Assessing (In)security after the Arab Spring

2013 ◽  
Vol 46 (04) ◽  
pp. 709-715 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Gledhill
Keyword(s):  
North Africa ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Economic Security ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Security Services ◽  
Internal Conflicts ◽  
Form Of Government ◽  
Collective Attention ◽  
The Arab Spring

More than two years after the heady days of protest and uprising that characterized the Arab Spring, the glow of revolution has given way to the intricacies and complications of regime building. Coalitions are being formed, constitutions written, judiciaries vetted, and security services (re)built. As collective attention focuses on these complexities of regime restructuring, it is worth noting that a fundamental security paradox sits at the heart of transitions in the Middle East and North Africa. On one hand, individuals who hit the streets or battlefields in support of revolution in 2011 did so in the belief that a new form of government would improve their political, social, and economic security over the long term. On the other hand, subsequent (and ongoing) efforts to draft new rules of the political game have triggered internal conflicts and, on occasion, those conflicts have compromised citizens' physical security over the short term.

The meta-geography of the Middle East and North Africa in Turkey’s new geopolitical imagination

2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 431-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aylin Güney ◽  
Nazif Mandacı
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Critical Geopolitics ◽  
Syrian Crisis ◽  
Security Practices ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Geopolitical Imaginations

This article critically analyses Turkish security discourses connected to the meta-geography of the Broader Middle East and North Africa (BMENA) before and after the developments of the Arab Spring. A critical geopolitics approach and critical security theories in international relations provide the theoretical framework, as security discourses are considered to be a product of geopolitical imaginations and codes that, in turn, shape the making of foreign and security policies. First, the article examines the invention of BMENA as a meta-geography within Turkey’s new geopolitical imagination, as well as the new geopolitical codes underlying the new security discourses. Then, the article assesses the impact of the Arab Spring, which led to major changes in Turkey’s newly established geopolitical codes, formulated in the pre-Arab Spring period, and analyses the ruptures and continuities in Turkey’s security discourses in the light of those developments. Finally, the article concludes that the Arab Spring, especially the Syrian crisis, shifted the focus of Turkey’s foreign policy in BMENA from cooperation to conflict. This has led to a resecuritization of Turkey’s geopolitical codes, discourses and security practices in the region, revealing the limitation of Turkey’s current geopolitical imagination.

Geopolitics of Conflicts and Refugees in the Middle East and North Africa

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 258-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
AKM Ahsan Ullah
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Complex Relationship ◽  
Refugee Policy ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Political Dynamics ◽  
Refugee Protection ◽  
Border Conflicts ◽  
The Arab Spring

Geopolitically intertwined and strategically significant refugee policy in the MENA region is frequently analyzed in light of well-documented ethnic, religious, class, and border conflicts. However, the policy is also inexorably linked to the broader geopolitics of the global refugee protection regime and discourse. This article analyzes the complex relationship between geopolitics, domestic political dynamics, and their attendant crises in the MENA region. The complex set of political shockwaves of the Arab Spring induced massive mobility of people which may compound incipient political tensions between and within MENA states.

scholarly journals Berber Factor in North Africa: Common Features and Local Peculiarities

2017 ◽  
pp. 42-51
Author(s):  
Yu. Zinin
Keyword(s):  
North Africa ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Common Features ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
The North ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
The Impact

The article considers a place and influence of Berber-speaking communities in each of five countries of the North Africa: Algeria, Morocco, Libya, Mauritania and Tunis.After gaining the independence, demands are growing in all these states to recognize cultural, regional, and sometimes political peculiarities of Berbers.The situation in every country is different due to local conditions and background of interactions of Amazigs (self-designation of Berber) with the Arab speaking majority, as well as their participation in political processes.The author investigates and discuss the impact of the Arab Spring on the rise of self-consciousness, solidarity and consolidation of Amazig minority. It is Berber, often European educated elite which usually expresses and propagates such conceptions and trends.

scholarly journals Arab Spring as a Factor of Emergence of Salafi Parties in the Middle East and North Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 165-176
Author(s):  
T. R. Khayrullin
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Political Struggle ◽  
Political Activities ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
New Development ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Arab Spring

The article is devoted to the analysis of Salafi Islamism. Conservative Salafi Islamism during the events of the Arab spring received a new development. In particular, the fall of authoritarian regimes and the beginning of the democratic process in the Middle East and North Africa led to the creation of Salafi political parties. The Salafi sts believed, that in a favorable political environment, they would be able to defend their legal status and gain some privileges through participating in parliamentary elections. However, the creation of parties has deepened internal divisions within the Salafi movements. In particular, there were supporters among the Salafi sts, who defended the combination of student and political activities against those who considered participation in the political struggle as a temporary tactical action. The result of the disagreement was the emergence of a reformist movement, that began to see participation in politics as a tool for strengthening the position of the Salafi st movement.

Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-38
Author(s):  
Adeel Malik ◽  
Izak Atiyas ◽  
Ishac Diwan
Keyword(s):  
North Africa ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Extended Family ◽  
Public Knowledge ◽  
Economic Opportunities ◽  
Arab Uprisings ◽  
Crony Capitalism ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Arab Spring

The popular Arab uprisings in 2011 that overthrew dictators in North Africa (which became known as “the Arab Spring”) were not just a revolt against dictatorships. They were also a rebuke to crony capitalism—against insider businessmen who were connected to the ruling circle and ended up monopolizing all economic opportunities. As the curtain of authoritarianism fell, stories of insider privilege became public knowledge. In Egypt, leading businessmen, such as the steel magnate Ahmed Ezz, became the subject of public resentment due to their close connections with Mubarak. But the circle of privilege was wider, including a narrow clique of businessmen associated with the National Democratic Party that supported Mubarak’s rule and derived all kinds of economic privileges denied to unconnected firms. In Tunisia, the president Ben Ali, his wife, and extended family were believed to have owned about 220 firms in some of the most lucrative sectors of the economy....

Martyrdom in North Africa Following the Arab Spring and the Process of Transitional Justice

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas DeGeorges
Keyword(s):  
Political Violence ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Political Transformation ◽  
Security Forces ◽  
State Security ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Arab Spring

In Chapter 7, Thomas DeGeorges argues that martyrdom has played an important role in the transitional justice processes both before and after the Arab Spring of Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco. While martyrdom and transitional justice are not traditionally associated with one another, he makes the case that martyrs involve people who are victims of what may be framed as political violence, whether committed by state security forces or unknown perpetrators. In this context, martyrs may be understood in the frame of victims addressed by transitional justice, but also as icons for social or political transformation. Broadly speaking, claims regarding martyrdom were important in these countries insofar as martyrs were held up as symbols for whom reform must be pursued.

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