scholarly journals The Transformation of Political Systems in North Africa and Central America

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 7-39
Author(s):  
Borna Zgurić ◽  
Lidija Kos-Stanišić
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central America ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
The Arab Spring

From the very beginning of the so-called Arab Spring in the winter of 2010, different authors drew parallels with the fall of communism and the democratization of Eastern Europe in 1989/1991. Even the name given to the political processes of the 2010 in North Africa was similar to the names of the political changes in communist Eastern Europe. The Eastern Europe parallel was strongly emphasized and the arguments that accompany it do carry some weight. However, this paper claims that because of the specificity of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe, its comparison to the Arab Spring is not completely adequate. Eastern Europe went through a triple transition and was later heavily influenced by the allure to join the European Union, unlike North Africa. Therefore, this paper stipulates that the Arab Spring is more adequately compared to the democratization of Central America then the democratization of Eastern Europe.

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.

The European Union’s Public Diplomacy towards the Arab Spring: The Case of Egypt

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-138
Author(s):  
Marwa Fikry Abdel Samei
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Public Diplomacy ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
External Action ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Public ◽  
Normative Power ◽  
Facebook Pages ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
Missed Opportunity

This article discusses the public diplomacy of the European Union (eu) towards the Arab Spring by focusing on the case of Egypt. It argues that despite its clear efforts, the eu’s response to the Arab Spring was a missed opportunity to establish Europe’s normative power. The eu has simply maintained its pre-Arab Spring policies. By analysing and comparing the content of the Facebook pages of both the eu delegation to Egypt and the European External Action Service (eeas) during the period from 14 October 2012 until 16 August 2013, the article demonstrates the differences between the messages and image presentations that were promoted in each page. Comparing these public diplomacy messages with specific eu policies reveals the gap between the words and deeds. The article explains this gap with reference to the discrepancy between Europe’s perception of the region, which results in certain policies, and its internal identity-building considerations.

scholarly journals Al-Azhar University in the Events of the Arab Spring (Case of Egypt)

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 583-596
Author(s):  
Yurii Vitalevich Lashkhia
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Religious Education ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Muslim Brotherhood ◽  
Official Document ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
The Muslim Brotherhood ◽  
The Arab Spring

Due to the comprehensiveness of Islam, the role of the “Islamic factor” in political processes in the Middle East and North Africa is great, while the nature of the manifestations of the “Islamic factor” largely depends among other things on the current state of modern religious educational institutions, including those serving as a forge of Islamic personnel today. One of the most prestigious universities in Islamic oikumene, giving religious education for Muslims from all over the world, is AlAzhar al-Sharif (the shorter Al-Azhar is more common). It was here that some famous thinkers studied, who further significantly contributed to the development of the so-called “political Islam”. This study is an attempt to clarify the role of Al-Azhar University and related Islamic scholars in the socio-political processes of the Middle East and North Africa. Conducting the research, the author largely turned to the sources of the Islamic religion (the Qur’an, Hadith), theological texts of a number of thinkers (for example, the interpretation of the Qur’an Rashid Rida), religious polemical works (the work of Sheikh Osama al-Azhari against the “Muslim Brotherhood” and other “Islamist” trends), documents compiled by the leadership of Al-Azhar; academic literature on related issues. The author came to the conclusion that the “Islamic factor” did not play a crucial role at the beginning of events, but vividly manifested itself subsequently. The actual suppression of Islam by secular dictators created a fertile ground for the acute discontent of believing citizens and activists of various movements who uphold a particular version of the Islamic political alternative. The most influential university in the Islamic world, Al-Azhar, in an official document, “Arab Spring”, indicated the possibility of a shift in despotic power, while emphasizing at the same time the inadmissibility of violent suppression of peaceful protest. Certain Azharite theologians were directly involved in the events of the “Arab Spring”, in particular, the passionate scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi, associated with the Muslim Brotherhood movement and graduated from Al-Azhar, as well as Sheikh Emad Effat, who died during the suppression of an unarmed speech 15 December 2011. Such activity of various Islamic forces in the political sphere is primarily due to the very nature of the Islamic tradition, which does not separate the “sacred” and “profane”.

The European Union in the Mediterranean Sea: Navigating the Political-Legal Shallows

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 271-298
Author(s):  
Stephan F.H. Ollick
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Regime Complex ◽  
International Migrants ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Eu

The Mediterranean Sea has long been an important and perilous route for international migrants from the coast of North Africa to the European Union (EU). Manygrants and refugees travelling on overcrowded and unseaworthy dinghies do not survive the crossing. Rising numbers of fatalities put pressure on the EU to address the Mediterranean tragedy with renewed urgency. Frontex Operation Triton (2014–) and the naval mission eunavfor med Operation SOPHIA (2015–) were launched to survey and influence migratory flows. Although thousands of migrants and refugees have thus been delivered from distress at sea, casualty rates remain staggeringly high. Some commentators and organizations have dismissed Frontex and eunavfor med Operation SOPHIA as vehicles of an isolationist political agenda. This overlooks the narrow legal, political and practical confines within which these initiatives operate. Frontex and eunavfor med Operation SOPHIA seek to attain a level of control necessary for the delayed implementation of more ambitious and forward-looking schemes. The unsophisticated, temporary nature of the regime complex currently governing the EU’s activities in the Mediterranean Sea manifests in ambiguous language, in frequent and disparate amendments, and in the brevity of the mandates thus dispensed.

scholarly journals Political culture in Macedonia after the Ohrid Framework Agreement

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 131
Author(s):  
Dr.Sc. Jonuz Abdullai ◽  
Mr. Demush Bajrami
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
The Political ◽  
Reform Process ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Interethnic Relations ◽  
Framework Agreement ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Eastern European Countries

The political culture, according to scholar Kavanagh is part of the overall societal culture, and represents a set of basic values, emotions, knowledge, attitudes and convictions, within which the political system operates, shaping and feeding political processes. Culture came as a sequence to efforts to factor the spiritual world of people in explicating policy. Political culture brings to surface some kind of independence of culture from economic factors, and the role of culture in political order and economic development.This paper provides the theoretical aspects of political culture and political systems, within which its reflection is analysed on several aspects of interethnic relations in a democracy. Also, it accentuates the preferred paths of Western Balkan countries, including Macedonia, towards integration with the European Union, which is spiked with many challenges. In the political culture of multi-ethnic societies, ethnic divisions may have an influence. The ethnic principles are still present in the political arena of Macedonia, where although there is some “interethnic reconciliation”, the failure in implementing the Ohrid Framework Agreement, signed in 2001, between Albanians and Macedonians, there are often political contractions, affecting national interests, which is in contradiction to all values of the European Union, mainly with human rights, but also ethnic rights.The object of the analysis of this paper is specifically related to:extended transition of Macedonia,political consensus,role of political parties, andinterethnic relations after the Ohrid Framework Agreement.Political culture in South-Eastern European countries has been analysed in different views, especially in the reform process, where it has an important role.Conclusions of this paper are that Macedonia must fulfil the conditions set forth, both political and institutional, based on the political culture for EU integration, since political culture, according to scholar L. Pye represents a “set of basic values, emotions and knowledge shaping and feeding political processes”. 

scholarly journals The Arab Spring – Implications for the Russian Federation

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrzej Stopczyński
Keyword(s):  
Russian Federation ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Security Environment ◽  
Muslim Countries ◽  
Major Transformation ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
The Arab Spring

The Arab Spring led to a major transformation of political systems of the region’s most countries; an increase in the significance of radical Islam in the political life; a degradation of the security environment. In addi­tion, changes in the region’s economy cannot be overlooked. The events connected with the Arab Spring gave the Russian Federation completely new challenges. The country has to yet again define the character of its relations with Muslim countries and adapt its foreign policy to the new post-revolutionary reality. The Arab Spring also represents a challenge for Russia in its internal affairs.

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