The Arab Spring and its aftermath has become one of the most influential events of the twenty-first century. The series of revolutions reshaped several governments within the Middle East by outing long reigning dictators that the people had become progressively frustrated with. The Arab Spring both aligns with and contradicts several previous waves of revolution and is truly a twenty-first century conflict because of the role that modern technology played. Through studying the Arab Spring, political scientists have been given a glimpse into what future revolutions might look like, especially in regards to the expanding role of social media. In order for revolutions to occur, there must be several necessary structural conditions, which were all present during the Arab Spring. First, there must be fiscal strain, which is often caused by demographic changes within the region (Goldstone 2014). Many Middle Eastern countries during the early twenty-first century experienced a youth bulge due to policies encouraging childbirth (Amar and Prashad 2013) . This new wave of young people, especially the young men, were unable to find jobs and the subsequent financial stability (Amar and Prashad 2013). This led to dissatisfaction with the government and frustration that would soon turn into anger once a specific queue, according to relative deprivation theory, ignited the group (Gurr 1970). This queue was in the form of the self-immolation of a fruit seller named Mohamed Bouazizi after
I enjoyed reading your post this week, too. I agree with you with “the group (al Qaeda) has lost their ability to sway the minds of the Arab youth for recruitment purposes.” That is very true that other Islamist terrorist lost their influenza on the region, too. This shows that people showed their willingness and men of goodwill for a more democratic regime. Didn’t they?
* Then at least three sentences of FR, Arab Spring background/historical context that sets up the thesis
The term “Arab Spring” has emerged in academic literature as well as in the general media from about early 2011. It refers to the “awakening” of some Arab nations and the movements to replace authoritarian regimes with democratic ones. The theme of “spring” and “awakening” seems to have been borrowed from the 1989 reform movements in the former Eastern-block nations, such as in the former German Democratic Republic or Hungary. However, this comparison has been criticised by some analysts since both the circumstances which have led to these movements as well as the outcome of these reform efforts seem to differ quite a lot. Yet, the Arab Spring term seems to be still widely used and even found an extension in the creation of the term Arab Winter which refers to events that happened in 2012 in some Arab countries during which these reform movements seemed to have “cooled-off” and particular nations, such as Egypt, attempted to go back to the status-quo of the pre-2011 era.
Emergence. Dr. Lelah Behbehanian, Wendy Brown, David Harvey, John Hammond, Judith Butler, Donna Murch, and Piven et al. would all say the emergence of the “Occupy Movement” was inspired by the “Arab Spring,” the “Obama Autumn” and Neoliberal deregulation that supports each man for himself, but makes it difficult for most Americans to achieve are continuing to participate in the American Dream.
Emergence. Dr. Lelah Behbehanian, Wendy Brown, David Harvey, John Hammond, Judith Butler, Donna Murch, and Piven et al, would all say the emergence of the “Occupy Movement” was inspired by the “Arab Spring,” the “Obama Autumn” and Neoliberal deregulation that supports each man for himself, but makes it difficult for most Americans to achieve are continuing to participate in the American Dream.
In late 2010, a Tunisian named Bouazizi set himself on fire in protest against the poor economic situation in which he was living (CNN, 2011). Other Tunisians soon took the opportunity to resist their government and possible overthrow the leadership of Ben Ali. They took it as their responsibility to fight for the common good. Simple demonstration against the Tunisian government soon went ahead to an extent that Ben Ali had to leave the country. The events that followed the departures of the Tunisian president were the least expected. The revolts in Tunisia spurred citizens of other Arab nations to revolt against their governments. By the end of the years 2011, the Arab spring had claimed the presidency of three long serving presidents and
Following the Arab Spring, there has been a massive refugee surge from nations such as Syria, Iraq, and Libya. The vast numbers of refugees and asylum seekers often masks the increasing numbers of young highly-educated intellectuals who are emigrating from the region. These young professionals often flee the region through opportunities such as legal work abroad and through studying at international universities.
Change in society is not always bad, a time of transition from one phase towards another is something that might bring a better condition for the future. Even if the transition period are filled with violence, the end result of the transformation can be either in the shape of new government or even a society change. The beginning of those transitions and transformation are triggered by an action call social movement. In this paper, the writer will attempt to describe, and analyze one case of social movement in the world, more specifically the case of the Arab Spring.
Anonymous is more than just a hacking group—it’s a culture of people devoted to accessible information and transparency. Although the group is intent on making the rest of the world more transparent, Anonymous is also known for being secretive in its actions, making the actions it commits difficult to monitor and attribute to them. The Arab Springs uprising was one event in which Anonymous took part in where most of their actions were largely unknown to the public. However, despite the eponymous anonymity, Anonymous played a supporting role in sparking these uprisings and maintaining attacks as they saw fit, changing the dynamic and course of the uprising in a major way.
The Arab Spring was a series of revolutions across the Middle East and North Africa. In these revolutions, people fought for political, economic and human rights. This movement started on December 18, 2010. People protested and raised awareness because they were not being treated correctly in their own homes. These governments were very corrupt, unfair and did not-listen to what the people had to say. The people of the Middle East and North Africa were not going to stand for it. The Arab Spring was how most countries in the Middle East and North Africa were going to bring justice into the country.
In late 2010, a tidal wave of uprisings and protests in various parts of the Arab world emerged. It began with the Tunisian revolution when the martyr Mahmoud Bouazizi set fire to himself as a result of the deteriorating economic and social. This led to protests and demonstrations that ended with the fall of the ruling regime. In Tunisia which sparked the beginning of revolutions in many Arab countries, this is known as an Arab Spring. The question remains what are the real reasons that led to the Arab Spring and its effects? the causes of the Arabic spring May be varied, depending on the places, however the reasons can be a corruption in economic policies and demand social justice as the key motives and protests in the Arab world. This essay will discuss the most important reasons, and the effects of what is known as the Arab Spring.
A revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests (both violent and non-violent), riots, and civil wars in the Arab World that began on 18 December 2010, later gained the heading “The Arab spring”. The Arab spring began by a twenty six year old boy named Mohammed Bouazizi was getting ready to sell fruits and vegetables in a rural town of Sidi Bouzid Tunisia. Bouazizi was the primary supporter for his widowed mother and six of his siblings. The entire incident originated when the police officer asked bouazizi to hand over his wooden cart, he refused the police women allegedly slapped him after being publicly humiliated bouazizi marched in front of a government building and set himself on fire. The Jasmine revolution in Tunisia, the shock wave swept across the country which threatened the stability of this oil-rich region with repercussion felt internationally. After the world witnessed what happened in Tunisia, it caused a spilled over into most of the Arab countries. Such as Egypt, Libya Syria and Yemen. Aim of this paper is to show that the current situation corollary of decades of failed policies, exacerbated by an unsolicited foreign intervention. The extensive consequences, I will argue, require cautious attention and careful management from international communities as well as the Arab human rights committee. This paper seeks to explore the profound causes that prompted the so called “Arab awakening” and the covert hidden agenda behind the sudden pro democratic
Although the people’s voice is being heard and changes are being made, blood flows down the streets as people are being killed violently everyday. Many people believe it would have been more beneficial if the Middle East had completely avoid the Arab Spring or at least have gone a more passive road. Through the history of the region, leaders of Arab countries have anchored their position to later become rich and
Power is often seen as being held by those in authority positions such as Presidents, prime ministers and military officials. We are able to reflect on this traditional notion of power and connect it with the power at play in the Arab Spring, and thus gain an in depth look into the idea of discourse and social media within the Arab Spring. Through the post-structural theory and prominent thinkers such as Hobbes and Foucault we are able to look at the Arab Spring in a broad sense, looking at ideas such as the Ripple Effect which other theories may not enable us to look at. Also introduced will be the perspective of Max Weber’s structuralist theory, this stark contrast of post-structuralism will further solidify the idea that looking at the Arab Spring with the post-structural theory is a useful framework.
Mohamed chased after his 15 years old brother who secretly escaped to Syria to fight and be hailed a hero, just as his brother was after fighting in the Libyan revolution. Disbelieving, disappointed and devalued, Mohamed says “it’s our fault, we started a revolution and didn’t finish it” (Olivesi, 2014). His words sum up the contextual reality of many of the countries affected by the Arab Spring, not only in terms of the power youth asserted to demand change, but also their diminishing reflection that mirrors their helplessness throughout transcending societal spheres, as they once again become triumphed by institutional backwardness, prolonged elitism, corruption and socio-economic demands that are yet to be acknowledged. Even though Samuel Huntington (as cited in Kuhn, 2012) warned policy markers that too speedy modernization could result in rising expectations, popular anger and violent revolutions, the Arab Spring was long overdue and even though Egypt, Tunisia and Libya are not identical cases, their “Arabness” (Hayes, 2011) united them and garnered the mobilization effort to challenge the status quo.