...domestic affairs, Egypt, the birthplace of the Muslim Brotherhood, appears to be at the center of a struggle between the Islamists and the military, which has dominated politics in that country since the early 1950s, while secularists and the minority Copts feel as if they have been sidelined. Majority Shi'a in Bahrain were quashed in their attempt to have a minority Sunni government recognize their rights, while Yemen's longtime leader was replaced by that country's vice president. Libya toppled an erratic dictator, but has no experience with representative government and like in Yemen the population possesses tribal identities. Syria is now engaged in a brutal civil war in which at least 20,000 people have lost their lives by the summer of 2012. Other countries in the Arab world either buy the loyalty of their inhabitants as is the case with the oil states of the Gulf Cooperation Council or havefraditionalmonarchies (Morocco and Jordan) that have introduced limited reform. Iraq and Lebanon, no sfrangers to prolonged political violence, try to manage sectarian divisions, while Sudan seems to be intoxicated with the...
Words: 8450 - Pages: 34