Analysis of the arab spring 3 blunders in state response, in particular using a heavyhanded approach and trying to crush opposition, had the reverse effect of galvanising more people to join the protests icg, 2011b and 2011d. Algeria underwent a political opening too, one that commenced in november 1988 with the adoption of a number of politi cal reforms that seemed to open the way for the dismantling of single. Democratization theory and the arab spring journal of democracy. The study of democratization and the arab spring general guide. The armed forces played a decisive role in many of the arab uprisings, particularly the early ones. The middle east, democratization, and the arab spring. Marxism, the arab spring, and islamic fundamentalism. Thi s researc h articl e attempts to scrutinize the nature and cause s of the ara b uprising s which too k people by surpris e globall y throughou t 2011 and int o 2012. Tunisia and syria during the early months of the arab spring. Nov, 2012 seymour martin lipsets scholarship on such themes as the conditions for democracy, political parties, voting behavior, extremist movements, ideologies, and public opinion constitutes one of the most prolific, insightful, and widely read bodies of work on democracy ever produced by a single author.
Starting with tunisia in december of 2010, the citizens of egypt, libya, and iran all voiced dissatisfaction with their governing leaders within the same period. The fact that the social scientific research on the middle east failed to predict the arab spring serves as a starting point of the analysis. In the field of the graduation thesis assigned in some faculties of humanities, there has become increasingly common the choice, by the candidates, of the research centered on the socalled arab uprisings and the whole series of social and political upheavals that have been attributed by the global media the definition of the arab spring. Pdf in this paper, i will analyze the participation of egypt and syria in the arab spring using huntingtons theory of third wave democratization. In reality it had never actually gone away, but had been in political remission. Arab spring giga german institute of global and area studies. Arab spring revolutions have not yet created democracies, but.
Introduction the arab spring also known as the arab uprising is a revolutionary wave of protests that started in 2011 and spread throughout the arab world. Democratization and regime stability in arab authoritarian regimes a thesis submitted to the faculty of the graduate school of arts and sciences of georgetown university in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of master of arts in security studies by alissa emily gordon, a. It is a prodemocracy demonstration which has been sweeping through middle east and north african since 2010. Justice, dignity, religion and international politics nurullah ard. The arab spring and its subsequent impact on a global scale that sparked widespread protests against governments and policies, is a watershed in the evolution of sociopolitical movements. If it is to ever arrive, it will likely be through a more evolutionary and elitedriven process. The political causes of the arab spring the arab spring can be analysed in many ways. The roots and causes of the 2011 arab uprisings kamal eldin osman salih abstract.
Pdf is the arab spring in the third wave of democratization. In 2015, tunisia became the first arab country classified as free since the beginning of lebanons civil war 40 years ago. There is no overarching theory in the arab spring revolutions, under these. Pdf the arab spring and theories of democratization. The waves of the arab spring in tunisia, egypt, libya, yemen and syria, and. Rather, it shall discuss which aspects of the arab spring took the research community by surprise. In light of the arab spring, how should students of democratic transition rethink the relation between religion and democracy. The muslim brotherhoods mohammed morsis short presidency of egypt june 2012 to july 20 is a clear example of how the arab spring cannot be described as a triumph for democracy. Therefore, cases from the arab revolutions and dtps in the menaregion1, stresses the importance on research handling new approaches and looking at new and different angles. Events of the arab spring such as the tunisian revolution may indicate a move towards democracy in some countries which may not be fully captured in the democracy index.
In order to accomplish this, we explore the extent to which the arab spring represents norm diffusion among middle east and north africa mena states. It is too optimistic to think that existing dilemmas can be easily resolved in this new and changing environment, but the arab spring may provide strong momentum for change. The economics of the arab spring and its aftermath world bank. Guide to writing a dissertation on the arab spring il. Oct 16, 20 t here is a very real fear that the arab spring might lead to nothing substantial, with middle eastern states ending up with the same kind of regime structures typified by patrimony and coercion mechanisms, buttressed by western support.
Understanding the arab spring through the lens of coalition repression. Geopolitics, islamic fundamentalism, and the arab spring. The arab spring also known as the arab uprising is a revolutionary wave of protests that started in 2011 and spread throughout the arab world. Throughout his article, ross returns to the theory of the oil curse to support his claims, describing the curse as a phenomenon where oil wealth leads to authoritarianism, economic instability, corruption, and violent conflict. What does the arab spring imply for democratization theory. Press, 1999 and jillian schwedler, faith in moderation. Three major realities were political reason that motivated the population to take the streets. Democratization theory and the arab spring journal of.
Nationalism, the arab spring, and the new middle east. This article purports to examine the role of the united states in the outbreak of the arab spring and the course of its subsequent paths. Arab spring, political status quo, demonstration, relative deprivation. Democratization theory and the arab spring request pdf. George orwell in his animal farm through allusions had prophesised this very predicament across nations where the poor, overworked and repressed.
The role of human development in the transition to democracy after the arab. The arab spring and israeli security concerns in middle east monitor, february 14th. It is a pro democracy demonstration which has been s. The political economics of the arab spring roland hodler november 2012 abstract the arab spring has led to very di erent outcomes across the arab world. Democratization theory and the arab spring alfred stepan and juan j. This article deals with the arab spring as a process of deep political change in. The regions notoriously docile people, who have long. Linz alfred stepan is wallace sayre professor of government and found ing director of the center for the study of democracy, toleration, and. Understanding the dynamics of the arab spring polsoz.
The southern and northern ramifications of the processes of democratisation in the arab countries in the last decades, the area of political science devoted to the study of processes of democratisation has been without any doubt one of the most prolific among those focused on. Arab spring has been regarded as an arab phenomenon from the outset, explanations that are given of the arab spring have been ad hoc and are not representative of the entire arab world. Bunker regimes arab monarchies have been the least affected by the arab spring, echoing eva bellins suggestion that the truisms of the. The arab spring as a challenge to political science. In the aftermath of the arab spring, democracy in the arab world seems farther away today than at any point in the last 25 years. In this model, dictators from the ethnic or religious majority group. Democracy in the middle east and north africa wikipedia. Youth frustration and the arab spring 3 mohammed bouazizi, the young street vendor who set himself ablaze in public in late 2010, did not intend to start a revolution in tunisia. Sep 01, 2017 democratization in a broad sense is a continuous process of sensitization and practice of given, rationalized, normative conditions to regulate relations among the state, society, and individuals. To investigate the role of interelite trust, we develop a theoreticalanalytical framework, drawing on arab spring literature, transition theory, scholarship on democratic consolidation, and. Arab spring does not merit a description as a victory for democracy and human rights.
Iran has backed hezbollah in lebanon and shia islamic fundamentalist organizations such as aldawa in iraq. Yet, the aim of this contribution is neither a collective selfaccusation nor apologia. On yet another note, in the arab spring, democracy and security. The arab spring and the democratic domino theory the. Keywords democratization institutions arab spring middle east north africa egypt.
I present a highly stylized model of the arab spring to better understand these di erences. This curse seems to be afflicting venezuela currently, just as it did to libya during the arab spring. On political order and the arab spring amichai magen amichai magen is head of political development at the institute for counterterrorism ict and a lecturer at the lauder school of government, diplomacy and strategy, the interdisciplinary center idc, herzliya. Democratization in the arab world is an excellent book that fills a need for concise profiles of democratic transitions and the lessons that can be drawn from them. Arab spring, middle east, rent theory, revolution theory. A comprehensive look at how 2011 shaped the middle east. When it comes to politics, clear political factors emerge as important reasons for the uprising in the muslim world. Sep 29, 2011 before the arab spring, the assumption was that arab nationalism had been tried and failed, and islamism was the new and dangerous movement capable of mobilizing the arab street. In this article, we first reexamine the relationship between democracy and the twin tolerations in the worlds muslimmajority countries that are democraciesindonesia, turkey, senegal and tunisia, as well as in muslimminority india. The main argument of this article is that the arab spring represented a major strategic surprise to the united states. Imperial and regional powers have used islamic fundamentalists to increase their influence and diminish that of their opponents in the middle east. Linz alfred stepan is wallace sayre professor of government and founding director of the center for the study of democracy, toleration, and religion at columbia university.
Apr 16, 2014 we discuss how the arab spring is a reflection of the resiliency of the human rights regime. Algeria underwent a political opening too, one that commenced in november 1988 with the adoption of a number of politi cal reforms that. Democratization in a broad sense is a continuous process of sensitization and practice of given, rationalized, normative conditions to regulate relations among the state, society, and individuals. Democratization in a broad sense is a continuous process of sensitization and practice of given, rationalized, normative conditions to regulate relations among the. It breaks new ground in very deliberately, thoughtfully, and parsimoniously applying the lessons of theory and experience to the transition processes underway in the arab world. He certainly could not have foreseen that he would motivate the peoples of the arab world1 to seek social change in the collection of demonstrations. Pdf the middle east and north africa mena have long been laden with tensions and instabilities.
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