ARAB SPRING

How has the 2011 Arab Spring affected democracy in the Middle East?

Table of Contents

Introduction1

Causes of Arab Spring2

The Effects of Arab Spring on democracy of Middle East in 20112

Autocracy3

Political Negotiation4

Democracy in Motion4

Countries greatly Affected by Arab Spring5

Egypt5

Tunisia6

Libya7

Yemen7

Conclusion8

References9

How has the 2011 Arab Spring affected democracy in the Middle East?

Introduction

The Arab spring refers to the revolutionary upheavals and series of protests taking place in Arab world. The era of Arab spring commenced on December 18, 2010 and flourished on a unprecedented rate in the year 2011. The year of 2011 turned out to be a highly influential year in the history of Middle East in terms of political transformations and democratic navigation at the forefront of Arab Spring. Middle East has experienced an outburst of revolutions and instability because of Arab spring (Anderson, 2011). The consequences of Arab spring on the democracy in Middle East can be tracked in three categories: revolts that resulted in defeating the standing regimes, the uprising that could not succeed in overthrowing ruling regimes and the states that did not come across the uprisings (Farer & Gaer, 2011, p39). In the first category Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen are the countries whose rebellious upheavals resulted in the consequent departure of the political figures like Muamar Gaddafi, Ali Abdullah Saleh, Hosni Mubarak and Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali (Farer & Gaer, 2011, p40). On the contrary, uprisings in Bahrain and Syria did not distort the regimes so far. Final category exemplifies countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran who have not observed any instability of revolts occurring in 2011(Farer & Gaer, 2011, p42).

The Arab Spring was characterized with the shared practices of civil resistance structured around persistent campaigns comprising on rallies, strikes, long marches, demonstrations and significant use of social media in order to enhance awareness among the masses in the facet of state efforts towards repression and restrictions of freedom of expression(Linklater, 2010, p95).

Causes of Arab Spring

There are various factors that resulted in the emergence of Arab spring in Middle East in 2011. The most dominant causes of Arab spring are the prevalence of complete monarchy and dictatorship, corrupt governments, human rights violation, economic recessions, increasing rates of unemployment and poverty and a general feeling of dissatisfaction among the youth. Some researchers argue that Iranian protests of 2009 and 2010 Kyrgyzstani revolution in 2010 are also one of the seminal factors that paced the ground for Arab spring(Weiss et al, 2011, p90). The accumulation of wealth in autocratic hands for many years and insufficient accountability and transparency maintained by the state heads resulted in the denial of youth to survive with the prevailing status quo(O'Neil, 2005, p55). The improved living standards and higher literacy rates have transformed the way people think about the supreme powers vested to the state heads. The tense environment emerging from the increasing aspirations and inadequate governmental reforms greatly contributed towards the Arab spring.

The Effects of Arab Spring on democracy of Middle East in 2011

The revolutions and uprisings embedded in Arab Spring have not affected ...