This article attempts to set the discussion of the Arab Spring in the context of one of the great challenges of our times:how social and international order can develop in the wake of empires.It outlines some of the m...This article attempts to set the discussion of the Arab Spring in the context of one of the great challenges of our times:how social and international order can develop in the wake of empires.It outlines some of the main events of the Arab Spring–the series of political and social movements that played significant roles in many of the countries of the Middle East and North Africa from December 1990 onwards.It focuses on the central role of civil resistance(i.e.of non-violent action)in the Arab Spring,and mentions some of the main controversies regarding its use.It notes the variations in aims:in some countries demonstrators called for the fall of the regime,while elsewhere the main demand was for reforms.It warns against certain deceptively simple lessons about the Arab Spring generally that are in danger of gaining traction in and beyond the region.It shows,in simple tabular form,how different the countries involved in the Arab Spring are.The outcomes were very varied.They included effective constitutional change in Tunisia,revival of a long-established system of rule in Egypt,internationalized civil wars in Yemen and Syria,and continuation of demands for reform in monarchical states including Morocco,Jordan and Bahrain.Ten propositions about the role of civil resistance in the Arab Spring are advanced.The central arguments are that civil resistance,if it displaces a regime without providing for an effective succession,can involuntarily contribute to social disorder;that the decentralized and ad hoc quality of the leadership of some of the movements in the Arab Spring may have hindered their performance;and,above all,that outcomes depended heavily on the composition and circumstances of each individual country.展开更多
文摘This article attempts to set the discussion of the Arab Spring in the context of one of the great challenges of our times:how social and international order can develop in the wake of empires.It outlines some of the main events of the Arab Spring–the series of political and social movements that played significant roles in many of the countries of the Middle East and North Africa from December 1990 onwards.It focuses on the central role of civil resistance(i.e.of non-violent action)in the Arab Spring,and mentions some of the main controversies regarding its use.It notes the variations in aims:in some countries demonstrators called for the fall of the regime,while elsewhere the main demand was for reforms.It warns against certain deceptively simple lessons about the Arab Spring generally that are in danger of gaining traction in and beyond the region.It shows,in simple tabular form,how different the countries involved in the Arab Spring are.The outcomes were very varied.They included effective constitutional change in Tunisia,revival of a long-established system of rule in Egypt,internationalized civil wars in Yemen and Syria,and continuation of demands for reform in monarchical states including Morocco,Jordan and Bahrain.Ten propositions about the role of civil resistance in the Arab Spring are advanced.The central arguments are that civil resistance,if it displaces a regime without providing for an effective succession,can involuntarily contribute to social disorder;that the decentralized and ad hoc quality of the leadership of some of the movements in the Arab Spring may have hindered their performance;and,above all,that outcomes depended heavily on the composition and circumstances of each individual country.
