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STUDENT REGISTRATION NUMBER: 2717119
MODULE CODE: POLU9DT
ASSIGNMENT QUESTION/TASK: Compulsory Coursework
WORD COUNT: 2366
While the 2010’s were a decade characterised by political upheaval on both a global and
domestic level. However, it is difficult to argue that any event has had more impact on the
state of global politics than that of the Arab spring. This research will be attempting to
analyse the causes of the Arab spring uprising and the events that took place in their
aftermath to deduce why these uprising failed to establish long lasting democracies in the
middle east. In particular this research will focus on analysing the role that Islamist groups
played in the failure of the Arab spring to establish permanent democracies in the middle
east.
The Arab spring was not one distinct event, rather it was a series of uprising that occurred
across numerous middle eastern and north African nations over the course of 2011 and
2012. These uprising began in Tunisia with the self-immolation of Mohammed Bouazizi on
the 18th of December 2010. Bouazizi did this in order to protesting the ongoing police
corruption and state oppression that many had been suffering under. This act sparked large
scale demonstrations and protest against the Tunisian regime that would quickly spread to
other surrounding nations such as Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Morocco. Marches, rallies,
strikes and civil resistance were all common features of these movements, all of which were
targeted against the highly authoritarian regimes the people of these countries lived under.
One particularly notable feature about the Arab spring uprisings was the use widespread
use of social media. The Arab spring is commonly credited as the first large scale protest to
make prominent use of social media. By using social media to organise, communicate and
raise support and awareness for the uprisings the protestors were able to more effectively
demonstrate as well as subvert government attempts to repress the protestors. Despite this
many of the protestors still faces extreme reprisals from the state. Beatings by both
governments aligned forces and counter protesters were common with many of those who
took part in the uprisings even being shot. Despite the efforts of these governments to
supress the uprisings by late 2011 three separate dictators had been overthrown. In Tunisia,
where the uprisings began President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was forced to flee the country
to Saudi Arabia in January of 2011 (Szajkowski, 2011). In Egypt president Hosni Mubarak was
forced to resign his 30-year long presidency after 18 days of massive protests in February of
2011 (Smith, 2013) and in October of 2011 Muammar al-Gaddafi was executed by rebels
(ISLAM and RAZU, 2017). The leaders of several other Arab and north African nations also
made promises to step down from power at the end of their terms such as the Sudanese
president Omar al-Bashir, who announced that he would not seek re-election in 2015. It
should also be noted however that some of these leaders did not follow through on their
promises to relinquish power such as the president of Yemen who struck a deal with the
Yemeni opposition forced on the 26th of April to step down in exchange for an immunity
deal. The president would then fail to uphold the deal and thus prolonged the uprisings in
Yemen.
Islamist groups, such as Egypt Muslim brotherhood played a key role both during and in the
aftermath of the Arab spring uprisings. These Islamist movements were able to position
themselves at the centre of the Arab spring uprisings by utilizing their existing organisation
to better mobilise people and direct the uprisings. In many of the nations that saw their
rulers overthrown during the Arab spring saw such Islamist groups rise of significant
prominence as these groups played such a key role in the uprisings themselves, they were
left poised to take power once the dust had settled. For example, after the fall of Egypt’s
President Hosni Mubarak in 2011 the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, one of
Egypt’s oldest Islamist organisations along side other Islamist parties won over 73% of the
seats in Egypt’s newly established people’s assembly giving them effective control over the
new government (Al-Arian, 2018). However, whilst this electoral victory was unprecedented
in modern Egyptian history, the cracks were already beginning to show when it came to the
stability and efficacy of the newly established Islamist regime. Divisions amongst the various
Islamist groups that now had control over the parliament of the country over a number of
topics such as the role the Sharia would play in the new constitution and differing moral
codes as well as political meddling by other groups such as the SCAF all served to weaken
and destabilise the Muslim brotherhood and their Islamist allies (Al-Arian, 2018). Eventually
all of this would come to a head and by 2013 the government established by the Muslim
brotherhood would be overthrown in a military coup (Al-Arian, 2018). Many of the other
Islamist groups in countries whose leaders had been overthrown in the Arab spring also
faced similar instabilities and would ultimately fail to establish permanent democracies in
the Middle east. It is clear to see that these Islamist groups played a significant role in both
the spread of the Arab spring uprisings and their failure to establish permanent or even
long-lasting democracies in the region. Given that the initial aim of the uprising was to
overthrow the authoritarian regimes that many millions of people had been suffering under
and establish peaceful democracies it is worth analysing the precise nature of the role that
these Islamist groups had in the ultimate failure of the Arab spring.
As the Arab spring was one of the of the most pivotal events of the 2010’s there is naturally
a diverse and wide-reaching array of literature surrounding the topic. Some of this literature
is focused on providing a broad overview of the uprisings, analysing the various factors that
influence these events across many different nations. Other pieces of literature narrow their
focus to that of specific regions that were affected by the Arab spring, examining the
specifics of how the Arab spring uprisings effected that specific nation. Despite the approach
taken the ultimate goal of practically every piece of literature surrounding the Arab spring is
to provide an explanation as to why these uprisings took place. One piece of literature that
takes a broader approach to its analysis of the Arab spring uprisings is “The Roots and
causes of the 2011 Arab Uprisings” by Kamal Eldin Osman Salih. This paper examines the
events of the Arab spring uprisings and their aftermaths across a number of different
countries effected by the Arab spring. By analysing both the similarities and the differences
between nations this paper hopes to provide an explanation as to why the arab spring
uprisings has such a drastically different range of effects across the various nations effected
by the uprisings. This paper starts off by providing a brief description of the events of the
Arab spring uprisings, discussing them with reference to each of the nations effected (Salih,
2013). Following this there is a discussion of other literature on the topic, primarily on the
literature concerned with the nature of the Arab spring. This paper them moves on to
discussing its own theories surrounding the causes of the Arab spring uprisings. According
to Salih and other political analysts it was a “Cocktail of major factors” including financial
pressure, the violent nature of the regimes of these nations and the large-scale human
rights abuses that took places in these counties all played a key role in motivating the
uprisings. The article then moves on to discussing the differing outcomes of the uprisings in
different nations. In Tunisia and Egypt the oppressive regimes fell with surprising speed,
which it attributes to the significant role played by the military of both nations. The paper
moves onto discussing the much stiffer resistance to the uprisings in Libya and Yemen. The
regimes of these countries did not succumb to the uprisings at anywhere the speed that the
regimes of Tunisia and Egypt did. In the case of Libya the article attributes the control that
the Gaddafi family had over the military as being one of the key factors that allowed the
regime to protect itself against the uprisings. Alongside cover operations to undermine the
rebels the Libyan regime was able to prolong its control over the country, though it was
ultimately dismantled (Salih, 2013). Finally, the paper moves onto discussing those Arab
countries that seemed immune to any form of major protest, mainly that of Saudi Arabia
and Kuwait. Despite these nations being subject to many of the same factors that lead to
the uprisings none of them saw any major political destabilisation during this period. The
paper attempts to explain this by offering two opposing nations as examples, that of Kuwait
and Sudi Arabia. In the case of Kuwait, the paper argues that as Kuwait was already a
democratised society with a constitution that guarantees a basic level of individual freedom.
This freedom inoculated Kuwait against much of the unrest that other Arab nations
experienced. The second example given is that of Sudi Arabia (Salih, 2013). This nation was
just as authoritarian as many of the other regimes that fell during the Arab spring and faced
many of the same issues, yet, it’s regime remained stable throughout the period of
uprisings. This paper attributes that success to the regimes flexibility and the reforms
proposed by the Sudi government which fell in line with demands made by political
organizations. Ultimately the article concludes by summarising is main arguments and
arriving at the conclusion that the biggest impact of the Arab spring was the organization of
what it called “Viable, genuine democratic political systems.” (Salih, 2013).
Another article that takes a much more focused approach is “Upended Path: The Rise and
Fall of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood” by Khalil al- Anani. As the name of this article might
suggest, its analysis takes a much narrower more focused approach. Looking at only a single
nation effected by the Arab spring rather than looking at the uprisings more broadly. In
specific it analysis the role that Egypt’s ‘Muslim Brotherhood,’ one of it’s largest Islamist
groups, had to play in the uprisings as well as their raise and fall from power. It begins by
giving a brief historical context to the actions and role that the Muslim brotherhood played
in both the uprisings themselves and their immediate aftermath. It details the brotherhoods
initial rise to power, characterising the brotherhood as initially cautious but soon giving way
to political ambition when fielding a presidential candidate and attempting to contest more
than half of the seats in Egypt new parliament (Al-Anani, 2015). The downfall of the Muslim
brotherhood would come soon after this when it came into conflict with the SCAF, the
military junta in effective control of the Egyptian state. SCAF with severely limit the powers
of the newly elected president, effectively hamstringing the new government. Additionally,
the Brotherhood also faced significant factionalism, primarily between the reformists, those
focused on implementing more democratic and progressive policies, and the conservatives,
those dedicated to maintaining tradition. According to Anani this infighting would further
limit the brotherhoods’ ability to effectively govern the country. A final nail in the coffin
according to this article was the brotherhoods inability to navigate Egypt’s’ institutions,
which saw attempts to reform them by the brotherhood as evidence of mistrust (Al-Anani,
2015). This led them to further resist the Brotherhood, contributing significantly to the
brotherhood’s downfall. All of these issues would come to a head in 2013 when President
Mohamed Morsi was forced to step down from power in a military coup (Al-Anani, 2015).
The article concludes by claiming that it was ultimately the brotherhoods lack of experience
in governing and disconnected leadership, as well as a lack of public trust that led to it’s
downfall. It them makes recommendations that the Brotherhood should focus on
broadening it political agenda to regain public trust and to end conflicts with the current
Egyptian regime to maintain it peaceful record claiming that it was these “stagnant
structures” and hardline ideologies that played a significant role in the brotherhood’s
ultimate downfall (Al-Anani, 2015).
This paper will be focused on the role that Islamist groups had to play in the Arab spring
uprisings. In specific we will analyse the actions and events surrounding these groups to
discover the effect that they had on the failure of the Arab spring to establish long lasting
democracies in many of the nations that experienced unrest during this period. The case
studies of Egypt and Tunisia during this period will be of particular importance to this paper
as the regimes of both of these nations collapsed entirely during the Arab spring uprisings.
Additionally, there already exists a wealth of research and studies on these two nations
which will provide an excellent basis for this paper to build upon. This paper will primarily
take a qualitative approach to its research, using both comparative and historical research
to arrive at its conclusions. Analysis of existing literature will also be used to provide a base
for this paper to build upon. Due to the nature of the Arab spring uprisings, Revolutionary
theory will also play a key role in this paper.
The first stage of research will involve providing a brief historical context for the events
being discussed. An overview of the Arab spring and it’s effects on the various nations in the
region as well as taking a more specific look at the nations of Egypt and Tunisia. This will
provide the necessary background to begin research. After this the paper will carry out an
in-depth review of the literature surrounding this topic. This will establish greater context as
well as assisting in building the theoretical framework of this paper. Once the necessary
context and background has been established the paper will move onto its comparative and
historical analysis of the events of the Arab Spring. The Analysis will be focused on the role
of Islamist groups and political Islam in these events. Lastly the paper will draw a conclusion
on the role that Islamist groups played in the failure of the Arab spring to establish long
lasting democracies in the region.
Bibliography
Szajkowski, B. (2011). Timeline of the Arab Revolt: December 2010 – June 2011. 3rd Edition.
Smith, J. (2013). Egypt’s Coup: Progressive or Regressive?. Foreign Policy Journal.
ISLAM, M.N. and RAZU, A.R. (2017). Muammar Al Gaddafi and Libya War: The Legality
Analysis from the International Law and Human Rights Law. INNOVATION AND GLOBAL
ISSUES IN SOCIAL SCIENCES.
Al-Arian, A. (2018). Islamist movements and the Arab Spring. ICR Journal, 9(4), pp.47-73.
Salih, K.E.O. (2013). The roots and causes of the 2011 Arab uprisings. Arab Studies Quarterly,
35(2), pp.184-206.
Al-Anani, K., (2015). Upended path: The rise and fall of egypt's muslim brotherhood. The
Middle East Journal, 69(4), pp.527-543.