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The United States Of The Middle East

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As years went by those who opposed the leadership of these despotic leaders were locked behind bars. Moreover, public exchequer was mismanaged. As their leadership realm and powers were strengthened, the civil rights of citizens to democracy and politics were negated. In some cases such as in Libya and Egypt, leaders such as Muammar Gaddafi initially had revolutionary slogans eventually took over power. However, these leaders did not strive to ensure that it was devolved to the masses. As such, the status of citizens reduced to that of aliens. The approach of the US strategy in the Middle East was to support Israel and to ensure status quo through endorsement of various autocratic leaders (Kivimäki 18). Thus, democracy was excluded …show more content…

15). His actions brought to light the widespread discontent among the population of Tunisia. Thousands of citizens that were unsatisfied with the status quo marched to streets, marking the start of widespread anti-government demonstrations throughout the country. Bouazizi lost his life on January 4th the following year. The country’s president was also forced to leave the country ten days later. A few months later, valance spread to other countries within the Middle East. Within a period of one year, the uprising had claimed four of the region’s longest serving leaders. The upheaval had a number of grounds, one of which was economics (Aissa 2). After gaining independence from colonial powers, most Arab countries embraced development and became major global players (Douglas 6). Socialist development philosophies were pursued by Arab countries including Yemen, Iraq, Egypt, and Libya. As years went by, oil prices fell. This resulted to the collapse of the socialist labor division. The economic models that had been embraced by various Middle East countries proved to be ineffective and produce sustainability and competitiveness. The economic situation of these countries was worsened by the global economic crisis of 2008. Additionally, though respective governments attempted to implement economic reforms, this too proved to be unsuccessful especially due to the fact that it was not accompanied by democratization. The

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