A Comparative Analysis of the 2011 Arab Uprising in Tunisia and Egypt.
INTRODUCTION 1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Popular uprisings and regime change are two events that often occur with a temporal order of the former preceding the latter. Every year witnesses a number of popular uprisings, the reasons behind them vary, as does the response from the state. The year 2011 saw a remarkable amount of uprisings; and popular protests throughout the entire Middle East and North Africa. The Change has come to countries like Egypt and Tunisia, while in other countries, namely Libya and Syria, and Yemen, the situation has deteriorated and the civilian suffering has been immense.
Attempts to analyze the chain of events and or reasons behind the uprisings have been done with a varying degree of depth and with quite different conclusions. Numerous commentators and scholars have pointed to the presence of unemployment, corruption, police brutality and poverty as triggers of demonstrations that have toppled autocratic regimes. This might very well be so. However, there are several countries that match these criteria that do not see the kind of mass mobilization of people and the resolve to get rid of the leadership. This observation leaves a number of questions unanswered.
The Middle East and the North African region have been remarkably resilient towards democratic influences. As the number of democracies increased worldwide between 1972 and 2002, the number of democracies in the Middle East and North Africa actually declined. The region seemed to be locked in a system of one party democracies, weak civil societies, poverty, and low levels of literacy. Further, As Bellin points out all countries (except Turkey), lack a neighboring country that can be considered a successful model of democratic rule (Bellin, 2004).
These prerequisites are arguably not ideal for any democratic development, but have not hindered other regions of developing in a democratic direction. Despite a weak civil society, 23 out of 42 Sub-Saharan African countries carried
Popular uprisings and regime change are two events that often occur with a temporal order of the former preceding the latter. Every year witnesses a number of popular uprisings, the reasons behind them vary, as does the response from the state. The year 2011 saw a remarkable amount of uprisings; and popular protests throughout the entire Middle East and North Africa. The Change has come to countries like Egypt and Tunisia, while in other countries, namely Libya and Syria, and Yemen, the situation has deteriorated and the civilian suffering has been immense.
Attempts to analyze the chain of events and or reasons behind the uprisings have been done with a varying degree of depth and with quite different conclusions. Numerous commentators and scholars have pointed to the presence of unemployment, corruption, police brutality and poverty as triggers of demonstrations that have toppled autocratic regimes. This might very well be so. However, there are several countries that match these criteria that do not see the kind of mass mobilization of people and the resolve to get rid of the leadership. This observation leaves a number of questions unanswered.
The Middle East and the North African region have been remarkably resilient towards democratic influences. As the number of democracies increased worldwide between 1972 and 2002, the number of democracies in the Middle East and North Africa actually declined. The region seemed to be locked in a system of one party democracies, weak civil societies, poverty, and low levels of literacy. Further, As Bellin points out all countries (except Turkey), lack a neighboring country that can be considered a successful model of democratic rule (Bellin, 2004).
These prerequisites are arguably not ideal for any democratic development, but have not hindered other regions of developing in a democratic direction. Despite a weak civil society, 23 out of 42 Sub-Saharan African countries carried
References: * Andoni, L (2011). “The rebirth of Arab activism-opinion” Al-Jazeera English. Retrieved 14 January 2011. * Bellin, E (2004). “The Robustness of Authoritarianism in the Middle East Exceptionalism in Comparative Perspective”, Comparative Politics, 36 (2). * Massey, N (2011). How tiny Tunisia sparked the fire that is engulfing the Arab, published on www.executive-magazine.com * Ryan, Y (2011). “How Tunisia’s revolution began-Features.” Al-Jazeera English. Retrieved 14 January 2011. * The Arab uprising: Causes, Prospects and implications, Election Guide Digest March 30, 2011. Published on www.digest.electionguide.org * www.ucdp.uu.se UCDP Arab Spring 2010-2011. * www.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Egyptian_Revolution