Premium Essay

Arab Spring

In:

Submitted By Sebenzile
Words 2468
Pages 10
QUESTION 1
The research theme of the article is the Arab Spring and democracy. The Arab Spring as a revolutionary act got people from western countries excited as the Arabians were fighting for their liberation. As the Arab people were fighting to get democracy, it was thought that if the people who were fighting were to get that democracy, there would peace among states (Coetzee 2013: 310). The Arab Spring served as a confirmation that the world would eventually get to a point where it was liberal democratic and that if the Arab world was to be liberated, there would be tranquillity. Even though the aims of the Arab Spring were intended for good, it did not achieve positive results. It actually created more problems and threatened the security and stability of the Arab countries.
The theoretical perspective that the author used is a structural realist one. He drew on the theory of Kenneth Waltz and argued that the future of international politics is going to be filled with complications and difficulties. The theory of structural realism argues that the highest goal of states is to attain power (Jackson & Sorensen 2013: 81). Even though this is so, the states are guided by the principle of anarchy and are restricted by the structure of the system since it is the one that determines how states behave. The power of states such as Russia and China is increasing which threatens to move the balance of power from unipolar to multipolar which will be dangerous because the rise in numbers of great powers is likely to cause problems in the future since each state seeks its own interest (Coetzee 2013: 310).
[ 263 Words]
QUESTION 2
There are two dominant sub themes in the article. The first one is liberal optimism and the second one is the future of world politics. Liberal optimism comes from the “democratic-peace theory” and argues that if all the states in the world

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Arab Springs

...The “Arab spring” also known as the Arab revolution is referred to a revolutionary wave of demonstrations, protest, and violence occurring in the Arab world in the Middle Eastern and North African regions beginning in December of 2010. The Arab spring has had a large impact on the worlds foreign affairs for the past 3 years. Many Arab countries in the last few years have had their own revolutions and protest almost reaching levels to be considered civil wars. The largest and most violent demonstrations have been and are currently happening in a country on the western border of Iraq and south of Turkey known as Syria. Syria has been in an inner conflict since the country won its independence from France in 1946. Though recently because of the large amount of different social ethical and religious groups all looking for power and authority in the same region, the country has been in a violent turmoil. To get a better understanding on why and how Syria has fallen into this state of power struggled violence you should first look at the other countries involved in todays Arab spring and how this whole mess started in the Arab world. On December 17, 2010, in a small North African country called Tunisia, a twenty six year old street vendor by the name of Mohamed Bouazizi started a revolution that would change the world forever. Earlier that day Mohamed had been selling goods from his wheelbarrow in his rural home town when local authorities seized his wheelbarrow and all of his goods...

Words: 1933 - Pages: 8

Free Essay

Arab Spring

...Global Interactions November 20, 2014 Paper 1: Arab Spring The Arab Spring refers to a series of popular uprisings throughout the Arab world that began in December, 2010. The catalyst for these uprisings was a twenty-six year old Tunisian, who lit himself on fire outside of a civic building.[1] Mohamed Bouazizi was a fruit and vegetable cart vendor and was trying to sell produce on the streets when his cart was confiscated by a Tunisian government official. This was one of a series of harassments that he had experienced, and the last indignity that he suffered was being slapped by a female Tunisian government employee.[2] He then subsequently set himself on fire, and this event is was set off the Arab Spring, or the Arab Awakening, as it is also called.[3] However, this was only the catalyst; the Arab Spring is a fluid, ongoing event that is steeped in history with economic, political, and social factors contributing to its occurrence. After Mohamed’s self-immolation there were thirty days of national protests in Tunisia before the former Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidine was removed from power.[4] During this time there were others in the Arab world watching this on satellite channels like Aljazeera, so there was an increase in cases of self-immolation in other parts of the Arab world, including Egypt.[5] Many in Egypt were watching this going on and thought that if a small country like Tunisia can overthrow a dictator through popular uprising then perhaps they...

Words: 1639 - Pages: 7

Free Essay

Arab Spring

...research was to answer the main research question: ‘What caused the Arab Spring’ In order to tackle this question; desk research, case studies and an interview with Mr Farrid Benkaddour have been conducted. Farrid Benkaddour is a Moroccan sociologist, he started his career in Morocco after obtaining his baccalaureate in 1984. Since then he has been a teacher in Morocco, afterwards he went to the Netherlands to teach Dutch people about Moroccan culture. He currently works for Arabika, a company that specializes in legal assistance, translations, language trainings and intercultural communications. The desk research revealed the opinions of the Arab spring’s countries inhabitants. Inflation, unemployment and poor housing conditions prevailed as a direct consequence of insufficient dictatorial regimes. Freshly graduated youth was left jobless with no sign of improvement in the near future. People became more and more aware of the lack of political influence they had and started idealizing the western political democratic models. The interview and case studies showed there have been negative thoughts about the dictatorial regimes ever since their instalment. Protests have been seen throughout the history of the Arab world. The difference, however, between those protests and the Arab Spring is the modern age. Where earlier protests failed due to lack of support, the modern age tools such as (social-)media carried the Arab spring’s unfolding events throughout the world, reaching a lot...

Words: 4787 - Pages: 20

Premium Essay

Climate Change and Arab Spring

...of this article. Climate change has been charged with many numerous and insidious effects on the planet and human affairs in general, but how far reaching are this effects the economic, social and political structures. In this article we shall explore the proposition that climate change can lead to massive political upheavals and specifically if climate change could have caused Arab Spring. Arab Spring is the widespread revolutions and protests that have rocked that Arab world. There has been a wave of protests, riots and armed conflicts that has swept through the Arab world beginning on 18th December 2010 continuing to present day, with various revolutions accompanied by toppled governments and civil wars resulting from the Arab Spring. The following countries has their governments kicked out; Yemen, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt who kicked out two consecutive governments. Syria and Bahrain had major civil uprisings with the Syrian one presently considered a civil war. Riots have broken out in Jordan, Kuwait, Sudan, Morocco and Algeria with minor protests occurring in other Arab countries. Arab Spring has been undoubtedly been motivated by mainly political reasons, to topple the tyrannical governments. The desire for freedom and recognizance of the right of the people seems to be...

Words: 576 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Arab Spring by Ridhima

...Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafiwas the longest-serving leader in the Arab world. He ruled Libya after he took it over from King Idris I in 1969.Gaddafi was born on 7th June, 1942 in Qasr Abu Hadi located outside the town of Sirte in western Libya. He attended a Muslim elementary school in Sabha. During his schooling, he was profoundly influenced by major events in the Arab world especially the Arab nationalist movement. Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser became his idol. Gaddafi joined the army in the 1960s as a supporter of Arab nationalism. In 1959, significant oil reserves were discovered in Libya. Revenue from petroleum exports moved Libya from being one of the poorest nations, to becoming a wealthy state. However, people began to resent the increased concentration of wealth in the hands of King Idris. This discontent grew with the rise of Nasserism and Arab nationalism throughout North Africa and the Middle East. In August 1969, King Idris was in Turkey for medical treatment. On September 1, 1969 a group of 70 junior Libyan military officers led by Muammar Gaddafi took the opportunity to stage a bloodless overthrow (coup d’état). The coup started in Benghazi, by members of Libyan Signal Corps. They placed the crown prince, Sayyid as-Sanussi under house arrest The coup leaders were referred to as the Free Officers’ Movement. They declared an end to monarchy in Libya and renamed the country the Libyan Arab Republic. The movement then evolved into the Revolutionary Command...

Words: 1848 - Pages: 8

Free Essay

Role of Al Jazeera in Arab Spring

...Role of Al Jazeera in the Arab Spring Since December 2010, the entire Arab world has gone through major political transformation. Monarchies that had enjoyed absolute power for hundreds of years have been overthrown; some are in the process to be overthrown and other state leaderships have adopted some flexibility in their system of administration to protect themselves. The public revolt against the state leadership, popularly known as the ‘Arab Spring’ or the ‘Arab Awakening’ “took everyone by surprise not because people had no reason to revolt” (Khanfer 2012, p. 2) but because it took unprecedented scope and speed. An act of self immolation by a street vendor in Tunisia in a show of public revolt against corrupt government not just toppled centuries old dictatorial regime but also became a source of inspiration for Arab masses to revolt against their governments. “The self-immolation triggered unrest in Tunisia and ultimately the resignation of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. This was followed by unrest in a number of Arabian countries that the global press dubbed the ‘Arab Spring’” (Friedman 2011). So far, the spring breeze has entered into 20 countries in the Persian Gulf and the North Africa. Four countries—Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen—have overthrown their governments. Algeria, Iraq, Iranian Khuzestan, Israeli border areas have witnessed major protests. Syria has landed in a civil war. Jordan, Oman, Kuwait, Morocco, Lebanon have gone through protests and governmental...

Words: 4577 - Pages: 19

Free Essay

Arab Spring

...MBA 7592 Current Event Paper: Arab Spring 07 December 2014 Wilmington University Abstract What is most interesting about what began in the smallest country in Northern Africa is that it had escalated to the most sweeping movement that changed the face of the Middle East for years to come. The Arab spring began to wield its head around December of 2010 in Tunisia but was truly set off once Mohamed Bouazizi a local vendor was humiliated in public by a police officer and was not permitted to sell his fruits (Staff, 2011). This has proven to be a normal practice in Tunisia, in a country where most of its population is college educated. They are unlike other Arab nations in neighboring areas; the majorities of all Tunisians are educated and have been education abroad. This was a wide spread practice across the region with regard to the inhabitants of these countries, the cruel and unjust treatment from these authoritarian leaders, corrupted law enforcement, and suppression of their religious leaders by their very own law enforcement agents. Being able to witness this first hand, observing the way of life within the region and oppressive living conditions they are subjected too, while their monarchs, military and state leaders live a very lavish life. While reviewing why the Arab spring happened, the impact it has had in the Middle East and on its economic system, we will analyze the outcome and the overall consequence it will have on the region. We will also touch on the...

Words: 1985 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

The Arab Spring

...maintaining control, one through the use physical power the other through the illusion of choice. In reality a definite democracy in its real sense meaning direct democracy free of powerful external influences and with the provision of a free educated populous does not exist anywhere today. Instead the West is saturated with prolific supporters of a representative democracy and lauded as the bastion of the ´Free World´. This system, in reality, does not stand up to scrutiny as it should be obvious to an observer that firstly big business, military and financial institutions have a huge vested interest in maintaining the type of government that ensure economic monopolies, monetary ´bailouts´ and a stable base of power. In relation to the Arab Spring: The governments of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya were supported economically, morally and politically by many of the major Western powers throughout...

Words: 457 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Arab Spring

...27 collective effectiveness. This finding illustrates how the impact of social ties on individuals’ perceptions manifests itself in different ways. Moreover, it shows that there is a privileged path (highlighted with bold arrows in Figures 1 and 2) leading to strong participation in social movements. Of all perceptions, individual effectiveness is the factor in the decision process that most closely influences the level of participation in both the Bern Declaration and the WWF. Prospective members with a strong feeling that if they engage in protest, their participation will serve at least to a certain extent to bring about social change will actualize their potential for mobilization at the highest level of involvement. Individual effectiveness is also one of the perceptions of the model that is most influenced by social networks, directly but also indirectly via interest in the political issue and the perception of the organization’s effectiveness . This last result highlights the close interweaving between social ties and individual effectiveness. In other words, it stresses the interconnectedness of relational factors and human agency, and demonstrates that both structuralist and rationalist accounts are indispensable to explanation of individual participation. Conclusion Social networks matter, but they do so by performing various functions in the process of individual participation. They intervene at least three different ways. First, they intervene in the socialization...

Words: 4914 - Pages: 20

Premium Essay

Social Network and the Arab Spring

...Arab Spring: Ben Ali and Hosni Moubarak knocked out by Mark Zuckerberg Source: Egyptian Internet Revolution, crazyjunkyard.com 26 years old Mohamed Bouazizi supported a large family selling fruits on the streets of Sidi Bouzid. For years, corrupted local officials who demanded backhander at every term have tormented him and other sellers in the market. On Friday December the 17th Mohamed set up his tools near the central mosque. This day, he did not have the money needed to pay the bribes to be there. The corrupted police officers arrived and took everything from him. They stood in front of him smacked him in the face and kicked him on the floor. Humiliated, Mohamed got upset and started to cry. He headed to the town police station and tried to press charges against those who assaulted him. No one listened to him. He was terribly upset and disappointed by the fact that he could not rely on his authorities for justice to be done. He then went to the closest shop and bought a bottle of fuel. He returned in front of the police station with the fuel, chose a spot in front of the building, poured the fuel over himself and then set himself on fire as a sign of protest and disagreement toward those who refused to listen to his complaints. Horrifically injured, Mohamed was taken to the hospital. Bouazizi hopeless act quickly became popular throughout the city and across the Arab world. The next day, hundreds of people gather at the spot where Mohamed had set himself alight....

Words: 3793 - Pages: 16

Premium Essay

Compare The Arab Springs To The American Revolution

...A Man lights himself on fire after being assaulted by a policewomen, this is only the beginning of the Arab Springs. Have you ever thought to compare the Arab Springs to the American Revolution? You would be surprised how many similarities and differences they have. Both points in history are considered flash points, a major point in time. Even though they were both big points in history they were fighting for different things. Arab springs were protesting for different rules and The American Revolution was about gaining independence from Britain. Although the American and Arab Spring revolutions happened in very different times and places, the conditions that led to rebellion were similar. Media was used during both the American Revolution...

Words: 378 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

You Got a Friend

...You Got a Friend WHEN YOUR DOWN, AND TROUBLED AND YOU NEED SOME LOVE AND CARE AND NOTHING, OH NOTHING IS GOING RIGHT JUST CLOSE YOUR EYES AND THINK OF ME AND SOON I WILL BE THERE TO BRIGHTEN UP YEAH EVEN YOUR DARKEST NIGHT YOU JUST CALL OUT MY NAME AND YOU'LL KNOW WHEREVER I AM I'LL COME RUNNING, TO SEE YOU AGAIN WINTER SPRING SUMMER OR FALL ALL YOU GOT TO DO IS CALL AND I'LL BE THERE, YES I'LL BE THERE YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND IF THE SKY, HIGH ABOVE YOU SHOULD GROW DARK AND FULL OF CLOUDS AND THAT OLD, , , COLD WIND SHOULD BEGIN TO BLOW JUST KEEP YOUR HEAD TOGETHER AND CALL MY NAME OUT LOUD YEAH PRETTY SOON I'LL BE KNOCKING ON YOUR DOOR YOU JUST CALL, OUT MY NAME AND YOU YOU KNOW WHEREVER I AM I'LL COME RUNNING, TO SEE YOU AGAIN WINTER SPRING, SUMMER OR FALL ALL YOU'VE GOT TO DO IS CALL AND I'LL BE THERE, YOU KNOW I'LL BE THERE HEY AINT IT GOOD TO KNOW YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND WHEN PEOPLE CAN BE SO COLD THEY'LL HURT YOU, AND DESERT YOU THEY'LL TAKE YOUR SOUL IF YOU LET THEM AH YEAH BUT DON'T YOU LET THEM! YOU JUST CALL OUT MY NAME AND YOU KNOW WHEREVER I AM I'LL COME RUNNING, TO SEE YOU AGAIN WINTER SPRING SUMMER OR FALL ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS CALL AND I'LL BE THERE YOU KNOW I'LL BE THERE YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND AINT IT GOOD TO KNOW YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND AINT IT GOOD TO KNOW YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND YOU'VE GOT A...

Words: 278 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Week Six Check Point

...MEMO To: Senior Management From: Adam Ugalde Date: 8 / 20 / 2012 Subject: New Ad Campaign in Threat It has been conveyed to my consideration that a distraught employee has lately sabotaged one of the bottling plants. Tactlessly, the employee introduced a chemical on one of the machines, which instigated 120,000 bottles of the spring water. In line to our new ad operation that highlights the cleanliness of our natural spring water, this malevolent performance has triggered countless destruction and foremost hindrance for our business. I trust that it is fairly essential to notify the community about this event, community consciousness to recollection the soiled jugs of water will be fairly expensive and influence transport suspicion in the direction of our business. Conversely, we need to set up a direct conference to mature a new approach that will resolve assistance the business uphold an optimistic duplicate in the judgment of the community and our faithful consumers. The business must create the choice to do an instant evoke of the dirty bottles of natural spring water. Equally well as doing a recollection, the business should sort the result of eliminating the operative that disrupted the business produce and status. It resolves likewise to be imperious that the community be relieved that the business is remorseful and that the upcoming of the business is relentlessly stirring ahead. Formerly again, it is vital for the business to evoke the unclean jugs of water...

Words: 278 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Reductor

...ESTABLISHING THE STRESS LOADING THE ELEMENTS [pic] Fig. 1.1 2. MAIN SCREW CALCULUS 2.1. CHOOSING THE MATERIAL It is chosen OL 50 STAS 500/2 [3] PRE-DIMENSIONING CALCULUS The calculus load F= Q·ctgαmin αmin= 30º [pic] Fig. 2.1 F= Q·ctgαmin= 8914·ctg30°= 15439.5 N Calculus of the load Fc, N Fc= β·F= 1.3·15439.5= 20071.3 N β= 1.25 ... 1.3 [3] The thread's inner diameter [pic] [pic] [pic]=100 ... 120 Mpa [3] Choosing the thread It is chosen Tr 20X4 with the dimension in table 24.2 Table 2.1 |Nominal diameter |Pitch |Medium diameter |External diameter |Inner diameter | |d, mm |P, mm |d2=D2,, mm |D4, mm | | | | | | | | | | | | | |D3, mm |D1,mm | |20 |4 |18 |20.5 |15.5 |16 | CHECKING THE SELF-BRAKING CONDITION The thread's declination...

Words: 1854 - Pages: 8

Free Essay

Curley Wife

...Dear friend I predict you maybe kind of shocked or amazed to be hearing from me after such a long while. I hope you're keeping fine and everything's swell in Salinas. I guess you may have of heard I got married, this guy named Curley. He's the son of a big rancher and we live out at the ranch. We grow barley mostly out here. All the workers live in the bunkhouse, but me and Curley live in a big two by four house. Curley's fixing to decorate it up real nice; as soon as he's done I was thinking you could visit and stay a while? It's mighty different out here to Salinas, not many folks to talk to. There's just me, Curley, his old man, and the hired hands; they're drifters, mainly here in spring and harvest time. Oh and there's this uppity nigger of course, kept in the stable, so I don't talk to him. I don't talk to no fat lipped nigger! Anyways the boys start work early morning and finish late afternoon, they all go back to the bunkhouse and most times play cards. Sometimes Curley and all the boys have a horseshoe tournament going on, I don't like it when that happens cause I'm all on my own in the house or out there, but it is one of the few times Curley lets me go outside. Other times he tries to keep me in the house. He gets mighty jealous even though I never give him cause to...

Words: 257 - Pages: 2