One of the most interesting issues that happened during 2011 was the Arab spring, and I still remember who interesting was to keep an eye on what was happening in the Arabian countries. Personally, I was very interested in this issue and it was a great pleasure for me when Dr. Hamid shared the topic with us during one of the lectures. Though the lecture was very informative and we enjoyed watching videos about the spring, I did not get much more than I knew, However, I decided to search more and lastly, I have understood the root causes of after during research. I would like to share the root causes of the spring as well as its consequences.
It started with the Tunisian Revolution that took place in December 2010 when a vendor, Mohamad Bouazizi set himself to fire due to police corruption and ill treatment. This sparked the revolution, however there were many internal and international reasons which caused the Arab rebellion. First of all, The Arab world was living a very difficult economic and social situation as in Europe in 1848. Poverty, rising food prices, inflation, human rights violation, and high unemployment were the main phenomena the Arabs were facing. William Shaub, in his article, The Roots of the Revolution in Egypt, has highlighted on the average per –capita and its possible effect on the revolution. He wrote, “Egypt has had a massive income gap throughout Mubarak’s control, which is clearly the root cause of the original uprising
. One half of Egyptians live on $2/day or less. The average per-capita income in the country is just $6,200.” This shows that economic pressure was the main cause of the revolution which finally led the collapsing of the dictators. In addition to income, jobs were very scarce and many people become jobless which forced the people to go against the government. Moreover, political freedom and human rights were violated and many Arabs were wondering why their countries remain under dictatorship rules while the rest of the world is enjoying democracy. It is worth mentioning that the Arab spring was not a miracle which started in 2011, but it was steadily happening for a long time. However, the increase of the use of technology and social sites facilitated it and made it possible to happen.
On the other hand, international pressured took part in triggering the revolution. The Arab spring caused unrest and turmoil in the region at the beginning. In places where military intern governments have been put into place there has been a lot of violence and killing. A lot of chaos has been created in some areas and instability. These will also fracture the economies and the political culture of the countries. Since the revolutions have been successful in over throwing the autocracies people could resort back to protesting when they don’t agree with governmental decisions continuing the instability. The Middle East is a multi-ethnic region that also has high chances of civil war with no effect government at the moment. Morocco and Jordan are going through processes of reform in order to avoid an uprising because of the Arab Spring. This meaningful reform could be successful since they have more progressive oligarchies. There is more pressure on Israel in allowing Palestine to become its own state because of the progression towards democracy. The United States has great interest in securing oil and Israel which could lead to the involvement of the United States. The Arab Spring may help diminish terrorism in the region by overthrowing regimes and cutting funding to groups.
Lastly, Arab spring become a historical turning point for many countries in the Arabian Peninsula. Despite having some problems during the first years, I believe it will bring a lot to the people as well as the region. However, it needs patience because there is no such an overnight change and any Arab who has a doubt about the benefits of spring should remember that “Rome was not built in a day”. The revolution did not only expel the dictators but it will also help the people to improve their standard of living.