Arab Spring

The Arab Spring was a series of protests that occurred against the government , uprisings and armed rebellions spread across the Middle East in early 2011. But its purpose relative success and results remain controversial in the Arab countries, among foreign observers and worldwide as the powers that exist in the place seek to take advantage of the changing map that the Middle East suffers .

What was the Arab Spring?

The term ‘Arab Spring’ was popularized by Western media in early 2011 when he uprising successful in Tunisia against the former leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali who encouraged anti -government protests similar in most Arab countries. The term ‘Arab Spring’ is a reference to the Revolutions of 1848, a year in which a wave of political unrest occurred in many countries in Europe , many of which resulted in the overthrow of the old monarchical structures. and its replacement by a more representative form of government.

The Arab Spring was a series of conflicts in the political and popular sphere that happened in the Arab countries , which led to the fall of two important dictatorships that existed at the time, that of Ben Ali located in Tunisia , and that of Hosni Mubarak that it was located in Egypt . With it came the reinforcement of the violence that already existed in Yemen and also caused a war in Libya .

In which countries was

According to specialists on the subject, the Arab Spring began in Tunisia , a country that was under the power of Al Abidin for many years. The second country to be involved in the Arab Spring was Egypt . The first civil mobilizations that were made of the “Arab Spring” took place in Tunisia and Egypt in 2011, when large crowds of citizens, mainly university youth , took to the streets to demonstrate against the deteriorating situation. economical .

Causes of the Arab Spring

The causes of the Arab Spring were as follows:

• There was a high level of corruption in the government , inefficiency and a repressive desire of the regimes in the area, added to the permanent dissatisfaction of the basic needs of most of the population.
• In the historical aspect, there had been the loss of three wars against the State of Israel , a situation that had forced some countries in the region to have to accept certain peace and cooperation agreements with the United States , the latter being the one that had acquired the control of oil resources .
• The political cause was based mainly on the establishment of one -party dictatorships that had forced the population to remain silent.
• There was a tremendous financial crisis that put many Egyptian workers living in Europe out of work and forced states to adopt unpopular adjustment measures .
• The country’s exports had been affected , raising the prices of food products, which generated a situation of deficiency that further motivated the various social unrest .
• The population at the time was very young and there were high unemployment rates and the impossibility of emigrating to Europe, due to the different inconveniences imposed by their own nations as well as by European countries.

Conflicts

The start of the Arab Spring was due to a series of protests that began to demand an increase in government salaries in Tunisia. These demonstrations turned violent until they demanded the removal of the dictator and his family from power. Once the departure of Ben Ali was achieved, a great dispute for power began in the country, mainly due to the dictatorships that had already been present.

On the other hand, Egypt had been ruled with a heavy hand since 1981 by Hosni Mubarak , and it is the second country to be part of the Arab Spring. Most of the claims in this place were made against the deterioration of the social situation and that better measures were created by the government to stop the impact of the crises and the rise of prices of food in the population. Important demonstrations took place mainly in Cairo the capital and the city of Alexandriawhere on January 28, almost half a million people caused a huge demonstration that caused the departure of the police forces. After this fact, Mubarak summoned the protesters to return to their homes and made the proposal to start a process of national reconciliation proposing changes in the government payroll, although without affecting his permanence as president of the nation at all, a situation that was not to the liking of anti-government protesters.

Consequences

Some of the most important consequences that the Arab Spring brought with it were the following:

• There was the continuity of monarchies . In Jordan as in Morocco and the Persian Gulf , monarchical governments dodged demands for reform where the party was supported by powerful security.
• He was given the loss of hegemony of the United States therefore could not participate in the democratic election or military overthrow of Mursi in Egypt and therefore ceased to mark the fate that had the Middle East.
• A civil war was created due to the continuing tension between Sunna and Shia Muslims , leading to enormous violence in Iraq.
• The Iranian victory occurred after the uprisings, after having been marginalized from the international system and having had a very limited international trading system .
• The role of Islam in Egypt was transformed .
• The future of the Iraqi-Kurds improved remarkably, mainly in terms of oil reserves and the development of the economy with Turkey.

Repercussion of the Arab Spring

One of the main repercussions that the Arab Spring brought with it was the civil war that unfolds in Syria , many people who participated in it hoped that new governments would be created that brought with them new political reforms and social justice , but this never happened. The Arab Spring actually came to destabilize the nations of the region, a situation that many consider was created by powerful people in the nation. There are more wars , more deaths and more violence , which increasingly repress those who want to raise their voices in search of a more just and open society.