The Arab Spring’s Protests and Transformations

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Table of Contents

Introduction
History of the Arab Spring
Timing of the Arab Spring
Causes of the Arab Spring
Internal Factors
Government
Impact of the Arab Spring
Conclusion
Works Cited

Introduction

Several Arab countries have witnessed a turning point in recent years, characterized by riots and demonstrations, stretching from North Africa to the Middle East. These protests and transformations were first witnessed in Tunisia towards the end of 2010 and largely spread in 2011 to several countries, in what was later referred to the Arab Spring.

Importantly, these protests led to varying degrees of reforms and transformation of different nations, say, toppling of powerful leaders who had served for decades. Among those who have been toppled include Zine El Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia and Hosni Mubarak of Egypt (Anderson 2). Unlike these two who were mainly overthrown as a result of demonstrations, Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi was killed after several months of riots and violence.

In the understanding of the Arab Spring, many people have concluded that it was influenced by a series of factors, like rising prices of commodities and the inspiration, which other nations derived from Tunisia and Egypt. In other words, the first countries to experience the demonstrations set the pace for several Middle East and North Africa states.

As a result, they got inspired that it was possible to transform the political leadership of their countries through demonstrations (Anderson 2). Additionally, there were other factors, which contributed to the uprisings across the Arab World, even though most of the nations have regained some stability, apart from Syria, which is experiencing antigovernment riots.

Importantly, the Arab Spring has led to a wide-range of effects, some of which haunt other countries of the world due to intertwined economic factors. This paper explores the factors, which triggered the demonstrations, the nature of the riots, the aftermath of the events, and some of the lessons that the world has learnt from the uprisings.

History of the Arab Spring

Even though these events and demonstrations are collectively referred to as the Arab Spring, it has been argued that some of the events going on in the Middle East are not purely Arab phenomenon since they are connected with other factors.

In essence, every country, which has witnessed the protests, presents different situations and citizens have varying reasons that caused them to push for reforms in their nations (Anderson 3). While the events, which have been witnessed during the Arab Spring, are considered to be connected, it is necessary to analyze the cases individually, since some of them do not affect the entire region.

It has been debated that the desperate act committed by Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia widely contributed to the uprising in the North African country, before spreading to other nations. Mohamed Bouazizi captured the attention of other citizens and the rest of the world.

Even though Mohamed Bouazizi was a vegetable vendor, he had a university degree and chose hawking because of the high level of unemployment in Tunisia (Amin et al. 31). On December 17, 2010, it was reported that the police took away Mohamed Bouazizi’s cart unfairly, arguing that he did not have a legal license to run the business.

Nevertheless, the step that Bouazizi took is what left millions of citizens and the rest of the world in shock; he lit himself outside a major government building and died. This sparked intense protests in the country, which later spread to other states in the Middle East, where Syria has become one of the most affected countries, with several efforts to tame the violence having been futile.

Timing of the Arab Spring

It is doubtless that the Arab Spring triggered the mind of various authors and experts to find out numerous facts about the issue. For example, the question, which most people have continuously asked is the timing of the uprising. In this context, the challenge has been to explain why the uprisings started in the year 2010 and not any other year. In some cases, it has been argued that the protests were predicted before by social theorist as they attempted to discuss the causes of uprisings and instability in the world (Amin et al. 32).

However, an array of factors came into play, including high fuel and food prices, high levels of unemployment, massive repression, and poor political and leadership structures. Other international factors like the role of the United States in the Arab World also came into play, allowing the situation to be more complex, as most of the affected countries remained under the oppression of dictatorial leaders.

Even though the uprising was inevitable in the Arab World, other factors like the electronic media came into play, especially in mobilizing youths and spreading propaganda. Various organizations turned out to be channels of information, including universities and mosques, which played a crucial role in connecting the country with what was going on (Amin et al. 32).

In other words, access to information did not depend on the willingness of the government to inform its people or not. However, it is important to note that the social media has been effectively used in these countries as a facilitator and not as a driving factor.

Causes of the Arab Spring

The Arab Spring was caused by intertwined factors; no single factor can be used to explain the causes of the uprisings in the Arab World. It is also important to note that most of these countries have witnessed protests before even though the causes have never been organized as witnessed recently in North Africa and the Middle East.

This explains why most of the previous attempts by citizens to topple these governments were unsuccessful in the past, say in Tunisia and Egypt. Based on this analogy, it is possible to link the success of the Arab Spring to several factors, which have provided a united force and impact in the world (Cordesman 2).

While this is the case, it is equally evident that some of the factors did not have significant impact in countries where uprisings never succeeded, say Libya and Syria, or in countries like Saudi Arabia, where revolts have never gained momentum because of the leadership. Besides explaining how the Middle East and North Africa toppled their authoritative governments, it is important to understand the reasons behind such a course of action.

Internal Factors

It is worth noting that revolutions occur because of various reasons. In other words, it is rare to find a government being overthrown as a result of a single reason. A wide- range of factors have contributed to the Arab Spring, including unemployment, high food prices, and violation of human rights among others.

For the case of Egypt, the income gap, which had persisted during the reign of Mubarak, is considered to have contributed to the uprisings (Cordesman 2). Due to this, more than half of the population lived on $2 a day, making it hard for them to meet their essential needs.

During this time, the country had an average per-capita income of 6,200 USD. While this was the case, Egypt was also ranked as one of the countries with increasing food prices. That made it hard for citizens to meet their basic needs, causing them to protest and compel the government to intervene and provide a lasting solution to the problem.

Another cause of the Arab Spring was unemployment. Most the Arab countries have high levels of unemployment, which have been precipitated by other factors. As a result, unemployment has remained a major cause of insecurity and unstable political systems in the region.

According to a report released in 2011, over twenty four percent of trained citizens of these countries cannot get employment. This percentage of unemployed people is seen to be too high yet most of these countries have been unable to initiate programs aimed at creating more jobs because of the impact of global financial crises (Muravchik 28).

As mentioned before, the Tunisian who lit himself and sparked protests around the country did so because he was unemployed graduate selling vegetables, before meeting the unfair treatment from the police. Most rioters believed that their governments had failed in creating new jobs, and were therefore unfit to take charge of their countries.

Government

In understanding the causes of the Arab Spring, it is essential to note that these governments have major elements, which are common and play a major role in determining the impact of the protests.

For example, the countries have had a long history of dictatorship perpetrated by presidents, kings, and prime ministers. They have therefore followed almost an identical pattern in exercising their authorities. This has been achieved through governments’ dominance in all departments so that there is one point from where the different sections are manipulated from (Muravchik 30).

As a result, most of the dictators have assumed positions, which allow them to become the primary crafters of decisions, which they perceive to be fit in the running of the country. Additionally, the decisions are made in a manner that eliminates the possibility of being harmed or opposed by the public. Whilst this is the case, it is sometimes not easy because one has to attend to the needs of all the social classes, including the wealthy, elites, and the lower class.

In order to capture the attention and support of a given group, it is important to address its needs through the improvement of healthcare, streamlining the education sector and expansion of industries for the purpose of creating jobs. This method of leadership has been adopted by various leaders in the Arab World without knowing that it equally makes a leader more vulnerable (Cordesman 3).

During an economic crisis, like it has been witnessed before, elites usually demand more than what can be offered while the educated exert more pressure, demanding more job opportunities and a fair voice from the government in addressing their needs. This combination makes the leader to lose his legitimacy and may trigger efforts to topple the government of the day.

Poor governance equally led to the Arab Spring, as citizens of the affected countries believed that their respective governments had failed to promote commendable leadership approaches. For example, corruption and absence of political freedom are common characteristics of Arab World countries.

Egypt had been under political captivity for a very long time, with unsuccessful efforts to restore political freedom. After the Six Day War of 1967, several changes were implemented in Egypt, which led to limited freedom. Following the changes, police were given more powers and autonomy in restoring order in the country. Additionally, several constitutional rights were terminated, with the government arguing that the move was necessary in order to overcome insecurity threats in the country.

Besides these inhumane moves, Egypt also detained its citizens who seemed to speak for the voiceless and closed media organizations, which criticized the government or appeared to enlighten its citizens (Cordesman 4). The military courts were also common in Egypt before the revolt, even though it has been tied to other factors like the global war against terrorism, as a way of promoting human rights.

As mentioned before, advancement in technology has played a major role in the Arab Spring, especially in promoting the flow of information through the internet. Middle East and North Africa countries had to confront the challenge of social media as most young people connected through the internet.

Other groups and organizations, which were against the regimes found social media, to be a channel through which they could expose the failures of the governments. Messages targeting governments and calling upon all citizens to join the revolt were all over on the internet, forcing some countries to disable Twitter and Facebook in their countries (Muravchik 30). It should however be clear that this technology did not trigger violence in these countries; it facilitated communication during the uprisings.

While internal factors played a major role in triggering the uprisings, it has equally been argued that international factors influenced the success of these revolts. Their geography also mattered and international relations with other players like the United States and European countries (Amin et al. 150). For instance, Egypt is the largest Arab state and made history to be the first country to seal a peace deal with Israel.

Additionally, Mubarak maintained a good relationship with the United States and had influence on matters relating to Palestine. These countries maintained good ties as Egypt remained Israel’s major supplier of petroleum products. Nevertheless, the end of Mubarak’s reign was the beginning of a turbulent relationship between Egypt and Israel as some Egyptians suggested the termination of the peace agreement.

Impact of the Arab Spring

The revolts in the Middle East and North Africa countries have had significant impact within the region and across the globe because of the interconnectivity of global economies. Importantly, a wide-range of effects, have been witnessed as a result of the diverse nature of the region. For instance, the revolts, which were witnessed in Tunisia and Egypt, were not easily replicated in other countries like Syria, Libya, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain (Amin et al. 150).

International military played a major role in supporting Libyan rebels, who were fighting government troops as Saudi military reinforcement helped Bahrain to overcome the protests in the country. Nevertheless, oil-rich Gulf States are likely to resist the political change using any means in order for them to remain in power, especially after successful revolts in the region.

Even though it was initially thought that the Arab Spring would result into realignment of power structures, this has not been the case because of several reasons. For instance, most players remained convinced that their oil supply was secure, thus eliminating the need to develop alliances with other nations (Cordesman 4). In addition, the United States and the European States believed that there were more options on how to connect with these governments especially after the fall of the dictators.

On the other hand, it has been argued that the Arab Spring may lead to the re-emergence of Egypt as the super power of the Arab World. Events, which were witnessed during the revolution, were quite significant as it was projected that the revolution would spread to other countries in the region. The consolidation of the military and plans to prosecute Mubarak were clear indicators of unending power of protest.

Moreover, the intervention by Western countries may have had a significant impact in the region in helping to resolve the conflicts through military and diplomatic approaches. Western countries were not quick to intervene during the uprisings in North Africa, in order to give the African Union the priority of participation as a way of safeguarding their credibility. As a result, their voices were heard through African Union, as they supported rebels in bringing down dictatorial governments in the region (Cordesman 4).

It is worth noting that the replacement of dictators in the Arab World will promote economic stability. For example, the emerging political environments will be paramount in determining the price of oil around the world (Amin et al. 120). There was an increase in the price of oil from $89 to $125 due to the expected drop in the production since the uprisings were expected to continue across the region.

This was mainly because the Arab World’s oil reserves add up to 60% and its production is approximated to be 35%. It has therefore been argued that one of the global effects of the Arab Spring is the increase in oil prices.

The revolutions are also likely to promote nationalistic approaches towards economic development. For instance, most of the countries are occupied with the urge of promoting democracy and not necessarily focusing on the production of oil.

Since oil production is not given preference, there is a likelihood of high oil prices. This might cause a slowdown in the recovery of the world’s economy (Anderson 7). A shift towards social equality is likely to dominate, since it is the main reason that triggered the revolts in several countries. It can therefore be seen that the Arab Spring continues to exert its effects upon the entire world, since oil is the main economic driver globally.

These countries have also suffered economically as a result of destroyed infrastructure during the conflicts. Roads and railway systems were destroyed, thus paralyzing economic development. The uprisings have also led to deaths of people and displacement of others, resulting into humanitarian crises. For example, Turkey continues to strain by hosting thousands of Syrians who have fled from their home country.

Conclusion

From this analysis, it is clear that the Arab Spring was caused by several factors, which were highly intertwined. Nevertheless, the need to end dictatorial regimes was a leading factor, as citizens of these nations became impatient with oppressive leadership. Other internal factors like corruption and unemployment further promoted rioters to remain determined during the uprisings. Importantly, the Arab Spring has been widely blamed for high fuel prices emanating from low production.

Works Cited

Amin et al. After the Spring: Economic Transitions in the Arab World. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press, 2012. Print.

Anderson, Lisa. “Demystifying the Arab Spring.” Foreign Affairs 90.3 (2011): 2-7. Print.

Cordesman, Anthony: Rethinking the Arab Spring. Center for Strategic and National Studies, 2011. Web.

Muravchik, Joshua. “Neoconservatives and the Arab Spring.” Commentary 132.2 (2011): 28-35. Print.

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