History and State Coercion in the Arab Spring

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Atef Said
Keyword(s):  
Contemporary Problem ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
New Wave ◽  
Methodological Nationalism ◽  
State Coercion ◽  
Arab States ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
Postcolonial Politics

In this chapter, the author proposes the need to study the colonial and postcolonial nexus of coercion in Arab states in order to explore how the coercive apparatus in the region was tied to a colonial formation, through postcolonial configurations of states. In doing so, the author argues against the dominance of presentism and methodological nationalism in the study of Arab states. While focusing on the cases of Egypt, Syria, Libya, and Yemen, the author demonstrates that one cannot understand the role coercion played in the Arab Spring and its trajectory or the new wave of repression after the Arab Spring as an insulated contemporary problem. The author interrogates the existence of paramilitary groups and the entanglements of coercion with regional and international postcolonial politics. The analysis reveals that understanding the central problems related to the coercive apparatus of Arab states necessitates situating them within their foundation—that is, within the colonial and postcolonial contexts out of which they emerged.

From Postcolonialism to Post-Arab Spring

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-151
Author(s):  
Noureddin Mahmoud Zaamout
Keyword(s):  
Arab Spring ◽  
Armed Groups ◽  
Proxy War ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
Postcolonial Politics

Abstract Hamid Dabashi (2012) saw the Arab spring revolutions as a collective act of overcoming the colonial condition and retrieving a repressed cosmopolitan worldliness that has been overshadowed by the contradictions of postcolonial politics. Dabashi posits that the pluralist and egalitarian slogans of protesters were an expression of this worldliness. In this research I assess this claim in the context of Syria. I examine the question: Has this cosmopolitan orientation resurfaced in Syria? I argue that the 2011 Syrian uprising was a retrieval of what Dabashi describes as repressed cosmopolitan worldliness. It was a grassroots attempt to bring an inclusive meaning to Syrianism, consistent with the country’s boundaries and reflective of its ethnic and religious cosmopolitanism. The transformation of the crisis into a global proxy war has resulted in the rise of hundreds of armed groups driven by competing projects that have vacated the revolutionary attempt to redefine Syrianism.

The Vicissitudes of the Arab States System: From its Emergence to the Arab Spring

2017 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-179
Author(s):  
Avraham Sela
Keyword(s):  
Arab Spring ◽  
Arab States ◽  
League Of Arab States ◽  
Historical Performance ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
The Impact

This article analyzes the historical performance of the Arab states system—incarnated in the form of the League of Arab States (AL)—from the latter’s foundation in 1945 through its heydays in the late 1970s during which it left a long-term imprint in the form of new norms and rules governing the inter-Arab game, to the more recent state of weakness and marginalization, especially in the wake of the Arab Spring. Contrary to the commonly held views by Western scholars of the AL as an inherent failure, this article sheds light on the impact made by this system via the AL, especially in affecting interstate security and order in a region saturated with conflicts.

scholarly journals Internet Revolution or Just Fitna: Towards the Tenth Anniversary of the Arab Spring

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 529-542
Author(s):  
Aleksey Mikhailovich Vasiliev ◽  
Natalia Aleksandrovna Zherlitsina
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
The United States ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
The Past ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Arab States ◽  
The Arab Spring

The article is dedicated to the analysis of the tenth anniversary of the revolutionary events in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), called the Arab Spring. The relevance of the study of the consequences of political transformations in Arab countries is due to the incompleteness of the modernization processes in such areas as public administration, justice and human rights, which gave rise to the discontent of the active part of society, which had initiated the protests. The idea of the research was to compare the causes of popular uprisings, the methods of political struggle, the main actors and the results of the Arab Spring for most of the countries affected by this process. Particular attention has been paid to the growing popularity of Islamist political forces, which have given their answers and pseudo-answers to acute societal issues. With the help of comparative and typological analysis, the peculiarities of different models of political development in the Middle East and North African countries have been studied. Over the past decade, world science has accumulated a significant layer of research on the Arab Spring phenomenon. The authors have taken into account a wide range of opinions of scholars from Europe, the United States, Turkey, Israel, and the Arab states. Aiming to assess the political transformation of the MENA region over the past 10 years, this study analyzes changes in the position of external actors such as Russia and the USA. The authors conclude that the influence of the US as a whole in the region has decreased, while the influence of Russia, Turkey, Iran, and Saudi Arabia has increased. Israel has managed to strengthen its own security by establishing normal relations with a number of Arab states in the region. The popular unrest that erupted again in Iraq, Lebanon, Sudan, Algeria, and Tunisia in 2018-2021 was objectively caused by the same conditions that had given rise to the Arab Spring and with the same uncertain results so far.

scholarly journals Od „arabskiej wiosny” do powstania „lajków” w kontekście współpracy Federacji Rosyjskiej i Unii Europejskiej

2018 ◽  
pp. 129-138
Author(s):  
Mirosław Lakomy
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
New Media ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Arab States ◽  
The Arab Spring

2011 started with the Arab Spring and ended with Putin’s fall said one user of Russian equivalent of Facebook – Vkontake.ru. Around 3,000 more or less serious election frauds identified in the course of the elections to Russian parliament, the Duma, on December 4, 2011 triggered a revolt. Russians did what their predecessors in the authoritarian Arab states, Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, had done. After a heated discussion in the new media they took to the streets in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The blogosphere created Alexei Navalny, who called „United Russia” a party of crooks and thieves. The strongest movement of resistance against the Putin – Medvedev tandem involved young people, whose campaign was named the uprising of ‘likers’.

POLITICAL IMAGE OF MODERN RUSSIAIN THE ARAB WORLDCOUNTRIES

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
О. SAVALKHA
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Positive Image ◽  
International Image ◽  
Psychological Mechanism ◽  
Main Factors ◽  
Arab States ◽  
The Arab Spring

This article analyzes the image of modern Russia in the Arab world, identifies the main factors in the formation of the international image of the country, explores the question of the peculiarities of perception of the image of Russia by representatives of the Arab states. The article focuses on the difficulties of building a favorable image of Russia in the Arab world and ways to overcome them. The authors investigate the question of whether Russia, as the successor of the USSR, was able to maintain its image in the Arab states in connection with the events of the XXI century, including the Arab spring protests, the crisis in Ukraine and the conflict in Syria. There are also examples of the use of the soft power in connection with the formation of a positive image of Russia in the Arab world. Special emphasis is placed on the influence of the mass media as the main political and psychological mechanism of influence on the formation of the countrys image.

The Arab Spring comes to Syria

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Arab Spring ◽  
Economic Disparity ◽  
Arab States ◽  
The Arab Spring

This chapter considers the circumstances in which unrest began in Syria, profiling President Bashar al Assad's regime and explaining the logic behind its repressive strategy. It examines Syria's eruption into revolt to assess how similar or different it truly was. Below the facade of a modernising young ruler leading populist foreign polices, the same economic disparity, political disenfranchisement and social resentment existed as in other protesting Arab states. However, the structure of its ruling regime and the complexities of its relationship with society would mean that Syria would not mimic Tunisia and Egypt in the swift exit of their leaders. It was similar enough to be caught up in events, but different enough to have far bloodier outcomes.

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