The gaddafi archives libya before the arab spring view gallery an exhibition of photographs, documents and artefacts from the human rights watch archive paints a portrait of libya in the four decades prior to the arab spring. What does the arab spring imply for democratization theory. A year of revolution a year ago, a tunisian fruitseller set himself on fire after being humiliated by a police officer. One of the hallmarks of the arab spring uprisings has been the role of social media in articulating. The response of the russian government to these events has, like. Nov 28, 2012 now, research is emerging that reexamines in a more detailed way the role that social media played in the arab uprisings. The arab spring and the saudiled counterrevolution by mehran kamrava mehran kamrava is director of the center for international and regional studies at georgetown universitys school of foreign service in qatar. This report highlights the episodes, which led to the commonly called arab spring that originated in tunisia. The arab spring in tunisia forced ben ali from power, but the regime that was overthrown was actually. Tunisia s mass popular uprising, dubbed the jasmine revolution, sparked antigovernment movements in other countries across the region. Tunisia experienced a series of conflicts during the three years leading up to the arab spring, the most notable occurring in the mining area of gafsa in 2008, where protests continued for many months. One difference lies in the character of the islamist. Egypt, libya, syria, and yemen quickly emulated tunisia s example, giving hope to the citizens of those countries that major political and economic transformations were underway.
Six years later, little remains of the hopes that the west saw in the arab spring. By early 2011 they had spread into what became known as the arab spring a wave of. Jan 16, 2014 arab and middle east unrest the arab spring. The results will hopefully form a foundation, or supplement, for further empiricallybased analysis on the matter. Chapter 4 cronyism, corruption, and the arab spring. A case study of revolution in north africa and the. Apr 03, 2012 the russian government, like its counterparts in the west, the middle east, and elsewhere, was caught off guard by the outburst of arab uprisings beginning in january 2011 that swept away longruling authoritarian regimes in tunisia, egypt, libya, and it appears yemen, and have threatened to topple those in bahrain and syria. Tunisian democracy at a crossroads brookings institution. Mohamed moncef marzouki, president of tunisia, recalled the fact that his country was the first country to experience the arab spring. In a region beset by brutal repression, humanitarian disasters, and civil war, tunisia s jasmine revolution alone gave way to a peaceful transition to a functioning democracy. The economic consequences of the arab spring by mohsin khan atlantic council rafik hariri center for the middle east the popular uprisings that swept the middle east in early 2011 dramatically altered the political landscape of the region with the overthrow of autocratic regimes in egypt, libya, tunisia, and yemen.
The tunisian revolution, also called the jasmine revolution, was an intensive 28day campaign of civil resistance. The arab spring started in tunisia in late 2010, when a selfimmolation of a street vendor in a provincial town of sidi bouzid sparked mass antigovernment protests. The event set off uprisings across north africa and the. The role of islamic law in tunisias constitution and legislation. The protests inspired similar actions throughout the arab world, in a chain reaction which became known as the arab spring movement. It describes the chain of events that took place and their geographical spread all over the country. That act triggered the jasmine revolution in tunisia and a wave of public unrest throughout the middle east that came to be called the arab spring. However, this outcome is unlikely, and the most likely scenario is that the arab world will continue to be governed by authoritarian governme nts. Political transition in tunisia congressional research service summary tunisia has taken key steps toward democracy since the jasmine revolution in 2011, and has so far avoided the violent chaos andor authoritarian resurrection seen in other arab spring countries. Tunisians rose up after a fruit seller set fire to himself credit. The arab spring of discontent einternational relations. Tunisian internet users conducted between february and may 2012, this paper analyses the use of. It set the motion in the socalled arab spring and successfully demonstrated that social and political transformation. How to think about the middle east before the arab spring.
Abstractthere was great hope that the arab spring in 2011 would usher in an era of democratic change throughout the arab world. Examines role smartphones played in collecting and distributing news during the arab spring. It is widely accepted that the events of the arab spring began in december 19, 2010 when a tunisian. While the uprising in tunisia led to some improvements in the country from a humanrights perspective, not all of the nations that witnessed such social and political.
Pdf the middle east and north africa mena have long been laden with tensions and instabilities. Although events did not occur in an identical fashion to those witnessed in tunisia, it seemed that people across the arab world. 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. Case studies of tunisia and egypt abdulsattar, tammam omer msc. Eight years after the arab spring, tunisians are frustrated with democracys failures to deliver, offering a potential. Demystifying the arab spring parsing the differences between tunisia, egypt, and libya lisa anderson in tunisia, protesters escalated calls for the restoration of the countrys suspended constitution. Zulkuf aydin sep 2015, 108 pages arab spring is a political concept that spread widely in the media and academic art publications. To gauge the class prior knowledge of the arab spring, ask for a show of hands as to how many students have heard the term arab spring on the news.
Beginning in december 2010, antigovernment protests rocked tunisia. Tunisia and the arab spring powerpoint, available in the carolina k12 database of k12 resources. By womens rights, we mean womens rights in the law as it concerns personal status and family law. Demystifying the arab spring uc san diego social sciences.
Democratization theory and the arab spring journal of. Arab spring in tmisia and egypt 53 in this paper i focus on the arab spring outbreaks in tunisia and egypt and document how disenfranchised youth took advantage of emerging wired technological formats in their respective countries to create mediated communities, networks and identities that decolonized. The tunisian national dialogue quartet was awarded the 2015 nobel peace prize for its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in tunisia in the wake of the tunisian revolution of 2011. Tunisia was the first country where the arab spring fire started. Meanwhile, egyptians rose in revolt as strikes across the country brought daily life to a halt and toppled the government. The tunisian revolution as a catalyst to the arab spring. Powerpoint accompaniment for carolina k12s lesson tunisia.
The people want to bring down the regime tunisias jasmine revolution is the first popular uprising to topple an established government in the middle east and north africa since the iranian revolution of 1979. And their night will then begin to fade, and their chains break and fall. Beginning about three years ago in tunisia, and spreading to a number of other arab countries thereafter, what has become known unfortunately1 as the arab spring took experts, locals and media observers of all stripes by surprise. Tunisia and the arab spring overview nc essential standards. Its causes and consequences 3 arab countries barany, 2011. The middle east and north africa mena have long been laden with tensions and instabilities. Additionally, a variety of explanations have been offered presented by scholars and the media, regarding not only the cause of the arab spring but also. Arab spring, tunisia, economic impact, synthetic control methodology. Causes, consequences, and implications if, one day, a people desire to live, then fate will answer their call. The cases of tunisia and egypt contributing factors to the. The role of social media in the arab uprisings pew research. After the revolt, tunisia held its first free election since it became an independent nation in. Dec 18, 2015 how did tunisia avoid the cycle of violence and repression that marred the arab spring. The russian government, like its counterparts in the west, the middle east, and elsewhere, was caught off guard by the outburst of arab uprisings beginning in january 2011 that swept away longruling authoritarian regimes in tunisia, egypt, libya, and it appears yemen, and have threatened to topple those in bahrain and syria.
Egypt, libya, syria, and yemen quickly emulated tunisias example, giving hope to the citizens of those countries that major political and economic transformations were underway. The case of the arab spring, especially tunisia and egypt, showcase these complexities of revolution, both causal and perpetuating. Arab spring, egypt, revolution, social media, tunisia. After the revolt, tunisia held its first free election since it. There was a definite demonstration effect driving the arab spring, evident from the speed with. It is well known that these events started a reaction throughout the arab world, in some cases with success while in other countries it caused a. Tunisia celebrates fifth anniversary of the arab spring time. His most recent works arethe international politics of the persian gulf2011, and innovation in islam. Features interviews with prominent figures covering the unrest. In july 2012 a report was published by the united states institute of peace based on an extensive content analysis of bit. Inform students that they are going to learn about a recent struggle for freedom that took place during the arab spring in tunisia. 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. The ruptures of the events in tunisia seemed to echo elsewhere, the socalled tunisian wind swept across north africa and the middle east, and began a great chain of unrest. Alternatives turkish journal of international relations to cite this special issue.
Parks on november 45, 2011, the asan institute for policy studies held the first asan middle east conference, a biennial gathering of the worlds foremost experts on the middle east and north africa mena region. The impact of the arab spring on the tunisian economy oxford. Sep 04, 20 in the second section, we discuss some of the current debates on womens rights in tunisia following the arab spring, including the mobilization of women around the controversial article 28 in the draft of the new constitution. Evidence from the tunisian revolution anita breuer. Demonstrators expressing political and economic grievances faced violent crackdowns by their countries security forces. A case study of revolution in north africa and the middle east. The roots and causes of the 2011 arab uprisings kamal eldin osman salih abstract.
Events of the tunisian revolution the three first years adele aranki nassar preface by peter wallensteen. Wednesday, january 11, 2012 abstract tunisia triggered a wave of protests that has been sweeping all over the north africa and the middle east since the early 2011. The reason is that the arab world in the modern, postindependence era, had. Along with the decrease in production, the demographic boom was also responsible for increasing unemployment. The situation began to change after world war ii, when, flush with vic. Egyptian revolution, also known as arab spring or arab uprising, was a shock for international community because egypt has been seen as one of the strongest military state in north africa region. Tunisia has emerged as the one success story of the 2011 arab spring uprisings. As popular uprisings, demanding greater political freedoms and in several countries even regime change, swept across much of the arab world, a crucial role has been played by the armed forces of these countries in confronting the proreform movements. The case of tunisia antonio nucifora, phd, erik churchill, and bob rijkers, phd 1 editors note. At the eve of the arab spring, one out of four egyptians and tunisians young was out of employment. For detailed coverage of the arab spring in individual countries, see jasmine revolution tunisia, egypt uprising of 2011, yemen uprising of 201112, libya revolt of. The initial events of the arab spring occurred in tunisia, where on december 14, 2010, a street vendor named mohammad bouazizi carried out an act of selfimmolation, after a tunisian police officer was alleged to have taken his fruit stand from him, restricting him from selling fruit at his location. However, the recent arab uprisings, better known as the arab spring, have intensified volatility. It began in response to oppressive regimes and a low standard of living, starting with protests in tunisia noueihed, 2011.
The world banks world governance indicators show that although tunisia s government has become much more accountable, its. The role of social media in the arab uprisings pew. Now, in some countries, what was happening suggested that the dream was turning into a nightmare. The country was facing times of political and economic instability dealing with high level of corruption, high prices, unemployment, political oppression and poverty. While libya, yemen, and syria have descended into civil war, and egypt into military dictatorship. The arab spring in tunisia and its aftermath au digital research. This paper seeks to take stock of tunisias democracy. Marxist circles and parties set up in the arab world with moscows help had little influence, and local liberation movements did not depend on the bolsheviks.