Rayners College London Unrest in the Arab World Discussion Unrest in the Arab World Discussion Forum
You must answer question 1 completely. Then, using “Strongly Agree,” “Agree,” “Disagree,” or “Strongly Disagree” respond to either statement 2 or 3. Be sure to use support your position using information from the text.
Question
1) To what degree is U.S. foreign policy contributing to, or responsible for, unrest sweeping the Arab World?
Statements
2) In today’s world Internet access, particularly social media, is imperative for organizing a revolution.
3) Young adults have a responsibility to be key agents for social change.
I need a discussion post almost 1 page. Attached below is the chapter that we are studying right now. An 9
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CQ
Researcher
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Published by CQ Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc.
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Unrest in the
Arab World
Will the Arab Spring lead to more change?
T
he wave of popular uprisings that toppled dictators
in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya is still roiling the Arab
world, but other governments have held on by cracking down on protests or instituting modest reforms.
Meanwhile, Syria is engulfed in a bloody civil war that many ex-
perts predict will force President Bashar Assad from office but leave
the country devastated and politically unstable. Some experts say
the events have transformed political attitudes in Arab nations. Others
stress that a majority of those countries still have authoritarian regimes.
The political dramas are playing out against the backdrop of pressing
Rebel fighters prepare to battle Syrian forces near
Aleppo on Aug. 2, 2012. The country’s brutal civil war
grew out of the peaceful anti-government protests
known as the Arab Spring movement,
which began in Tunisia in 2010.
I
economic problems, including high unemployment among Arab
N
youths. In addition, the growing power of Islamist parties and groups
S
is raising concerns among advocates of secular government and
I
creating risks of sectarian disputes among different Muslim sects.
D
E
CQ Researcher • Feb. 1, 2013 • www.cqresearcher.com
Volume 23, Number 5 • Pages 105-132
THIS REPORT
THE ISSUES ………………..107
CHRONOLOGY …………….115
BACKGROUND …………….116
CURRENT SITUATION ……..122
AT ISSUE……………………123
OUTLOOK ………………….126
RECIPIENT OF SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS AWARD FOR
EXCELLENCE ◆ AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION SILVER GAVEL AWARD
BIBLIOGRAPHY …………….129
THE NEXT STEP …………..130
UNREST IN THE ARAB WORLD
107
THE ISSUES
SIDEBARS AND GRAPHICS
• Has the Arab Spring
stalled?
• Do Islamic groups pose
a threat to political reform
in the Arab world?
• Can a stable political
solution be found in Syria?
Freedom Continues
To Elude Arab World
None of the Arab Spring
countries is rated “free” by
Freedom House.
108
110
Timeline: The Syrian Civil
War
Events since March 15, 2011.
112
Syria at a Glance
A variety of opposition
groups are battling the
280,000-strong Syrian Army.
115
Chronology
Key events since Dec. 17,
2010.
116
Syrian Civil War Has
Region’s Highest
Death Toll
More than 60,000 are dead,
and millions are homeless.
BACKGROUND
116
Strangers to Democracy
The Arab world knew little
of freedom or democracy
through most of the
20th century.
118
‘Freedom Deficit’
A 2002 study blamed the
Arab world’s lack of freedom for its lagging social
and economic indicators.
119
Warming Trends?
Popular uprisings in 2011
toppled regimes in Tunisia,
Egypt and Libya.
CURRENT SITUATION
122
125
Transition Troubles
Egypt’s new government is
trying to consolidate
power while grappling
with a poor economy and
continuing opposition.
Battle Fatigue
Syria’s civil war continues,
but neither side appears
near a decisive victory.
OUTLOOK
126
Unfinished Spring
The course of future events
in the Arab world remains
uncertain.
Cover: AFP/Getty Images/Ahmad Gharabli
106
CQ Researcher
CQ Researcher
120
123
Egypt’s New Constitution
Gets Mixed Reviews
Some say the document
creates “prospects of a
religious state.”
At Issue:
Should the U.S. and its allies
intervene militarily in Syria?
FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
128
For More Information
Organizations to contact.
129
Bibliography
Selected sources used.
130
The Next Step
Additional articles.
131
Citing CQ Researcher
Sample bibliography formats.
Feb. 1, 2013
Volume 23, Number 5
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Unrest in the Arab World
BY KENNETH JOST
THE ISSUES
NATO allies, had toppled the
longtime dictator Moammar
Gadhafi.
ith a brutal civil
The protests spread to
war raging, Syrian
other countries, from monarPresident Bashar
chical Morocco in the west
Assad emerged into public
to the Gulf state monarchies
view for the first time in sevand emirates in the east. Two
eral months on Jan. 6 to deyears later, the political atliver a defiant speech blammosphere has shifted in much
ing the conflict on criminals,
of the Arab world, but the
terrorists and foreign influpace of change has slowed.
ences. Assad, whose strong“Things aren’t as exciting as
man father ruled Syria for 30
they were two years ago, but
years before the son’s sucthere are changes that are takcession in 2000, outlined a
ing place,” says James Gelvin,
plan for a negotiated politia professor of history at
cal solution but rejected any
UCLA and author of a comnotion of stepping aside.
pact overview, The Arab Up“This is a fight between
risings. 4
the country and its enemies,
Paul Salem, director of the
between the people and the
Carnegie Middle East Center
criminals,” Assad said in a 50in Beirut, Lebanon, part of
minute oration before a cheerthe Carnegie Endowment for
ing audience assembled in
International Peace, acthe Opera House in Damasknowledges the country-bycus, Syria’s capital city. “I would
country variations in the deHolding a copy of the Koran, a supporter of Egyptian
like to reassure everyone we
gree
of political reform. “It’s
President Mohammed Morsi rallies with members of the
Islamist Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo on Dec. 14, 2012,
will not stop the fight against
spring in many places, winin support of the country’s draft constitution. The
terrorism as long as there is
ter in many places,” he says.
controversial document, which was approved later in
one single terrorist left in the
Even so, he says events will
December, guarantees freedom of worship to Jews,
land of Syria,” he added. 1
have a lasting impact on the
Christians and Muslims — but not to others — and
Assad spoke only four
political climate throughout
reaffirms Islam as the state religion.
days after a United Nationsthe Arab world.*
The grim news from Syria contrasts
commissioned study said nearly 60,000
“What has happened is a transforpeople had been killed in the conflict, sharply with the ebullient reaction to mation of public consciousness and
which began with peaceful protests the Arab Spring, a succession of anti- public political values,” says Salem, a
against the Assad regime in March 2011 government protests and demonstra- Harvard-educated dual citizen of
as the so-called Arab Spring movement tions in North Africa and the Middle Lebanon and the United States. Arabs
was hitting its stride elsewhere in the East that began in Tunisia in Decem- throughout the region are now disArab World. 2 Three days earlier, Lakhdar ber 2010. Within a two-month span, avowing dictatorships and committing
Brahimi, the Algerian diplomat desig- the “Arab street” — the oft-used to political accountability and competinated as a mediator by the U.N. and metaphor for disaffected Arabs shut tive elections, Salem says. “This parathe 22-member League of Arab States, out of the political process — forced digm shift is throughout the region,” he
had warned that the conflict could claim Tunisia’s longtime president Zine El
another 100,000 lives over the next year. Abidine Ben Ali to flee the country * This report does not detail events and conWithout a peace agreement, Brahimi and Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak ditions in Iraq, which will be covered in a forthsaid at the league’s headquarters in to step down after 30 years as presi- coming report in March. It also does not enCairo, Syria could be “transformed into dent. By August 2011, a popular up- compass these six members of the League of
hell.” 3 (See “Syria Timeline,” p. 110; rising in Libya, aided by military sup- Arab States: Comoros, Djibouti, Mauritania, Palesport from the United States and some tinian National Authority, Somalia and Sudan.
“Syria: Mounting Casualties,” p. 116.)
Getty Images/Daniel Berehulak
W
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Feb. 1, 2013
107
UNREST IN THE ARAB WORLD
Freedom Continues to Elude Arab World
Revolutions and popular unrest across much of the Arab world have yet to lead to full democracy and
individual rights in any of the region’s countries. No country is rated as “free,” and only six are rated
“partly free,” by the international human-rights group Freedom House. Furthermore, only Bahrain,
Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have achieved even a middling score on political corruption by
Transparency International, a Berlin-based anti-corruption advocacy group.
Arab Countries With Recent Pro-Democracy Protests
PORTUGAL S P A I N
M
E
Algiers
Tunis
CASPIAN
T U R K E Y
GREECE
D
SEA
Sicily
I
T
E
Rabat
R
MALTA
TUNISIA
MOROCCO
Tripoli
R
A
N
Crete
E
A
N
S
E
A
LEBANON
SYRIA
I R A N
Damascus
Baghdad
Beirut
ISRAEL
Gulf of Sir te
IRAQ
Amman
JORDAN
Cairo
A L G E R I A
KUWAIT
Kuwait
Pe
Y
A
e
B
il
I
R
N ig
e
A
protests
Government toppled
N I
G
E
Ni
R
Violent government
crackdowns
BURKINA
FASO
C H A D
le
Population
YEMEN
S U D A N
Sanaa
ERITREA
ETHIOPIA
NIGERIA
Country
Type; head of
government
Muscat
E
r
A
L I
Serious
S
Minor protests
M
Doha
UNITED ARAB O M A N
EMIRATES
D
MAURITANIA
n
G
ul
BAHRAIN
f
Dubai
QATAR
Riyadh
E
Tropic of Cance
r
ia
SAUDI
ARABIA
N
L
rs
E G Y P T
GDP per
capita
Freedom House
freedom rating,
2013
G
f
u l
o f
e n
A d
Socotra
Transparency International
corruption score, 2012
(0 to 100, with 0 being the most corrupt)
Algeria
37.4 million
$7,300
Not free
34
Republic; independent from France since 1962. Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal in power since September 2012.
Bahrain
1.2 million
$27,700
Not free
51
Constitutional monarchy; independent from U.K. since 1971. King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa in power since 1999.
Egypt
83.7 million
$6,500
Partly free
32
Republic; British protectorate until 1922. Mohammed Morsi elected president in June 2012, more than a year
after former President Hosni Mubarak was deposed in a revolution.
Iraq
31.1 million
$4,200
Not free
18
Parliamentary democracy; independent from British administration since 1932 as part of a League of Nations
mandate. Prime Minister: Nouri al-Maliki, elected in 2006.
Jordan
6.5 million
$5,900
Not free
48
Constitutional monarchy; independent from British mandate since 1946. King Abdullah II in power since 1999.
adds, “and will be with us for the next
generation.”
Other experts are less convinced that
the Arab world, long resistant to democratization and human rights, is now
108
CQ Researcher
firmly on a different path. “We have
seen a little bit of movement in a few
countries,” says Seth Jones, associate director for the RAND Corp.’s International
Security and Defense Policy Center in
Washington. “But for the most part we
are not seeing the broad democratization that most people had hoped for.”
For now, none of the 16 Arab countries stretching from Morocco to Iraq
Country
Type; head of
government
Population
GDP per
capita
Freedom House
freedom rating,
2013
Transparency International
corruption score, 2012
(0 to 100, with 0 being the most corrupt)
Kuwait
2.6 million
$41,700
Partly free
44
Constitutional emirate; independent from U.K. since 1961. The emir, Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah, has been
in power since 2006.
Lebanon
4.1 million
$15,500
Partly free
30
Republic; independent from French administration since 1943 as part of a League of Nations mandate. President
Michel Suleiman, in power since 2008.
Libya
5.6 million
$6,000
Partly free
21
Operates under a transitional government following the deposition and death of ruler Moammar Gadhafi. Prime
Minister Ali Zaidan took office in October 2012.
Morocco
32.3 million
$5,100
Partly free
37
Constitutional monarchy; independent from France since 1956. King Mohammed VI in power since 1999.
Oman
3.1 million
$27,600
Not free
47
Monarchy; independent since mid-1700s following Portuguese and Persian rule. Sultan Qaboos bin Said al-Said
in power since 1970.
Qatar
2 million
$98,900
Not free
68
Emirate; independent from U.K. since 1971. Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani in power since 1995.
Saudi Arabia
26.5 million
$24,400
Not free
44
Monarchy; founded in 1932 after several attempts to unify the Arabian Peninsula. King Abdullah bin Abdul
Aziz Al-Saud in power since 2005.
Syria
22.5 million
$5,100
Not free
26
Authoritarian regime; French mandate until 1946. President Bashar Assad’s family has been in power for 42
years.
Tunisia
10.7 million
$9,400
Partly free
41
Republic; independent from France since 1956. Moncef Marzouki elected in December 2011 as president of
interim government, which will remain in power until a new constitution is drafted.
United Arab Emirates 5.3 million
$47,700
Not free
68
Federation with some powers reserved for member emirates; independent from U.K. since 1971. President: Sheik
Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in power since 2004.
Yemen
24.8 million
$2,300
Not free
23
Republic; independent from Ottoman Empire since 1918. South Yemen unified with North Yemen in 1990.
President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi took power on Feb. 27, 2012 after Ali Abdullah Saleh stepped down after
22 years as president.
Sources: “Corruption Perceptions Index 2012,” Transparency International, 2012, cpi.transparency.org/cpi2012/results; “Freedom
in the World 2013,” Freedom House, January 2013, pp. 14-18, www.freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/FIW%202013%20
Booklet.pdf; The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, January 2013, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/theworld-factbook.
are rated as free, according to the annual survey “Freedom in the World
2013” by the international human rights
group Freedom House. The report, released on Jan. 16, raises Egypt’s and
Libya’s rating to “partly free,” bringing
the total in that category to six along
www.cqresearcher.com
with Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco and
Tunisia. The 10 other countries are all
listed as “not free.” In seven countries,
according to the survey, the status of
political rights or civil liberties worsened over the past year. 5 (See map,
p. 108.)
The uprisings caught most analysts
by surprise, U.S. scholars Mark Haas
and David Lesch write in The Arab
Spring, published in November. The
waves of democratization that swept
across Latin America, Eastern Europe
and Central Asia during the late 20th
Feb. 1, 2013
109
UNREST IN THE ARAB WORLD
Timeline: The Syrian Civil War
2011
March
15-16
April 21
Demonstrators demand release of political prisoners; at least
20 protesters die as demonstrations widen in following weeks.
President Bashar Assad lifts state of emergency, releases
political prisoners; security forces kill 72 protesters.
July 29
Some security forces refuse to fire on protesters; defectors
form Free Syrian Army.
Aug. 3
Syrian tanks move into Hama, killing at least 45 protesters.
Aug. 23
U.N. Human Rights Council condemns Syrian government’s
response to protests; opposition forms National Council of
Syria, demands Assad’s removal from office.
Nov. 12
Arab League suspends Syria’s membership.
Dec. 19-20 Security forces execute 110 protesters in Jabal al-Zawiya
region; two suicide bombings in Damascus kill 44 people.
2012
FebruaryMarch
March 21
April
May 10
June 22
Aug. 2
Oct. 2
Nov. 29
Dec. 11
Dec. 22
Syrian forces begin shelling of Homs; hundreds killed.
Peace plan presented to U.N. Security Council by Arab
League is championed by special envoy Kofi Annan and
accepted by Russia, China; Assad accepts plan, then reneges.
U.N. observers enter Syria to monitor progress of Annan plan;
U.N. suspends monitoring after deaths of women, children.
Two car bombs kill 55 people outside military intelligence
building in Damascus; ceasefire nullified as government
continues shelling cities; death toll reaches 9,000.
Syrian forces shoot down Turkish fighter jet; fighting later
crosses Turkish border.
Annan resigns as special envoy amid escalating violence.
U.N. reports that 300,000 refugees have fled Syria.
Syrian government shuts down Internet, telephone service;
launches major offensive surrounding Damascus; U.S. delivers
2,000 communication kits to rebel forces.
Obama says U.S. will recognize Syrian rebels as legitimate
government; U.S. designates Jabhat al-Nusra, an Islamist militia
backing Syrian rebels, as terrorist organization.
Syrian military forces begin using Scud missiles against rebels.
2013
Jan. 1
Jan. 6
Jan. 17
Jan. 21
U.N. puts death toll at 60,000; says it could reach 100,000 in
coming year.
Assad, in Damascus, vows to remain in office, continue fight
against “criminals,” “terrorists” and “foreign influences.”
Homs massacre kills 106 people; U.K.-based Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights blames pro-Assad forces.
Syrian National Coalition (SNC) fails to agree on transitional
government; new plan promised for governing rebel-held areas.
Source: Compiled by Ethan McLeod from various news sources
110
CQ Researcher
century were unfelt in the Arab world
except for a short-lived and largely
abortive “Arab spring” of 2005. 6 Yet
Haas, a political scientist at Duquesne
University in Pittsburgh, and Lesch, a
historian at Trinity University in San
Antonio, say conditions were ripe for
revolutionary uprisings in the Middle
East. They note in particular the anger
and frustration felt by the Arab world’s
disproportionately young populations
as the global economic crisis of 2008
raised prices and drove up unemployment in much of the region. 7
The 2010-2011 uprisings have resulted in “some grudging but nonetheless impressive gains,” according to the
Freedom House report, despite widespread predictions that the push for
political reform would fall victim to
what it calls the region’s “perennial antidemocratic currents.” The report sees
“generally positive” gains in Libya and
Tunisia, but it voiced concern about
events in Egypt.
The Freedom House report lightly
faults the “flawed but competitive” presidential campaign that resulted in the
election of Mohammed Morsi, a leader
of the once-banned Muslim Bro…
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