Conclusions

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.N.C. Hill
Keyword(s):  
Arab Spring ◽  
Entire Region ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Upheaval ◽  
Provincial City ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
Coups D'etat

The past few years have been a period of unprecedented political upheaval for the Maghreb. While each country had, of course, experienced dramatic moments before – Ben Ali’s ousting of Bourguiba, Algeria’s Black October riots, the Casablanca bombings and Mauritania’s 2005 and 2008 coups d’état to name but some – nothing of the breadth, depth or duration of the Arab Spring, a protest that began in a provincial city in one of North Africa’s quieter corners and quickly engulfed the entire region. Presidents of decades’ standing – latter-day imperators – were swept from office on waves of public discontent while their counterparts elsewhere nervously and hurriedly tried to calm the mob....

The “Arab Spring” as Seen through the Prism of the 1979 Iranian Revolution

2012 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Negin Nabavi
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Arab World ◽  
New Order ◽  
Iranian Revolution ◽  
The Past ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
Arab Middle East

Revolutions are by nature unpredictable and unsettling. That the wave of revolutions in North Africa and the Arab Middle East began so unexpectedly and spread with such speed, leading to the fall of the governments of Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, has added to the concern regarding the “new order” that is to come after the initial euphoria. From the outset, the fear has been that these revolutions will follow the same trajectory as Iran did in 1979—in other words, that they will marginalize those who launched the revolutions and provide the grounds for the rise to power of the most savvy, purposeful, and best organized of the opposition groups, namely, the Islamists. Yet when one considers the recent uprisings in the Arab world through the prism of Iran's experiences in 1979, the parallels are not so evident. Mindful of the variations and distinctions between each of the revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, it would appear that in broad terms, and beyond superficial similarities, there is little in common between the events of Iran in 1979 and what has happened in the past year in the Arab world.

Near Eastern archaeology and the Arab Spring: avoiding the ostrich effect

Antiquity ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 88 (340) ◽  
pp. 639-643 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael D. Danti
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Rural Village ◽  
The Past ◽  
Syrian Civil War ◽  
The Future ◽  
Major Turning Point ◽  
The Arab Spring

As an American archaeologist who has worked in Syria, living in a rural village in Raqqa Province off and on for decades, I am frequently asked: did you see it coming? Were there early signs of the Arab Spring and the Syrian civil war? The answer is both yes and no. In retrospect, the signs were there, but foreign archaeologists did not always identify them. More often we simply chose to ignore them. Regardless, we have come to many important realisations. Foremost, Near Eastern archaeology has reached a major turning point, which raises a more pressing question: what now? Our answers will profoundly shape the future of our field. As archetypal students of history, we must learn from the lessons of the past and act. Playing the part of the metaphorical ostrich and burying our heads in the sand would be far easier, perhaps even customary, but this cannot be our course. A strong and engaged field is needed now more than ever—my primary intent here is to dissect what this means.

The evolution of the Gulf Coopera-tion Council approaches to security issues after the Arab Spring

2022 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 105-130
Author(s):  
E. S. Melkumyan
Keyword(s):  
Arab Spring ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Member States ◽  
Security Issues ◽  
The Past ◽  
Gcc Countries ◽  
Traditional Approaches ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
The Arab Spring

The painful consequences of political, economic and social shocks provoked by the Arab Spring forced the political elites of the Middle Eastern states to revisit traditional approaches to maintaining stability and security in the region. This inevitably aff ected the activities of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which was from the outset established in order to enhance cooperation between the countries of the region primarily in the fi eld of security. This paper attempts to identify the key milestones, factors and trends that have shaped the GCC decision-making process in the security sphere over the past 10 years since the beginning of the Arab Spring. The author shows that the Arab Awakening has encouraged the GCC member-states to deepen military-political integration, aimed at strengthening their defense capabilities, as well as their abilities to respond to external and internal challenges. The author notes that the GCC countries still view Iran as the main source of all these threats; moreover, con-sidering substantial strengthening of Iran’s infl uence in the Middle East their position has even hardened. Tehran is accused of meddling in the internal aff airs of the GCC member-states, supporting illegal Shiite groups operating on their territory, and instigating religious discord. In this context, it is quite natural that the Iran’s nuclear programme is of particular concern to the GCC. At the same time, the author emphasizes, that although the GCC member-states declare common approach towards Iran, their practical actions can vary signifi cantly. In particular, it was Qatar which opposed an excessively hard-line approach towards Iran. This fact, as well as accusations against Doha of supporting terrorist and extremist groups, led to two crises that shook the GCC in the 2010s. However, the fact that these crises have been eventually settled shows that security issues still press regional actors towards strengthening the capacities of the GCC. Especially since military threats have been compounded by a new threat — of the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The author concludes that this new threat, which has already incited the GCC to promote cooperation in a health sector, will also strengthen the member-states’ focus on various nonmilitary challenges including epidemiological and environmental ones.

Plugged In

2018 ◽  
pp. 68-92
Author(s):  
Dino Sossi
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Youth Activism ◽  
Occupy Wall Street ◽  
Civic Action ◽  
Wall Street ◽  
Political Upheaval ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
The Arab Spring

In the aftermath of the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, and Black Lives Matter movements, protest has become the default response to social problems. As students and youth become more involved in political upheaval, they turn to the technology that surrounds them. This chapter focuses on computer-mediated youth civic action and interaction. It examines past trends in youth activism and how social media skills acquired through activism could help these same youth activists transition to the workforce.

Articulating “Responsibility” as a Prerequisite for the Arab Spring

2012 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 42-58
Author(s):  
Ahmed Elewa
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Political Change ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Fundamental Concept ◽  
The Past ◽  
Western Model ◽  
The Arab Spring

In delineating the causes behind nonmilitant uprising and revolution in the Middle East, I propose that the import, the Arabization and Islamization of the term responsibility, as a key catalyst. Although the concept of responsibility is fundamental to the message of Islam, it is alluded to by an assortment of terms that seem to have fallen out of the day-to-day vernacular of Arab communities. The adoption of the term mas’uliyyah has served to express this fundamental concept. Furthermore, given its origin in post-Enlightenment Western political philosophy, the term provides a rare conceptual bridge between regions termed Western and Middle Eastern, in addition to being a linguistic vehicle capable of coarticulating modern Western and traditional Islamic thoughts. In this article, I trace the Arabization and Islamization of the term responsibility to nineteenth-century nahDah literature and its current establishment in different Islamic currents and schools. Moreover, I explain the utility of the term to express authentically Islamic vocabulary that has been forsaken in political terminology of the past two centuries.I propose that the presence of this now familiar term was instrumental in articulating the necessity of political change in a manner that resonated with millions of Arabs educated according to a modern Western model of education. Finally, I predict that the term responsibility will allow for a “new kinda fiqh” appropriate for an activated citizenry.

scholarly journals Repression and Activism among the Arab Spring’s First Movers: Evidence from Morocco’s February 20th Movement

2016 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 699-718 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adria K. Lawrence
Keyword(s):  
Arab Spring ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Arab Spring

Why are some people willing to initiate protest against authoritarian regimes? How does repression affect their willingness to act? Drawing on data from the Arab Spring protests in Morocco, this article argues first that activism is passed down from one generation to the next: first movers often came from families that had been punished for opposing the regime in the past. Secondly, repression during the Arab Spring was also counterproductive: those connected to first movers via Facebook supported renewed pro-democracy protests when informed of the regime’s use of repression in 2011. A regime that jails and beats political dissidents creates incentives for its citizens to oppose it; these abuses can come back to haunt the regime long after repression occurs.

scholarly journals The Saudi–US Alliance challenges and resilience, 2011: 2019

2019 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ghada Ahmed Abdel Aziz
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Strategic Partnership ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Past ◽  
Bilateral Relations ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Alliance Theory ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This paper aims to explore to what extent can the Saudi–US alliance endure, given the several challenges it has faced over the past decade. Using a conceptual framework from the alliance theory, the paper will trace the historical evolution of the alliance between the two countries, then will identify some of the challenges that have faced the alliance on both the regional and bilateral levels, and finally will assess the impact of these challenges on the resilience of the Saudi–US alliance. Design/methodology/approach This paper will use the alliance theory literature to analyze the challenges and the resilience of the Saudi–US relations. Findings The Saudi–US alliance has encountered several challenges in the past decade such as the Arab spring, the Iranian nuclear deal and the Civil War in Syria and Yemen. However, this alliance proved to be resilient, and the strategic partnership between the two countries managed to overcome these challenges. Originality/value The importance of this paper stems from the fact that the USA and the Saudi Arabia are two pivotal countries, and their relationship affects regional and international dynamics. The paper contributes to the literature on the Saudi–US bilateral relations as well as their views on recent regional issues such as the Arab Spring, the civil war in Yemen and Syria. Assessing the limits and potentials of the alliance between the two countries could also help us understand the future of regional developments in the Middle East.

scholarly journals Assembling a Revolution: Graffiti, Cairo and the Arab Spring

2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
John Lennon
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
The Past ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Tahrir Square ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
The City

This essay examines the ways revolutionary desire was articulated and interpreted through graffiti in Cairo, Egypt during the Arab Spring and its immediate aftermath. For writers in Cairo, graffiti was one of many in a constellation of resistances that undermined everyday life in Hosni Mubarak’s Egypt and the SCAF-controlled interim government. Ordinary surfaces of the city were illegally marked, displaying revolutionary potentiality by allowing the seemingly powerless rhetorical openings of engagement. Far from being a monolithic discourse, graffiti created geographies of material protest that were locally enacted but globally contextualized. Political graffiti, like the overall protests of the Arab Spring, emerged in large numbers at particular moments, but its numerous roots spread distinctly into the past. First contextualizing Cairo graffiti as a tool for revolutionary protest, the article then examines specific writers (Mahmoud Graffiti, Ganzeer), particular ‘battleground' spaces (Tahrir Square, Mohamed Mahmoud Street), different graffiti mutations (tags, pieces, murals) and contrary aesthetic manipulations of the form (‘No Walls’ campaign, graffiti advertisements by multinational corporations) in order to assemble a graffiti scene in Cairo as it follows the ebbs and flows of revolutionary desire.  

scholarly journals Immunity to the Arab Spring? Fear, Fatigue and Fragmentation in Algeria

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward McAllister
Keyword(s):  
Reference Point ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Political Change ◽  
Social Memory ◽  
The State ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Research Project ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
Do So

Rather than asking why the Arab Spring has not spread to Algeria, a question that necessitates a comparative approach, this paper will argue that the localised protests that have become a familiar feature of Algerian life for over half a decade respond to Algerian dynamics and have continued to do so in the wake of the Arab Spring. As part of an on-going research project, this paper will use social memory to explore the contradictory nature of Algeria’s past-present relationship, by looking at experiences which at once define what Algerians expect from the state and demobilise energies for collective change. The paper will argue that the fragmented nature of narratives about the past, as well as related generational divides, are factors that have inhibited the growth of cohesive movements demanding political change. In addition, the paper will look critically at assumptions that fears of a return to the violent 1990s are defining reticence toward revolution in Algeria, and will suggest that the riots of October 1988 provide a more useful reference point for understanding the clear lack of enthusiasm for a home-grown Arab Spring.

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