The arab spring has fundamentally altered the middle east and north africa mena. Instead, that spring has given way to a winter of economic stagnation and political violence that has plunged syria, libya and yemen into bloody civil war, has led to widespread unrest in egypt, iraq and bahrain, and threatens to destabilize arab governments from morocco to saudi arabia. Syria arab spring libguides at university of illinois. It began in response to oppressive regimes and a low standard of living, starting with protests in tunisia. The armed forces played a decisive role in many of the arab. Feb 23, 2021 the events of the arab spring in bahrain, which began 10 years ago this month, are burned into my memory. The implications of the arab spring on surviving regional powers has been overshadowed by geopolitical and geostrategic interests. At the time of writing, the period of unrest and change in the arab. These policies represented the capstone of a decade and a half of reformulating qatari foreign policy.
It is ideal as an introductory reader that contributes. In much of the popular analysis over the past year the term arab spring has become the defining characteristic of the new middle east emerging from decades of authoritarian and repressive rule. The arab spring movements that took place in tunisia, egypt and libya had all managed to unseat their dictators by this point and that all that was left of the struggle were small skirmishes going on in some of the. The common slogan of the protesters throughout arab spring was the people want to bring down the regime aissa, 2012. As popular uprisings spread across the middle east, popular wisdom often held that the gulf states would remain beyond the fray. The daily beast answers six key questions about the uprising. The arab spring is therefore both a domestic and a foreign policy issue in saudi arabia. 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. After longruling autocrats were toppled in tunisia and egypt in early 2011, a wave of public protests against authoritarianism, corruption, and state incompetence swept across the arab world. The arab spring was a series of prodemocracy uprisings that enveloped several largely muslim countries, including tunisia, morocco, syria, libya, egypt and bahrain. The response of the russian government to these events has, like. The arab spring has severely affected the countries associated with north africa and the middle east especially bahrain. Ten years on, the lives of people in arab spring countries have improved in. Arab spring and the escalation of the sectarian divide in bahrain 20 by verlag irena regener berlin 2 overt and covert, to recognize anxiety provoking issues as well as common fantasies and expectations from ones own group and from the enemy group volkan, 1998, p.
The arab spring has had an important social and economic impact on the arab world. During the arab spring, alalam took sides similar to aljazeera and alarabiya. The arab spring wave in the beginning of 2011 that hit middle eastern countries, started from tunisia, egypt, libya, yemen, and syria, which still continue to this day, is a symbol of the fall of. The islands territorial position in the persian gulf not only makes it a key contending regional power but also determines its geostrategic position as a. The wave began when protests in tunisia and egypt toppled their regimes in quick succession, inspiring similar attempts in other arab countries. Tunisia bans protests, extends curfew as virus cases jump. How hope is vanishing 10 years after the arab spring. The gulf states and the arab uprisings toby matthiesen. But after 2012, the us and the uk were under the impression that the arab spring movement in bahrain was over editors note. Opinion remembering a taste of freedom in bahrain, 10.
Across the region, economies have been negatively affected, with rising unemployment rates, decreased foreign investment and tourism, and interruptions in exports. Social media have served as an outlet for social movement to propagate ideas, mobilize members for collective action and coordinate activism. With the arab spring in the background for much of the gcc, and very much in the foreground in bahrain, moves to placate through economic concessions have been afoot in kuwait, bahrain, and especially saudi arabia. In the flood of newspaper articles, media documentaries, online blogs, youtube postings, and scholarly articles that followed the rebellions and worldwide protests in 20112012, there is however a remarkable feature of the protests that has remained mostly unrecognized, untheorized, and certainly not analyzed comparatively. This pdf document is a list of the arabic materials that are available at the university of illinois in regards to syrias role in the arab spring. Looking in depth at two states that have had significantly different outcomes from the uprisings tunisia and bahrain the article analyses the factors that have led to the toppling of a regime in one. In the years prior to the arab spring, qatars leaders had nurtured a growing reputation as a nonstop mediator to carve out a niche for itself in regional diplomacy. I do believe that al jazeera and other channels were not balanced in dealing with the events, he said. Ghassan ben jeddo, who had been the head of the beirut bureau before resigning in april 2011, said that al jazeera was biased in covering the arab spring, especially in syria and bahrain. Instead, a new arab political identity with an antidespotic, pluralis t and democracyseekin g approach is dawning. It serves as both an eyewitness account to the initial phase of the arab spring, as demands for reform cascaded across parts of the gulf states, and an analysis of how and why the regional counterrevolution succeeded in isolating and fracturing the burgeoning protest movements. T he events that began in tunisia in january 2011 and spread to egypt and then libya, jordan, morocco, bahrain, syria, and beyond, shook the. These movements collectively came to be dubbed the arab spring, the arab revolution or the arab awakening souza and lipietz 2011.
Arab spring, wave of prodemocracy protests and uprisings that took place in the middle east and north africa beginning in 2010 and 2011, challenging some of the regions entrenched authoritarian regimes. The role of social media in the arab uprisings pew. Yemen arab spring libguides at university of illinois. Executions in idlib governorate execution of fighters in first defense line, march 11, 2012 mass executions at the bilal mosque, march 11, 2012 executions of four residents in ayn larouz village, midmarch 2012 execution of two. Correspondingly, the gamut of state responses ran from tacticalpreemptive political. In spring 2011 it quickly announced enormous direct and indirect payments to the population, in order to avert protests.
Bahrain, saudi arabia, and the arab spring that wasnt is an important book. In the flood of newspaper articles, media documentaries, online blogs, youtube postings, and scholarly articles that followed the rebellions and worldwide protests in 20112012, there is however a remarkable feature of the protests that has remained mostly unrecognized, untheorized, and certainly not analyzed comparatively this was the salient. At home the saudi leadership is pursuing a carrotandstick strategy. Here, protesters wave flags at the pearl roundabout in the capital manama on feb. He had been very vocal during the 2011 arab spring protests, standing on the stage at pearl square and calling for a democratic country where people would be equal, have rights, and enjoy free speech. Since then, the country has become increasingly politically polarized, and those who have dared to speak out about the tragic human rights situation in the country have been punished. In sectarian gulf, toby matthiesen paints a very different picture, offering the first assessment of the arab spring across the region. The protests were inspired by the unrest of the 2011 arab spring and 201112 iranian protests and escalated to daily clashes after the bahraini government repressed the revolt with the support of the gulf cooperation. Using a qualitative comparative method, i illustrate these dynamics through an examination of several arab spring uprisings. Disturbances have ranged from protests to full civil war and the overthrow of government. International response to the arab spring has varied depending on the geopolitical and strategic position of the country, nowhere has this been more prevalent than in the case of bahrain.
In july 2012 a report was published by the united states institute of peace based on an extensive content analysis of bit. Opinion remembering a taste of freedom in bahrain, 10 years. From tunisia, the protests then spread to five other countries. Influenced by protests in egypt and tunisia, protestors took to the streets of manama, bahrain s capital.
The bahraini uprising of 2011 was a series of antigovernment protests in bahrain led by the shiadominant and some sunni minority bahraini opposition from 2011 until 2014. The arab spring failed but the rage against misery and. The geopolitics of the region grc paper the arab spring has yet to give way to the hopedfor glorious summer, but for iran it has already turned into a winter of discontent. While egyptian dictator hosni mubarak was being toppled in february 2011, the arab spring struck in bahrain as 100,000 protesters filed into manamas pearl roundabout for three days of protests calling for democracy reforms to the longstanding rule of the al khalifa monarchy. The middle east and north africa mena have long been laden with tensions and instabilities.
Hence in my thesis, i analyse bahrain as a critical case of the arab spring. The protests in bahrain in 2011 came amid similar movements in tunisia and. The diagnosis includes examination of chosen traumas and. Egypt, where the military sided with civil resisters. The arab spring effect on labor politics in bahrain and oman. The aim of this chapter is to examine the use of the social media by the bahraini antigovernment movement since the outbreak of the arab spring in bah rain in 2011 till the present day. As a result, their efforts and larger strategic thinking are undermined by saudi arabia in egypt. Causes of the arab spring causes of the arab spring may be described as following. A bumpy road ahead pdf by hassan hakimian, director of the london middle east institute and reader, economics department, soas underscores the underlying importance of the economic conditions facing the new republics, such as egypt and tunisia, which are emerging as a result of the arab spring. With firsthand accounts of events in bahrain, saudi arabia, and kuwait, matthiesen tells the story of the early protests, and. Looking out over the mass of smiling people marching together, i tasted freedom for the. These developments have been consolidated by the arab spring, where us support for reform and democracy in egypt and north africa has pushed the. Bahrain and yemen jeopardizing the respective current government one way or the other.
Beginning in february 2011, before troubling protests broke out in several. Syria arab spring libguides at university of illinois at. Pdf international response to bahrains arab spring. Assessing the arab spring in its second year by mohammed ayoob, april 6, 2012 the arab spring is now over one year old.
The arab spring jason marshall introduction the arab spring is a blanket term to cover a multitude of uprisings and protests in the middle east that began in the winter of 2010 and continue today. In bahrain and syria, the clash was mainly between the shia and sunni groups. Chinese economic statecraft and the quest for stability in the contemporary middle east december 2012 dr kunchin lin and professor rory miller. Jan 05, 2012 bahrain is the one arab country where the government has suppressed a major uprising. 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. Sectarianism and power maintenance in the arab spring.
Bahrain, saudi arabia, and the arab spring that wasnt is an extremely timely analysis. How the bahraini monarchy crushed the countrys arab spring. Search strategies this list of keywords and phrases will allow you to hone your search for materials on syria during the arab spring. In bahrain, the democratic protests started on 14 february and were. Mar 04, 2021 bahrain was among arab nations that signed normalisation agreements with israel in 2020 during the trump administration. The arab spring created uncertainty for the economy.
Arab spring used their powers vehemently to crush the demonstrators and consequently the peaceful protesters also became violent. Jul 17, 2012 international response to the arab spring has varied depending on the geopolitical and strategic position of the country, nowhere has this been more prevalent than in the case of bahrain. Bahrain follows the same pattern as the rest of the arab spring in that established and officially recognized opposition groups have been led by youth groups on the streets. Bahrain and the global balance of power after the arab spring. In the fall of 2010, parliamentary elections in bahrain. However, the success of bahrain s f1 events, along with its other investment sectors, has not been immune from the effects of the arab spring. Nov 09, 2020 this pdf document is a list of the arabic materials that are available at the university of illinois in regards to bahrain s role in the arab spring. Youth unemployment in the region remains the highest in the world pdf and. However, the recent arab uprisings, better known as the arab spring, have intensified volatility.
Demonstrators expressing political and economic grievances faced violent crackdowns by their countries security forces. Exploring military defections and loyalty in egypt, bahrain, and syria show all authors. Iran finds its revolutionary message diluted and overtaken by events. Ascendancy frustrated gulf research center 5 introduction. The arab spring in the monarchies has ranged from virtually none in the uae to largescale and often violent protests aiming to overthrow the regime in bahrain. The regional revolution saw regime change in tunisia, egypt, and yemen, and civil wars in libya and, at the time of writing this, ongoing in syria. However, in bahrain, transatlantic democracy promotion is itself. Looking in depth at two states that have had significantly different outcomes from the uprisings tunisia and bahrain the article analyses. Arab spring and the escalation of the sectarian divide in. Roots and causes of the arab uprisings there is a consensu s among politica l analysts regardin g the cocktai l of major factors that, when combined, created the socia l explosio n known as the 2011 arab uprisings.
Bahrains contribution to the arab spring egypt news. This thesis explores several dimensions of domestic and international politics related to the arab spring. Bahrain arab spring libguides at university of illinois. Bahrain after the arab spring when mass protests demanding reform broke out on 14 february 2011, they were met with violence from the bahraini security forces. Bahrain arab spring libguides at university of illinois at urbana. It is widely believed to rebound in the near future. Impact of arab spring on bahrain college of wooster. The role of social media in the arab uprisings pew research. Arab spring, wave of prodemocracy protests and uprisings that took place in the middle east and north africa beginning in 2010, challenging some of the regions entrenched authoritarian regimes. This pdf document is a list of the arabic materials that are available at the university of illinois in regards to bahrains role in the arab spring. The revolutions and unrests in the country have affected the economy adversely. How neuroscience principles can lead to better learning. Jan 29, 2018 six years later, little remains of the hopes that the west saw in the arab spring. Apr 08, 2021 my father, abdulhadi al khawaja, is a human rights activist from the kingdom of bahrain.
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