Gendering the Arab Spring? Rights and (in)security of Tunisian, Egyptian and Libyan women

2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 393-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Johansson-Nogués
Keyword(s):  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Political Transition ◽  
The Political ◽  
Bodily Integrity ◽  
Political Transitions ◽  
Security Forces ◽  
Female Presence ◽  
The Arab Spring

During the anti-regime uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, women from all walks of life were as ready as men to take to the streets to protest against the ineptitude and transgressions of their countries’ governments. Their courage was particularly noteworthy given that they suffered not only the violence of the regimes’ attempts to suppress protests by force, as did their male counterparts, but also a systematic targeting by security forces who attempted to break the women’s spirits through attacks on their honour and bodily integrity. The female presence and agency in the Arab Spring encouraged activists in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya to expect an equitable role for women in the political transition processes that followed the fall of the authoritarian regimes in those countries. However, the female input in those political transitions has been scant. Moreover, in all three countries, established women’s rights are increasingly under attack and violence against women is on the rise. This article applies a gendered perspective to explore the upheavals of the Arab Spring and the political transitions in the three countries, and inquires into the insecurities that women have suffered since early 2011.

scholarly journals Democratisation in the Maghreb

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.N.C. Hill
Keyword(s):  
Political Development ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
The Political ◽  
Profound Change ◽  
Political Transitions ◽  
Fourth Term ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
Fresh Insight ◽  
Insight Into

The book offers fresh insight into the recent political development and contrasting experiences of four Maghreb countries: Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and Mauritania. The Arab Spring affected them in different ways. Tunisia underwent profound change as Ben Ali was overthrown in a fortnight. Yet in Algeria, President Bouteflika won an unprecedented fourth term in office despite being too ill to campaign. What explains these variations? Why did Ben Ali’s regime fall and Bouteflika’s survive? Why has Morocco not gone the same way as Tunisia? And what of Mauritania, the often forgotten other Maghreb country? This book addresses these and other questions by using Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way’s celebrated model for examining political transitions to analyse and compare the political development of Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and Mauritania over the last ten years.

Cracking national integration after the events (the Arab Spring) and its impact On regional stability

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Muhannad Al Janabi Al Janabi
Keyword(s):  
Arab Spring ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Prominent Feature ◽  
Regional Stability ◽  
National Integration ◽  
Arab Region ◽  
Political Media ◽  
The Stability ◽  
The Arab Spring

Since late 2010 and early 2011, the Arab region has witnessed mass protests in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Bahrain and other countries that have been referred to in the political, media and other literature as the Arab Spring. These movements have had a profound effect on the stability of the regimes Which took place against it, as leaders took off and contributed to radical reforms in party structures and public freedoms and the transfer of power, but it also contributed to the occurrence of many countries in an internal spiral, which led to the erosion of the state from the inside until it became a prominent feature of the Arab) as is the case in Syria, Libya, Yemen and Iraq.

scholarly journals KONSEPSI KEAGAMAAN DAN KEPEMIMPINAN SUNNI VS SYIAH

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-32
Keyword(s):  
Arab Spring ◽  
The Political ◽  
Literature Study ◽  
Legal Requirements ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Arab Spring

This article is a literature study that aims to trace the literature to be able to understand the concepts of religion and leadership of Sunni vs. Shiite which has often been the subject of discussion among world academics. The problems that arise among Sunnis and Shiites are not only present on the political side, but also on the concepts of religion and leadership which also become polemic. Like the Arab Spring incident which resulted in the collapse of the power of Muammar Qadafy in Libya and Ben Ali in Tunisia, Sunni and Shia relations were also colored by differences. The conclusion of this article then shows that both Sunni and Shi'a agree that the existence of a Khilafah / Imamat government is an obligation in the lives of Muslims. Regarding the form of khilafah or government, Sunni scholars tend to be represented by Imam al-Mawardi, al-Ghazali and Ibn Kholdun tend to be accommodating towards the models of government that are carried out in the principles of deliberation both kingdom and democracy. In the Shi'ite leadership doctrine, leadership is absolute and the legal requirements of one's faith and leadership is limited to imams who are descendants of Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib, but while waiting for the presence of the "supernatural" imams, the enforcement of Islamic government is absolutely carried out by the Mullahs.

scholarly journals Women's Rights Movements during Political Transitions: Activism against Public Sexual Violence in Egypt

2015 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vickie Langohr
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Public Transportation ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Political Transitions ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
The People ◽  
Political Protests ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
Positive Light

The most famous demand raised by protesters in the “Arab Spring” was “al-shaʿb/yurīd/isqāṭ al-niẓām” (the people/want /the fall of the regime). Three years later, little progress has been made—outside of Tunisia—in permanently replacing authoritarian regimes with the formal institutions of democracy. However, new forms of activism have emerged that increase citizens’ ability to directly combat pervasive social problems and to successfully pressure official institutions to alter policies. The evolution of activism against public sexual violence in post-Mubarak Egypt is a concrete example. Sexual harassment of women on the streets and in public transportation, widespread before the 25 January uprising, has likely since increased.1 Many women have been subjected to vicious sexual assault at political protests over the last three years. But activism against these threats has also expanded in ways unimaginable during the Mubarak era. Groups of male and female activists in their twenties and early thirties exhort bystanders on the streets to intervene when they witness harassment, and intervene themselves. Satellite TV programs have extensively covered public sexual violence, directly challenging officials for their failure to combat it while featuring the work of antiharassment and antiassault groups in a positive light. These new practices facilitated two concrete changes in the summer of 2014: amendments to the penal code on sexual harassment, and Cairo University's adoption of an antiharassment policy which was developed by feminist activists.

The Society of the Digital Swarm

2019 ◽  
pp. 95-110
Author(s):  
Daniel Toscano López
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Digital Communication ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Regimes ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
Reality Principle ◽  
The Way

This chapter seeks to show how the society of the digital swarm we live in has changed the way individuals behave to the point that we have become Homo digitalis. These changes occur with information privatization, meaning that not only are we passive consumers, but we are also producers and issuers of digital communication. The overarching argument of this reflection is the disappearance of the “reality principle” in the political, economic, and social spheres. This text highlights that the loss of the reality principle is the effect of microblogging as a digital practice, the uses of which can either impoverish the space of people's experience to undermine the public space or achieve the mobilization of citizens against of the censorship of the traditional means of communication by authoritarian political regimes, such as the case of the Arab Spring in 2011.

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.

scholarly journals THE SPRING OF THE NETWORKED NATIONS: SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE ARAB SPRING

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harel Chorev
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Regime Change ◽  
The Political ◽  
Global Trends ◽  
The Arab Spring

This essay argues that social media played an important role in the Arab Spring and contributed to a change in the political culture of some of those countries that have gone through regime-change through 2011-2012. The article further posits that the contribution of social media was mainly instrumental, not causal, and that the main reasons behind the Arab Spring were problems generated by regional, local and global trends, affecting each country differently.  

Exit, Resistance, Loyalty: Military Behavior during Unrest in Authoritarian Regimes

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holger Albrecht ◽  
Dorothy Ohl
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Moving Target ◽  
Mass Mobilization ◽  
Coup D'etat ◽  
Civil Military Relations ◽  
Military Relations ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
The Military

A few years into the most recent wave of popular uprisings—the Arab Spring—studying regime trajectories in countries such as Syria, Egypt, and Yemen still seems like shooting at a moving target. Yet what has not escaped notice is the central role military actors have played during these uprisings. We describe how soldiers have three options when ordered to suppress mass unrest. They mayexitthe regime by remaining in the barracks or going into exile,resistby fighting for the challenger or initiating a coup d’état, or remainloyaland use force to defend the regime. We argue that existing accounts of civil-military relations are ill equipped to explain the diverse patterns in exit, resistance, and loyalty during unrest because they often ignore the effects of military hierarchy. Disaggregating the military and parsing the interests and constraints of different agents in that apparatus is crucial for explaining military cohesion during such crises. Drawing on extensive fieldwork we apply our principal-agent framework to explain varying degrees and types of military cohesion in three Arab Spring cases: Bahrain, Yemen, and Syria. Studying military hierarchy elucidates decision-making within authoritarian regimes amid mass mobilization and allows us to better explain regime re-stabilization, civil war onset, or swift regime change in the wake of domestic unrest.

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