Political Cataclysms in the Arab World during 2011

When people generally think of Middle East, they either picture newly developed Arab economies or Muslim dominated volatile regions. However, the Middle Eastern society mentioned in Taking sides is not limited to the few nations defined by geo political lines drawn in the map, rather it is a complexly mixed society of religious factions, different ethnic group and political ideologies, each separated within boundaries of nations. As modern history goes, these factions within the Middle Eastern nation has always contributed hostility to the entire region. Primarily, the faction between Sunni and Shiite fundamentalist can be traced as root cause of

     It is a tragedy of global proportions that the world’s Arab peoples, practically without exception, live under dictatorships which have systematically impoverished their sociopolitical, cultural and economic development. A report by 30 Arab researchers on behalf of the UN Development Fund in 2002 looked at 22 Arab countries with over 280 million citizens. It found that more than 50% of Arab women are illiterate; spending on scientific research was a pitiful 0.4% of GDP; 0.5% of Arabs had access to the internet; there are more books translated into Spanish each year than into Arabic in the last ten centuries; economic growth over the past decade averaged just 0.5% per annum due to lack of investment. The

The Arab Spring was a series of uprisings in the Middle East beginning in the year 2011. The results of these revolutions are still being felt in places present day such as Syria. The wave of uprisings began in Tunisia and slowly spread throughout the regions, with notable long lasting campaigns involved in countries such as Syria, Libya and Egypt. The hope of political scientists at the time was that the Middle East has had enough of tyranny and oppression and was finally taking control to overthrow the aggressors and institute democratic change. This was simply not the case, as Tunisia was the only success story and the rest of the nations involved had their uprising crushed, or the country went into a period of a prolonged civil war. There

While the aftermath of World War II is often referred to as one of the primary creators of deep rooted turmoil in the Middle East region, the effects of the Cold War and the United States often over-zealous battle against communism is just as much a contributor if not more. The Arab world and the Middle East region were clearly going through quite an extraordinary period throughout World War II and its conclusion, primarily with the creation of most of the states we recognize today and struggling with the continuation of colonialism. These factors set the stage for the emergence of strong nationalist sentiments and Pan-Arab movements across the Middle East. Unfortunately, and much to the detriment of the region, the leaders of these young

The good relationship between the nationalist elected president, Shukri al-Quwatli, and Egypt brings the creation of the United Arab Republic where the Egyptian president leads the new state; nevertheless, a group of Syrian army officers disagrees with the union, takes the power, and dissolves the new state. The Baathist cabinet appoints Amin al-Hafez as the new president, but his power last just three years until a new coup arise, and Hafez al-Assad was elected as defense minister. In 1970, al Assad overthrows president Nur

Another reason why the arab spring occurred was because of unemployment. Due to the significant rise in population over the years, and government’s inability to create jobs, many grew frustrated and poor as a result of these conditions. The middle east has also had a very unstable political groups constantly taking over power. From religious extremists groups to leftists groups. Because of the common land that all endured political instability, many revolutionists from all over the Middle East were able to unite on certain common ideology and citations. Needles to say, the unemployment that overwhelmed the middle east was able to unite upset civilians all over the arab world which is why the Arab Spring was as great as it was.

Have you ever been to the Middle East? Well, if you haven't, you sure are missing out on a lot. There is one thing for sure, you are missing out on those Arab Springs. Yes, I said it, Arab Springs, which are getting into a big issue. Arab Springs is a series of anti-government protests, uprisings and armed rebellions that spread across the Middle East in early 2011. The people in the Middle East are uprising their rulers’ choices of their decisions and hoping to have a democracy. There were many countries, which overthrew their government, like Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, and Libya. There are still many countries, which is still ongoing to overthrow their government like Syria and Bahrain. During the process with the conflict in the Middle East, there is a lot of questions to answer, the causes, succesful uprising and ongoing uprisings, and how it affects the United States.

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

However, rather than narrating the story of individuals or groups, the author assimilate all the players, big and small political actors into comprehending the Middle East. She analysed the intertwined links and interactions that exist among the rulers, rebels and rogues in order to apprehend how this impacted the region (2016, xx). Moreover, from the book the commonalities of the policies, structures and trends between states in the Middle East were identified. Through the author’s researches there were patterns that could be pinpoint throughout different times and areas (2016:

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 revolution has begun by the people in the Middle East against their long time dictators. The domino effect began first with Tunisia then Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, and Libya. Thousands of protestors were gathered on the streets with posters, shouting for change and democracy. Why would there be protests unless the people are unsatisfied with the way the country is governed. Why would they go against their dictator unless they feel they have no rights and that they have no voice. Unlimited power should never be given to one person; the chances of corruption are very high because power can change even the most virtuous individual. That is why the path of a dictatorial country is a path of strife, oppression and economical downfall.

4. Samir Kassir describes Arabs’ perpetual sense of “malaise,” or despair, and argues that it is possible for the Arab states to become secular democracies and adopt the principles of equality and justice. This is characterized by, “chronic rates of illiteracy, inordinate disparities between rich and poor, overpopulation of cities and desertification of land”. Some of the causes of the Arab Malaise is the gaze of the western other, feelings of being left behind, sense of powerlessness and geography.

The Syrian conflict began in March of 2011 and is currently ongoing as of December of 2016. In 2015, Russian President Putin has allied with the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to combat against rebel forces. As a result, innocent civilians, in particular civilians of Aleppo, and humanitarian workers are victims to bombardments.

The Arab Spring brought revolutionary changes to the Middle East and North African region’s authoritarian republics while bypassing its autocratic monarchies. The monarchical exceptionalism that has allowed these states to remain intact is due to a set of three overlapping factors—crosscutting coalitions, hydrocarbon rents, and foreign patronage. Collectively, these factors explain why most of the royal autocracies never experienced widespread protest.

The Arab Spring is the name given to the wave of movement of anti-government protests within the Middle East and Northern Africa. The message of the Arab Spring is by no means an old one: there has been a significant amount of protest and movements prior to the modern 2010 one. The modern Arab Spring sparked in December 2010 when a local Tunisian vendor lit himself on fire in protest of the bribes demanded by the corrupt police. This action sparked similar movements in surrounding countries. Protestors wanted to end the limited civil liberties, political repression, and high unemployment created by their authoritarian governments. The movement swept throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa. The Egyptian Revolution of 2011, the Libyan Revolt of 2011, and the Syrian Uprising of 2011 were the aftershocks of the Tunisian Jasmine Revolution. Thus, these movements were grouped into the Arab Spring – a new movement dedicated to reform. Prior to the Arab Spring and still in Syria Libya, Egypt, and Syria had authoritarian leaders who ruled with an iron fist. Brotherly Leader Muammar Gaddafi, President Hosni Mubarak, and President Bashar al-Assad all brutally repressed political demonstrations in their respective countries. This oppressive reaction, exemplifying the lack of civil rights, only served to escalate tensions within the afflicted countries. Prior to the Arab Spring all three leaders were in almost absolute control of their countries. Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak