the government in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen. Among the unarmed insurrections, social media and social networking technology functioned as a new strategy that empowered the protesters to gain successful uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt and inspired grassroots movements in other Arab countries.
...nd Politics." Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. Ed. Philip Mattar. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004. 890-895. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 24 Jan. 2012.
However, you need to understand the situation in Saudi Arabia first. The way people drive in Saudi Arabia is insane. I mean, imagine that all cars are not following the traffic laws. You can go as fast as the car goes and you wouldn't be stopped at all. Leading to the deaths of nineteen people every day on the country’s roads.