The Arab Spring () was a series of anti-government protests, uprisings, and armed rebellions that spread across much of the

Arab world The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...

in the early 2010s. It began in Tunisia in response to corruption and economic stagnation. From Tunisia, the protests initially spread to five other countries:

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

and

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

. Rulers were deposed ( Zine El Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia,

Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi (20 October 2011) was a Libyan military officer, revolutionary, politician and political theorist who ruled Libya from 1969 until Killing of Muammar Gaddafi, his assassination by Libyan Anti-Gaddafi ...

of Libya, and

Hosni Mubarak Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011 and the 41st Prime Minister of Egypt, prime minister from 1981 to ...

of Egypt all in 2011, and Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen in 2012) and major uprisings and social violence occurred, including riots, civil wars, or insurgencies. Sustained street demonstrations took place in

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

and

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

. Minor protests took place in

Djibouti Djibouti, officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the east. The country has an area ...

Mauritania Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a sovereign country in Maghreb, Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to Mauritania–Western Sahara border, the north and northwest, ...

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

and the

Western Sahara Western Sahara is a territorial dispute, disputed territory in Maghreb, North-western Africa. It has a surface area of . Approximately 30% of the territory () is controlled by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR); the remaining 70% is ...

. A major slogan of the demonstrators in the Arab world is '' ash-shaʻb yurīd isqāṭ an-niẓām!'' (). The wave of initial revolutions and protests faded by mid to late 2012, as many Arab Spring demonstrations were met with violent responses from authorities, pro-government militias, counterdemonstrators, and militaries. These attacks were answered with violence from protesters in some cases. Multiple large-scale conflicts followed: the Syrian civil war; the rise of

ISIS Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

, insurgency in Iraq and the following civil war; the

Egyptian Crisis ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years ...

election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...

and removal from office of

Mohamed Morsi Mohamed Mohamed Morsi Eissa Al-AyyatThe spellings of his first and last names vary. survey of 14 news organizations plus Wikipedia in July 2012subsequent unrest and

insurgency An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare against a larger authority. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric warfare, asymmetric nature: small irregular forces ...

; the Libyan Crisis; and the Yemeni crisis and subsequent civil war. Regimes that lacked major oil wealth and hereditary succession arrangements were more likely to undergo regime change. A power struggle continued after the immediate response to the Arab Spring. While leadership changed and regimes were held accountable,

power vacuum In political science and political history, the term power vacuum, also known as a power void, is an analogy between a physical vacuum to the political condition "when someone in a place of power, has lost control of something and no one has replac ...

s opened across the Arab world. Ultimately, it resulted in a contentious battle between a consolidation of power by religious elites and the growing support for democracy in many Muslim-majority states. The early hopes that these popular movements would end corruption, increase political participation, and bring about greater economic equity quickly collapsed in the wake of the counter-revolutionary moves by foreign state actors in Yemen, the regional and international military interventions in Bahrain and Yemen, and the destructive civil wars in Syria, Iraq, Libya, and Yemen. Some referred to the succeeding and still ongoing conflicts as the

Arab Winter The Arab Winter () is a term referring to the resurgence of authoritarianism and Islamic extremism in some Arab countries in the 2010s in the aftermath of the Arab Spring. The term "Arab Winter" refers to the events across Arab League countrie ...

. A new wave of protests began in 2018 which led to the resignation of prime ministers Haider al-Abadi of Iraq in 2018 and

Saad Hariri Saad El-Din Rafik Al-Hariri ( ; born 18 April 1970) is a Lebanese people, Lebanese businessman and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Lebanon, prime minister of Lebanon from 2009 to 2011 and 2016 to 2020. The son of Rafic Hariri, he ...

of Lebanon in 2020, and the overthrow of presidents

Omar al-Bashir Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir (born 1 January 1944) is a Sudanese former military officer and politician who served as Head of state of Sudan, Sudan's head of state under various titles from 1989 until 2019, when he was deposed in 2019 Sudanese c ...

of Sudan and

Abdelaziz Bouteflika Abdelaziz Bouteflika (; ; 2 March 1937 – 17 September 2021) was an Algerian politician and diplomat who served as the seventh president of Algeria from 1999 to his resignation in 2019. Before his stint as an Algerian politician, Bouteflika s ...

of Algeria in 2019. Sometimes called the Second Arab Spring, these events showed how the conditions that started the Arab Spring have not faded and political movements against

authoritarianism Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in democracy, separation of powers, civil liberties, and ...

and exploitation are still ongoing. Continued protest movements in Algeria, Sudan, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, and Syria have been seen as a continuation of the Arab Spring. As of 2025, multiple conflicts are still continuing which might be seen as originating in the Arab Spring. A major shift in the Syrian Civil War occurred in December 2024 when a rebel offensive led to the

fall of the Assad regime On 8 December 2024, the Assad regime collapsed during a 2024 Syrian opposition offensives, major offensive by Syrian opposition, opposition forces. The offensive was spearheaded by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and supported mainly by the Turk ...

, after over a decade of warfare. In Libya, a major civil war concluded, with foreign powers intervening. In Yemen, a civil war continues to affect the country.

Etymology

The denomination "Arab Spring" is contested by some scholars and observers claiming that the term is problematic for several reasons. First, it was coined by Western commentators, not those involved in the events. The first specific use of the term ''Arab Spring'' as used to denote these events may have started with the US political journal ''

Foreign Policy Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...

''. Political scientist Marc Lynch described ''Arab Spring'' as "a term I may have unintentionally coined in a 6 January 2011 article" for ''Foreign Policy'' magazine. Protestors involved in the events however described their own political actions as "uprising" (''intifada''), Arab "awakening" (''sahwa'') and Arab "renaissance" (''nahda''), using expressions like ''al-marar al-Arabi'' (the Arab bitterness), ''karama'' (dignity) and ''thawra'' (revolution). Some authors argue that western governments, scholars and media used the term to minimize people's revolutionary aims and discourse. Joseph Massad on ''

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN; , ) is a private-media conglomerate headquartered in Wadi Al Sail, Doha, funded in part by the government of Qatar. The network's flagship channels include Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English, which pro ...

'' said the term was "part of a US strategy of controlling the movement's aims and goals" and directing it towards Western-style

liberal democracy Liberal democracy, also called Western-style democracy, or substantive democracy, is a form of government that combines the organization of a democracy with ideas of liberalism, liberal political philosophy. Common elements within a liberal dem ...

. When Arab Spring protests in some countries were followed by electoral success for Islamist parties, some American pundits coined the terms ''Islamist Spring'' and ''Islamist Winter''. The term "Spring" further illustrates the problematic nature of projecting Western expectations onto non-Western actors and practices. The terminology follows the Western example of the

Revolutions of 1848 The revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the springtime of the peoples or the springtime of nations, were a series of revolutions throughout Europe over the course of more than one year, from 1848 to 1849. It remains the most widespre ...

referred to as "Spring of Nations" and the

Prague Spring The Prague Spring (; ) was a period of liberalization, political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected Secretary (title), First Secre ...

in 1968, in which a Czech student, Jan Palach, set himself on fire as

Mohamed Bouazizi Tarek El-Tayeb Mohamed Bouazizi (; 29 March 1984 – 4 January 2011) was a Tunisian street vendor who set himself on fire on 17 December 2010 in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia, an act which became a catalyst for the Tunisian Revolution and the wider A ...

did. In the aftermath of the

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

, it was used by various commentators and bloggers who anticipated a major Arab movement towards

democratization Democratization, or democratisation, is the structural government transition from an democratic transition, authoritarian government to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction ...

. The term "Arab Spring" is thus contested as it signifies an expectation that the events would replicate the example of democratic revolutions set by the West.

Causes

Pressures from within

The world watched the events of the Arab Spring unfold, "gripped by the narrative of a young generation peacefully rising up against oppressive authoritarianism to secure a more democratic political system and a brighter economic future". The Arab Spring is widely believed to have been instigated by dissatisfaction, particularly of youth and unions, with the rule of local governments, though some have speculated that wide gaps in income levels and pressures caused by the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.

may have had a hand as well. Some activists had taken part in programs sponsored by the US-funded

National Endowment for Democracy The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is a quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization in the United States founded in 1983 with the stated aim of advancing democracy worldwide and counter communism, communist influence abroad, by prom ...

, but the US government claimed that they did not initiate the uprisings. Numerous factors led to the protests, including issues such as reform,

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

violations,

political corruption Political corruption is the use of powers by government officials or their network contacts for illegitimate private gain. Forms of corruption vary but can include bribery, lobbying, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, parochialism, patronage, influen ...

, economic decline, unemployment, extreme poverty, and a number of demographic structural factors, such as a large percentage of educated but dissatisfied youth within the entire population. Catalysts for the revolts in all Northern African and Persian Gulf countries included the concentration of wealth in the hands of monarchs in power for decades, insufficient transparency of its redistribution, corruption, and especially the refusal of the youth to accept the status quo. Food Price Index

Some protesters looked to the Turkish model as an ideal (contested but peaceful elections, fast-growing but liberal economy, secular constitution but Islamist government). Other analysts blamed the rise in food prices on commodity traders and the conversion of crops to ethanol. Yet others have claimed that the context of high rates of unemployment and corrupt political regimes led to dissent movements within the region.

Social media

In the wake of the Arab Spring protests, a considerable amount of attention focused on the role of social media and digital technologies in allowing citizens within areas affected by "the Arab Uprisings" as a means for collective activism to circumvent state-operated media channels. The influence of social media on political activism during the Arab Spring has, however, been much debated. Protests took place both in states with a very high level of Internet usage (such as

with 88% of its population online in 2011) and in states with some of the lowest Internet penetration (

and

). The use of social media platforms more than doubled in Arab countries during the protests, with the exception of Libya. Some researchers have shown how

collective intelligence Collective intelligence (CI) is shared or group intelligence (GI) that Emergence, emerges from the collaboration, collective efforts, and competition of many individuals and appears in consensus decision making. The term appears in sociobiolog ...

, dynamics of the crowd in participatory systems such as social media, has immense power to support a collective action—such as foment a political change. , the number of Facebook users in the Arab world surpassed 27.7 million people. Some critics have argued that digital technologies and other forms of communication—videos, cellular phones, blogs, photos, emails, and text messages—have brought about the concept of a "digital democracy" in parts of North Africa affected by the uprisings. Facebook, Twitter, and other major social media played a key role in the movement of Egyptian and Tunisian activists in particular. Nine out of ten Egyptians and Tunisians responded to a poll that they used

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

to organize protests and spread awareness. This large population of young Egyptian men referred to themselves as "the Facebook generation", exemplifying their escape from their non-modernized past. Furthermore, 28% of Egyptians and 29% of Tunisians from the same poll said that blocking Facebook greatly hindered and/or disrupted communication. Social media sites were a platform for different movements formed by many frustrated citizens, including the 2008 " April 6 Youth Movement" organized by Ahmed Mahed, which set out to organize and promote a nationwide labor strike and which inspired the later creation of the "Progressive Youth of Tunisia". During the Arab Spring, people created pages on Facebook to raise awareness about alleged crimes against humanity, such as

police brutality Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or Public order policing, a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, b ...

in the Egyptian Revolution (see Wael Ghonim and Death of Khaled Mohamed Saeed). Whether the project of raising awareness was primarily pursued by Arabs themselves or simply advertised by Western social media users is a matter of debate. Jared Keller, a journalist for

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 185 ...

, claims that most activists and protesters used Facebook (among other social media) to organize; however, what influenced Iran was "good old-fashioned word of mouth". Jared Keller argued that the sudden and anomalous social media output was caused from Westerners witnessing the situation(s), and then broadcasting them. The Middle East and North Africa used texting, emailing, and blogging only to organize and communicate information about internal local protests. A study by

Zeynep Tufekci Zeynep Tufekci (; ; ) is a Turkish-American sociologist, and the Henry G. Bryant Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton University. She is also a columnist for ''The New York Times''. Her work focuses on social media, media ethic ...

of the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the Public university, public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referre ...

and Christopher Wilson of the United Nations Development Program concluded that "social media in general, and Facebook in particular, provided new sources of information the regime could not easily control and were crucial in shaping how citizens made individual decisions about participating in protests, the logistics of protest, and the likelihood of success.""Debate flares on 'Twitter revolutions,' Arab Spring." ''Agence France-Presse'' 10 March 2013. ''NewsBank''. Web. 26 October 2016. Marc Lynch of George Washington University said, "while social media boosters envisioned the creation of a new public sphere based on dialogue and mutual respect, the reality is that Islamists and their adversaries retreat to their respective camps, reinforcing each other's prejudices while throwing the occasional rhetorical bomb across the no-man's land that the center has become." Lynch also stated in a ''Foreign Policy'' article, "There is something very different about scrolling through pictures and videos of unified, chanting Yemeni or Egyptian crowds demanding democratic change and waking up to a gory image of a headless 6-year-old girl on your Facebook news feed." In the months leading up to events in Tunisia,

Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior, home, or public security ministries in other countries. Its missions invol ...

, Customs and Border Protection, Communications Program Manager Jonathan Stevens predicted the use of "collaborative Internet utilities" to effect governmental change. In his thesis
Webeaucracy: The Collaborative Revolution
, Stevens put forth that unlike writing, printing, and telecommunications, "collaborative Internet utilities" denote a sea-change in the ability of crowds to effect social change. People and collaborative Internet utilities can be described as actor-networks; the subitizing limit (and history) suggests people left to their own devices cannot fully harness the mental power of crowds.

Metcalfe's law Metcalfe's law states that the financial value or influence of a telecommunications network is proportional to the square of the number of connected users of the system (2). The law is named after Robert Metcalfe and was first proposed in 1980 ...

suggests that as the number of nodes increases, the value of collaborative actor-networks increases quadratically; collaborative Internet utilities effectively increase the subitizing limit, and, at some macro scale, these interactive collaborative actor-networks can be described by the same rules that govern Parallel Distributed Processing, resulting in crowd sourcing that acts as a type of distributed collective consciousness. The Internet assumes the role of earlier totemic religious figureheads, uniting the members of society through mechanical solidarity forming a collective consciousness. Through many-to-many collaborative Internet utilities, the Webeaucracy is empowered as never before. Social networks were not the only instrument for rebels to coordinate their efforts and communicate. In the countries with the lowest Internet penetration and the limited role of social networks, such as

and

, the role of mainstream electronic media devices—cellular phones, emails, and video clips (e.g.,

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

)—was very important to cast the light on the situation in the country and spread the word about the protests in the outside world. In

, in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

particularly,

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

s were one of the main platforms to coordinate the protest actions and raise awareness to the masses. Conversely, scholarship literature on the Middle East, political scientist Gregory Gause has found, had failed to predict the events of the Arab uprisings. Commenting on an early article by Gause whose review of a decade of Middle Eastern studies led him to conclude that almost no scholar foresaw what was coming, Chair of Ottoman and Turkish Studies at Tel Aviv University Ehud R. Toledano writes that Gause's finding is "a strong and sincere ''mea culpa''" and that his criticism of Middle East experts for "underestimating the hidden forces driving change ... while they worked instead to explain the unshakable stability of repressive authoritarian regimes" is well-placed. Toledano then quotes Gause saying, "As they wipe the egg off their faces," those experts "need to reconsider long-held assumptions about the Arab world."

Timeline

History

Events leading up to the Arab Spring

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

experienced a series of conflicts during the three years leading up to the Arab Spring, the most notable occurring in the mining area of Gafsa in 2008, where protests continued for many months. These protests included rallies, sit-ins, and strikes, during which there were two fatalities, an unspecified number of wounded, and dozens of arrests. In

, the labor movement had been strong for years, with more than 3000 labor actions since 2004, and provided an important venue for organizing protests and collective action. One important demonstration was an attempted workers' strike on 6 April 2008 at the state-run textile factories of al-Mahalla al-Kubra, just outside

. The idea for this type of demonstration spread throughout the country, promoted by computer-literate working-class youths and their supporters among middle-class college students. A Facebook page, set up to promote the strike, attracted tens of thousands of followers and provided the platform for sustained political action in pursuit of the "long revolution". The government mobilized to break the strike through infiltration and riot police, and while the regime was somewhat successful in forestalling a strike, dissidents formed the "6 April Committee" of youths and labor activists, which became one of the major forces calling for the anti- Mubarak demonstration on 25 January in Tahrir Square. In

, discontent had been building for years over a number of issues. In February 2008, US Ambassador Robert Ford wrote in a leaked diplomatic cable that

is "unhappy" with long-standing political alienation; that social discontent persisted throughout the country, with food strikes occurring almost every week; that there were demonstrations every day somewhere in the country; and that the Algerian government was corrupt and fragile. Some claimed that during 2010 there were as many as "9,700 riots and unrests" throughout the country. Many protests focused on issues such as education and health care, while others cited rampant corruption. In Western Sahara, the Gdeim Izik protest camp was erected southeast of El Aaiún by a group of young Sahrawis on 9 October 2010. Their intention was to demonstrate against labor discrimination, unemployment, looting of resources, and human rights abuses. The camp contained between and inhabitants, but on 8 November 2010 it was destroyed and its inhabitants evicted by Moroccan security forces. The security forces faced strong opposition from some young Sahrawi civilians, and rioting soon spread to El Aaiún and other towns within the territory, resulting in an unknown number of injuries and deaths. Violence against Sahrawis in the aftermath of the protests was cited as a reason for renewed protests months later, after the start of the Arab Spring. The catalyst for the escalation of protests was the self-immolation of Tunisian

. Unable to find work and selling fruit at a roadside stand, Bouazizi had his wares confiscated by a municipal inspector on 17 December 2010. An hour later he doused himself with gasoline and set himself afire. His death on 4 January 2011 brought together various groups dissatisfied with the existing system, including many unemployed persons, political and human rights activists, labor and trade unionists, students, professors, lawyers, and others to begin the Tunisian Revolution.

Protests and uprisings

The series of protests and demonstrations across the Middle East and North Africa that commenced in 2010 became known as the "Arab Spring", and sometimes as the "Arab Spring and Winter", "Arab Awakening", or "Arab Uprisings", even though not all the participants in the protests were

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

. It was sparked by the first protests that occurred in

on 18 December 2010 in Sidi Bouzid, following

self-immolation Self-immolation is the act of setting oneself on fire. It is mostly done for political or religious reasons, often as a form of protest or in acts of martyrdom, and known for its disturbing and violent nature. Etymology The English word ' ...

in protest of police corruption and ill treatment. With the success of the protests in Tunisia, a wave of unrest sparked by the Tunisian "Burning Man" struck

, and

, then spread to other countries. The largest, most organized demonstrations often occurred on a "day of rage", usually Friday afternoon prayers. The protests also triggered similar unrest outside the region. Contrary to expectations the revolutions were not led by Islamists: The Arab Spring caused the "biggest transformation of the Middle East since decolonization". By the end of February 2012, rulers had been forced from power in

, and

; civil uprisings had erupted in Bahrain and

; major protests had broken out in Algeria,

, and

; and minor protests had occurred in Mauritania,

, and

. Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia on 14 January 2011 following the Tunisian Revolution protests. Egyptian

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

resigned on 11 February 2011 after 18 days of massive protests, ending his 30-year presidency. The

n leader

was overthrown on 23 August 2011, after the

National Transitional Council The National Transitional Council (NTC) was a transitional government established in the 2011 Libyan civil war. After rebel forces overthrew the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya of Muammar Gaddafi in August 2011, the NTC governed Libya for a further ...

(NTC) took control of Bab al-Azizia. He was killed on 20 October 2011 in his hometown of

Sirte Sirte (; , ), also spelled Sirt, Surt, Sert or Syrte, is a city in Libya. It is located south of the Gulf of Sirte, almost right in the middle between Tripoli and Benghazi. It is famously known for its battles, ethnic groups and loyal ...

after the NTC took control of the city. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh signed the GCC power-transfer deal in which a presidential election was held, resulting in his successor

Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi (born 1 September 1945) is a Yemeni politician and former military officer who served as the second president of Yemen from 2012 until his resignation in 2022. He previously served as the second vice president of Yemen fro ...

formally replacing him as president on 27 February 2012 in exchange for immunity from prosecution. Weapons and

Tuareg The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym, depending on variety: ''Imuhaɣ'', ''Imušaɣ'', ''Imašeɣăn'' or ''Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berber ethnic group, traditionally nomadic pastoralists, who principally inhabit th ...

fighters returning from the Libyan Civil War stoked a simmering conflict in Mali that has been described as 'fallout' from the Arab Spring in

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

. During this period, several leaders announced their intentions to step down at the end of their current terms.

ese President

announced that he would not seek reelection in 2015 (he ultimately retracted his announcement and ran anyway), as did

i Prime Minister

Nouri al-Maliki Nouri Kamil Muhammad-Hasan al-Maliki (; born 20 June 1950), also known as Jawad al-Maliki (), is an Iraqi politician and leader of the Islamic Dawa Party since 2007. He served as the Prime Minister of Iraq from 2006 to 2014 and as Vice President ...

, whose term was to end in 2014, although there were violent demonstrations demanding his immediate resignation in 2011. Protests in

also caused the sacking of four successive governments by King Abdullah. The popular unrest in

also resulted in the resignation of Prime Minister Nasser Al-Sabah's cabinet. The geopolitical implications of the protests drew global attention. Some protesters were nominated for the 2011

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

. Tawakkol Karman of Yemen was co-recipient of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize due to her role organizing peaceful protests. In December 2011 ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine named "The Protester" its " Person of the Year". Spanish photographer Samuel Aranda won the 2011 World Press Photo award for his image of a Yemeni woman holding an injured family member, taken during the civil uprising in Yemen on 15 October 2011.

Summary of conflicts by country

Major events

Bahrain (2011)

The protests in Bahrain started on 14 February, and were initially aimed at achieving greater

political freedom Political freedom (also known as political autonomy or political agency) is a central concept in history and political thought and one of the most important features of democratic societies.Hannah Arendt, "What is Freedom?", ''Between Past and ...

and respect for

; they were not intended to directly threaten the

monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, reigns as head of state for the rest of their life, or until abdication. The extent of the authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutio ...

. Lingering frustration among the

Shiite Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...

majority with being ruled by the Sunni government was a major root cause, but the protests in Tunisia and Egypt are cited as the inspiration for the demonstrations. The protests were largely peaceful until a pre-dawn raid by police on 17 February to clear protestors from

Pearl Roundabout The Gulf Cooperation Council or GCC Roundabout, known as Pearl Roundabout or Lulu Roundabout (Arabic language, Arabic: ', "Roundabout of the pearl(s)"), was a roundabout located near the Central business district, financial district of Manama, B ...

Manama Manama ( ', Bahrani Arabic, Bahrani pronunciation: ) is the capital and List of cities in Bahrain, largest city of Bahrain, with an approximate population of 297,502 as of 2012. Long an important trading center in the Persian Gulf, Manama is ...

, in which police killed four protesters. Following the raid, some protesters began to expand their aims to a call for the end of the monarchy. On 18 February, army forces opened fire on protesters when they tried to reenter the roundabout, fatally wounding one. The following day protesters reoccupied Pearl Roundabout after the government ordered troops and police to withdraw. Subsequent days saw large demonstrations; on 21 February a pro-government Gathering of National Unity drew tens of thousands, whilst on 22 February the number of protestors at the Pearl Roundabout peaked at over after more than protesters marched there and were coming under fire from the Bahraini Military which killed around 20 and injured over 100 protestors. On 14 March, GCC forces (composed mainly of Saudi and UAE troops) were requested by the government and occupied the country. King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa declared a three-month

state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state before, during, o ...

on 15 March and asked the military to reassert its control as clashes spread across the country. On 16 March, armed soldiers and riot police cleared the protesters' camp in the Pearl Roundabout, in which 3 policemen and 3 protesters were reportedly killed. Later, on 18 March, the government tore down Pearl Roundabout monument. After the lifting of emergency law on 1 June, several large rallies were staged by the opposition parties. Smaller-scale protests and clashes outside of the capital have continued to occur almost daily. On 9 March 2012, over protested in what the opposition called "the biggest march in our history". The police response has been described as a "brutal" crackdown on peaceful and unarmed protestors, including doctors and bloggers. The police carried out midnight house raids in

Shia Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...

neighbourhoods, beatings at checkpoints, and denial of medical care in a "campaign of intimidation". More than 2,929 people have been arrested, and at least five people died due to torture while in police custody. On 23 November 2011, the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry released its report on its investigation of the events, finding that the government had systematically tortured prisoners and committed other human rights violations. It also rejected the government's claims that the protests were instigated by

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. Although the report found that systematic torture had stopped, the Bahraini government has refused entry to several international human rights groups and news organizations, and delayed a visit by a UN inspector. More than 80 people had died since the start of the uprising. Even a decade after the 2011 uprisings, the situation in Bahrain remained unchanged. The regime continued suppression against all forms of dissent. Years after the demonstrations, the Bahraini authorities are known to have accelerated their crackdown. They have been targeting human rights defenders, journalists, Shiite political groups and social media critics.

Saudi Arabia

Saudi government forces quashed protests in the country and assisted Bahraini authorities in suppressing demonstrations there.

Jamal Khashoggi Jamal Ahmad Hamza Khashoggi (13 October 1958 – 2 October 2018) was a Saudi journalist, Saudi dissidents, dissident, author, columnist for ''Middle East Eye'' and ''The Washington Post'', and a general manager and editor-in-chief of Al-Arab New ...

, a Saudi critic, covered the Arab Spring and spoke out against the Saudi government during this time. He was murdered by the government a few years later.

Egypt (2011)

Inspired by the uprising in Tunisia and prior to his entry as a central figure in Egyptian politics, potential presidential candidate

Mohamed ElBaradei Mohamed Mostafa ElBaradei (, ; born 17 June 1942) is an Egyptian law scholar and diplomat who served as the vice president of Egypt on an interim basis from 14 July 2013 until his resignation on 14 August 2013. He was the Director General of ...

warned of a "Tunisia-style explosion" in Egypt. Protests in Egypt began on 25 January 2011 and ran for 18 days. Beginning around midnight on 28 January, the Egyptian government attempted, somewhat successfully, to eliminate the nation's Internet access, in order to inhibit the protesters' ability to use

media activism Media activism is a broad category of activism that utilizes Mass media, media and communication technologies for social movement, social and political movements. Methods of media activism include publishing news on websites, creating video and ...

to organize through

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

. Later that day, as tens of thousands protested on the streets of Egypt's major cities, President

dismissed his government, later appointing a new cabinet. Mubarak also appointed the first Vice President in almost 30 years. The U.S. embassy and international students began a voluntary evacuation near the end of January, as violence and rumors of violence escalated. On 10 February, Mubarak ceded all presidential power to Vice President Omar Suleiman, but soon thereafter announced that he would remain as president until the end of his term. However, protests continued the next day, and Suleiman quickly announced that Mubarak had resigned from the presidency and transferred power to the Armed Forces of Egypt. The military immediately dissolved the Egyptian Parliament, suspended the

Constitution of Egypt The Constitution of the Arab Republic of Egypt is the fundamental law of Egypt. The Egyptian Constitution of 2014 was passed in a referendum in January 2014. The constitution took effect after the results were announced on 18 January 2014. A ...

, and promised to lift the nation's thirty-year " emergency laws". A civilian, Essam Sharaf, was appointed as

Prime Minister of Egypt A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only ways ...

on 4 March to widespread approval among Egyptians in Tahrir Square. Violent protests, however, continued through the end of 2011 as many Egyptians expressed concern about the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces' perceived sluggishness in instituting reforms and their grip on power. Hosni Mubarak and his former interior minister Habib el-Adly were sentenced to life in prison on the basis of their failure to stop the killings during the first six days of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. His successor, the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Islamist

Mohamed Morsi Mohamed Mohamed Morsi Eissa Al-AyyatThe spellings of his first and last names vary. survey of 14 news organizations plus Wikipedia in July 2012presidential election in 2012 regarded as free and fair by election observers, and was subsequently sworn in before judges at the Supreme Constitutional Court. Fresh protests against Morsi erupted in Egypt on 22 November 2012. More protests against Morsi's rule occurred one year into Morsi's presidency in June 2013, and on 3 July 2013, the military overthrew Morsi's government, thus removing him from office. The Arab Spring was generally considered to have been a success in Egypt, much like in Tunisia. However, a December 2020 report published by PRI's '' The World'', a US-based public radio news magazine, suggests otherwise. The report says that the Egyptian government increased the amount of

executions Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

that it carried out by more than twofold, with the report saying that the government put to death approximately 60 people. This number, according to the report, included human rights activists of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), who were arrested in November 2020. The executive director of the Project on Middle East Democracy, Stephen McInerney, said that a majority of pro-democracy activists had escaped Egypt, while those who could not had gone into hiding. The Project on Middle East Democracy mentioned using encrypted communication channels to talk to the activists regarding the protection of their whereabouts. Western countries are perceived to have generally overlooked these issues, including the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, and several other European countries. The founder of the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy in

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

believed that even ten years after the Arab Spring, Egypt was at its lowest for human rights.

Libya (2011)

Anti-government protests began in Libya on 15 February 2011. By 18 February, the opposition controlled most of

Benghazi Benghazi () () is the List of cities in Libya, second-most-populous city in Libya as well as the largest city in Cyrenaica, with an estimated population of 859,000 in 2023. Located on the Gulf of Sidra in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean, Ben ...

, the country's second-largest city. The government dispatched elite troops and militia in an attempt to recapture it, but they were repelled. By 20 February, protests had spread to the capital Tripoli, leading to a television address by Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, who warned the protestors that their country could descend into civil war. The rising death toll, numbering in the thousands, drew international condemnation and resulted in the resignation of several Libyan diplomats, along with calls for the government's dismantlement. Amidst ongoing efforts by demonstrators and rebel forces to wrest control of Tripoli from the Jamahiriya, the opposition set up an

interim government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, a transitional government or provisional leadership, is a temporary government formed to manage a period of transition, often following state collapse, revolut ...

in Benghazi to oppose Colonel

's rule. However, despite initial opposition success, government forces subsequently took back much of the Mediterranean coast. On 17 March,

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 Resolution 1973 was adopted by the United Nations Security Council on 17 March 2011 in response to the First Libyan Civil War. The resolution formed the legal basis for military intervention in the Libyan Civil War, demanding "an immediate ce ...

was adopted, authorising a

no-fly zone A no-fly zone, also known as a no-flight zone (NFZ), or air exclusion zone (AEZ), is a territory or area established by a military power over which certain aircraft are not permitted to fly. Such zones are usually set up in an enemy power's terri ...

over Libya, and "all necessary measures" to protect civilians. Two days later, France, the United States and the United Kingdom intervened in Libya with a bombing campaign against pro-Gaddafi forces. A coalition of 27 states from Europe and the Middle East soon joined the intervention. The forces were driven back from the outskirts of Benghazi, and the rebels mounted an offensive, capturing scores of towns across the coast of Libya. The offensive stalled however, and a counter-offensive by the government retook most of the towns, until a

stalemate Stalemate is a situation in chess where the player whose turn it is to move is not in check and has no legal move. Stalemate results in a draw. During the endgame, stalemate is a resource that can enable the player with the inferior position ...

was formed between Brega and Ajdabiya, the former being held by the government and the latter in the hands of the rebels. Focus then shifted to the west of the country, where bitter fighting continued. After a three-month-long battle, a loyalist siege of rebel-held

Misrata Misrata ( ; , Libyan Arabic: ; also spelled Misratah and known by the Italian spelling Misurata) is a city in northwestern Libya located in the Misrata District, situated to the east of Tripoli on the Mediterranean coast near Cape Misrata. ...

, the third largest city in Libya, was broken in large part due to coalition air strikes. The four major fronts of combat were generally considered to be the Nafusa Mountains, the

Tripolitania Tripolitania (), historically known as the Tripoli region, is a historic region and former province of Libya. The region had been settled since antiquity, first coming to prominence as part of the Carthaginian empire. Following the defeat ...

n coast, the Gulf of Sidra, and the southern

Libyan Desert The Libyan Desert (not to be confused with the Libyan Sahara) is a geographical region filling the northeastern Sahara Desert, from eastern Libya to the Western Desert (Egypt), Western Desert of Egypt and far northwestern Sudan. On medieval m ...

. In late August, anti-Gaddafi fighters captured Tripoli, scattering Gaddafi's government and marking the end of his 42 years of power. Many institutions of the government, including Gaddafi and several top government officials, regrouped in

, which Gaddafi declared to be Libya's new capital. Others fled to Sabha, Bani Walid, and remote reaches of the

, or to surrounding countries. However, Sabha

fell A fell (from Old Norse ''fell'', ''fjall'', "mountain"Falk and Torp (2006:161).) is a high and barren landscape feature, such as a mountain or Moorland, moor-covered hill. The term is most often employed in Fennoscandia, Iceland, the Isle of M ...

in late September, Bani Walid was captured after a grueling siege weeks later, and on 20 October, fighters under the aegis of the

seized Sirte, killing Gaddafi in the process. However, after Gaddafi was killed, the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

continued.

Syria (2011-2024)

Protests in Syria started on 26 January 2011, when a police officer assaulted a man in public at "Al-Hareeka Street" in old Damascus. The man was arrested right after the assault. As a result, protesters called for the freedom of the arrested man. Soon a "day of rage" was set for 4–5 February, but it was uneventful. On 6 March, the Syrian security forces arrested about 15 children in Daraa, in southern Syria, for writing slogans against the government. Soon protests erupted over the arrest and abuse of the children. Daraa was to be the first city to protest against the

Ba'athist Ba'athism, also spelled Baathism, is an Arab nationalist ideology which advocates the establishment of a unified Arab state through the rule of a Ba'athist vanguard party operating under a revolutionary socialist framework. The ideology ...

government, which has been ruling

since 1963. Thousands of protesters gathered in

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...

, al-Hasakah, Daraa, Deir ez-Zor, and

Hama Hama ( ', ) is a city on the banks of the Orontes River in west-central Syria. It is located north of Damascus and north of Homs. It is the provincial capital of the Hama Governorate. With a population of 996,000 (2023 census), Hama is one o ...

on 15 March, with recently released politician Suhair Atassi becoming an unofficial spokesperson for the "Syrian revolution". The next day there were reports of approximately 3000 arrests and a few casualties, but there are no official figures on the number of deaths. On 18 April 2011, approximately 100,000 protesters sat in the central Square of Homs calling for the resignation of president

Bashar al-Assad Bashar al-Assad (born 11September 1965) is a Syrian politician, military officer and former dictator Sources characterising Assad as a dictator: who served as the president of Syria from 2000 until fall of the Assad regime, his government ...

. Protests continued through July 2011, the government responding with harsh security clampdowns and military operations in several districts, especially in the north. On 31 July, Syrian army tanks stormed several cities, including Hama, Deir Ez-Zour, Abu Kamal, and Herak near Daraa. At least 136 people were killed, the highest death toll in any day since the start of the uprising. On 5 August 2011, an anti-government demonstration took place in Syria called "God is with us", during which the Syrian security forces shot the protesters from inside the ambulances, killing 11 people. The Arab Spring events in Syria subsequently escalated into the Syrian civil war. The war caused massive political instability and economic hardship in Syria, with the

Syrian pound The Syrian pound or lira (; abbreviation: LS or SP in Latin alphabet, Latin, ل.س in Arabic script, Arabic, historically also Pound sign, £S, and £Syr; ISO 4217, ISO code: SYP) is the currency of Syria. It is issued by the Central Bank of S ...

plunging to new lows. On 8 December 2024, the Assad regime collapsed during a major offensive by opposition forces. The offensive was spearheaded by

Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) was a Sunni Islamist political organisation and paramilitary group involved in the Syrian civil war. It was formed on 28January 2017 as a merger between several armed groups: Jaysh al-Ahrar (an Ahrar al-Sham facti ...

(HTS) and supported mainly by the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army. As another rebel coalition advanced towards

, reports emerged that

fled the capital aboard a plane to Russia, where he joined his family, already in exile, and was granted asylum. Following Assad's departure, opposition forces declared victory on state television. Concurrently, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed Assad's resignation and his departure from Syria. The fall of the Assad regime after 54 years of rule and 13 years of civil war was met with shock and surprise throughout Syria and the world. Syrian opposition fighters were surprised at how quickly the Syrian government collapsed in the wake of their offensive. Analysts viewed the event as a significant blow to Iran's

Axis of Resistance The Axis of Resistance is an informal coalition of Iranian-supported militant and political organizations across the Middle East. Formed by Iran, it unites actors committed to countering the influence of the United States and Israel in the regio ...

due to the use of Syria as a waypoint to supply arms and supplies to their ally

Hezbollah Hezbollah ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. I ...

Tunisia (2010–2011)

Following the self-immolation of

in Sidi Bouzid, a series of increasingly violent street demonstrations through December 2010 ultimately led to the ousting of longtime

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali on 14 January 2011. The demonstrations were preceded by high unemployment,

food Food is any substance consumed by an organism for Nutrient, nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or Fungus, fungal origin and contains essential nutrients such as carbohydrates, fats, protein (nutrient), proteins, vitamins, ...

inflation In economics, inflation is an increase in the average price of goods and services in terms of money. This increase is measured using a price index, typically a consumer price index (CPI). When the general price level rises, each unit of curre ...

, corruption, lack of

freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The rights, right to freedom of expression has been r ...

and other forms of

, and poor living conditions. The protests constituted the most dramatic wave of social and political unrest in Tunisia in three decades and resulted in scores of deaths and injuries, most of which were the result of action by police and security forces against demonstrators. Ben Ali fled into exile in

, ending his 23 years in power. A

was declared and a caretaker coalition government was created following Ben Ali's departure, which included members of Ben Ali's party, the Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD), as well as opposition figures from other ministries. The five newly appointed non-RCD ministers resigned almost immediately. As a result of continued daily protests, on 27 January Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi reshuffled the government, removing all former RCD members other than himself, and on 6 February the former ruling party was suspended; later, on 9 March, it was dissolved. Following further public protests, Ghannouchi himself resigned on 27 February, and Beji Caid Essebsi became prime minister. On 23 October 2011 Tunisians voted in the first post-revolution election to elect representatives to a 217-member

constituent assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

that would be responsible for the new constitution. The leading Islamist party, Ennahda, won 37% of the vote, and elected 42 women to the Constituent Assembly. On 26 January 2014 a new constitution was adopted. The constitution is seen as progressive, increasing human rights, gender equality, and government duties toward people, laying the groundwork for a new parliamentary system and making Tunisia a decentralized and open government. On 26 October 2014 Tunisia held its first parliamentary elections since the 2011 Arab Spring and its presidential election on 23 November 2014, finishing its transition to a democratic state. These elections were characterized by a decline in Ennahdha's popularity in favor of the secular Nidaa Tounes party, which became the first party of the country.

United Arab Emirates (2011)

There were large protests against the government United Arab Emirates. In the United Arab Emirates, the Arab Spring saw a sudden and intense demand for democratic reforms. However, government repression of human rights, including unlawful detentions and torture, quelled the opposition and silenced dissenters. Even years after the Arab Spring uprisings, the Emirates remain in staunch opposition to free speech. In 2011, 133 peaceful political activists—including academics and members of a social organization, Islah—signed a petition calling for democratic reforms. Submitted to the Emirati monarch rulers, the petition demanded elections, more legislative powers for the

Federal National Council The Federal National Council (FNC) (, ''al-Majlis al-Watani al-Ittihadi'') of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is an advisory quasi-parliamentary body in the UAE. The FNC consists of 40 members. Twenty of the members are indirectly elected by the ...

and an independent judiciary. In 2012, the authorities arrested 94 of the 133 journalists, government officials, judges, lawyers, teachers and student activists, who were detained in secret detention facilities. For a year, until the trial began in March 2013, the 94 prisoners were subjected to enforced disappearances and

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...

. As the "unfair" trial ended on 2 July 2013, 69 men were convicted on the basis of evidence acquired through forced confessions, and received harsh prison sentences of up to 15 years. The case came to be known as "UAE-94", following which

was further curbed. For years, these prisoners have been under arbitrary detention, with some "held in incommunicado, and denied their rights". In July 2021,

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

called the UAE authorities to immediately release 60 prisoners of the UAE-94 case, who remained detained nine years after their arrest. At least 51 prisoners, who were part of the "UAE-94" mass trial, were being imprisoned despite completing their sentences. Some prisoners completed their sentences in March 2023, while others completed it as early as July 2019. HRW said that those the prisoners continued to remain in prison without a proper legal basis, even after completing the sentences between one month and nearly four years before. Following the 2011 petition, the UAE authorities also arrested five prominent human rights defenders and government critics who did not sign the petition. All were pardoned the next day but have been facing a number of unfair acts of the government. One of the prominent Emirati activists, Ahmed Mansoor, reported being beaten twice since then. His passport was confiscated and nearly were stolen from his personal bank account. Most of the human rights activists have been victims of the UAE government's intimidation for years. The authorities also exiled a local man to Thailand. He spoke out about the government. In 2015 it was revealed that there was a foiled palace coup in Abu Dhabi in mid-2011 where Hamdan Al Nahyan attempted to overthrow his brother

Khalifa ''Khalifa'' or ''Khalifah'' (; commonly "caliph" in English) is a name or title which means "successor", "ruler" or "leader". It most commonly refers to the leader of a Caliphate, but is also used as a title among various Islamic religious groups ...

and implement reforms such as universal Arab resident suffrage, and empowering the legislature.

Yemen (2011)

Protests occurred in many towns in both the north and south of Yemen starting in mid-January 2011. Demonstrators in the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

mainly protested against President Saleh's support of

Al Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...

South Yemen South Yemen, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, abbreviated to Democratic Yemen, was a country in South Arabia that existed in what is now southeast Yemen from 1967 until Yemeni unification, its unification with the Yemen A ...

, the marginalization of the Southern people and the exploitation of Southern natural resources. Other parts of the country initially protested against governmental proposals to modify the

constitution of Yemen The Constitution of Yemen was ratified by popular referendum on 16 May 1991.Country profile: Yemen
...

, unemployment and economic conditions, and corruption, but their demands soon included a call for the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who had been facing internal opposition from his closest advisors since 2009. A major demonstration of over protesters took place in

Sanaa Sanaa, officially the Sanaa Municipality, is the ''de jure'' capital and largest city of Yemen. The city is the capital of the Sanaa Governorate, but is not part of the governorate, as it forms a separate administrative unit. At an elevation ...

on 27 January 2011, and soon thereafter human rights activist and politician Tawakkol Karman called for a "Day of Rage" on 3 February. According to ''

Xinhua News Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: ),J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English or New China News Agency, is the official State media, state news agency of the China, People's Republic ...

'', organizers were calling for a million protesters. In response to the planned protest, Ali Abdullah Saleh stated that he would not seek another presidential term in 2013. On 3 February, protesters demonstrated against the government in Sana'a, others participated in a "Day of Rage" in Aden that was called for by Tawakel Karman, while soldiers, armed members of the General People's Congress, and many protestors held a pro-government rally in Sana'a. Concurrent with the resignation of Egyptian president Mubarak, Yemenis again took to the streets protesting President Saleh on 11 February, in what has been dubbed a "Friday of Rage". The protests continued in the days following despite clashes with government advocates. In a "Friday of Anger" held on 18 February, tens of thousands of Yemenis took part in anti-government demonstrations in the major cities of Sana'a, Taiz, and

Aden Aden () is a port city located in Yemen in the southern part of the Arabian peninsula, on the north coast of the Gulf of Aden, positioned near the eastern approach to the Red Sea. It is situated approximately 170 km (110 mi) east of ...

. Protests continued over the following months, especially in the three major cities, and briefly intensified in late May into urban warfare between Hashid tribesmen and army defectors allied with the opposition on one side and security forces and militias loyal to Saleh on the other. After Saleh pretended to accept a

Gulf Cooperation Council The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (), also known as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC; ), is a Regional integration, regional, intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental, political, and economic union comprising Ba ...

-brokered plan allowing him to cede power in exchange for immunity from prosecution only to back away before signing three separate times, an assassination attempt on 3 June left him and several other high-ranking Yemeni officials injured by a blast in the presidential compound's mosque. Saleh was evacuated to

for treatment and handed over power to Vice President

, who largely continued his policies and ordered the arrest of several Yemenis in connection with the attack on the presidential compound. While in Saudi Arabia, Saleh kept hinting that he could return any time and continued to be present in the political sphere through television appearances from

Riyadh Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the Riyadh Governorate. Located on the eastern bank of Wadi Hanifa, the current form of the metropolis largely emerged in th ...

starting with an address to the Yemeni people on 7 July. On 13 August, a demonstration was announced in Yemen as "Mansouron Friday" in which hundreds of thousands of Yemenis called for Saleh to go. The protesters joining the "Mansouron Friday" were calling for establishment of "a new Yemen". On 12 September Saleh issued a presidential decree while still receiving treatment in Riyadh authorizing Hadi to negotiate a deal with the opposition and sign the GCC initiative. On 23 September, three months since the assassination attempt, Saleh returned to Yemen abruptly, defying all earlier expectations. Pressure on Saleh to sign the GCC initiative eventually led to his doing so in Riyadh on 23 November. Saleh thereby agreed to step down and set the stage for the transfer of power to his vice president. A presidential election was then held on 21 February 2012, in which Hadi (the only candidate) won 99.8% of the vote. Hadi then took the oath of office in Yemen's parliament on 25 February. By 27 February Saleh had resigned from the presidency and transferred power to Hadi. The replacement government was overthrown by Houthi rebels on 22 January 2015, starting the Yemeni Civil War and the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen.

Outcomes

Arab Winter

In the aftermath of the Arab Spring in various countries, there was a wave of violence and instability commonly known as the Arab Winter or Islamist Winter. The Arab Winter was characterized by extensive civil wars, general regional instability, economic and demographic decline of the

Arab League The Arab League (, ' ), officially the League of Arab States (, '), is a regional organization in the Arab world. The Arab League was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945, initially with seven members: Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt, Kingdom of Iraq, ...

and overall religious wars between Sunni and Shia Muslims. Libyan Civil War

Although the long-term effects of the Arab Spring have yet to be shown, its short-term consequences varied greatly across the Middle East and North Africa. In Tunisia and Egypt, where the existing regimes were ousted and replaced through a process of free and fair election, the revolutions were considered short-term successes. This interpretation is, however, problematized by the subsequent political turmoil that emerged, particularly in Egypt. Elsewhere, most notably in the monarchies of

and the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

, existing regimes co-opted the Arab Spring movement and managed to maintain order without significant social change. In other countries, particularly Syria and Libya, the apparent result of Arab Spring protests was a complete

societal collapse Societal collapse (also known as civilizational collapse or systems collapse) is the fall of a complex human society characterized by the loss of cultural identity and of social complexity as an Complex adaptive system, adaptive system, the downf ...

. Social scientists have endeavored to understand the circumstances that led to this variation in outcome. A variety of causal factors have been highlighted, most of which hinge on the relationship between the strength of the state and the strength of civil society. Countries with stronger civil society networks in various forms underwent more successful reforms during the Arab Spring; these findings are also consistent with more general social science theories such as those espoused by Robert D. Putnam and

Joel S. Migdal Joel S. Migdal is the Robert F. Philip Professor of International Studies in the University of Washington's Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies. He is a political scientist specializing in comparative politics. Education He rece ...

. One of the primary influences that have been highlighted in the analysis of the Arab Spring is the relative strength or weakness of a society's formal and informal

institution An institution is a humanly devised structure of rules and norms that shape and constrain social behavior. All definitions of institutions generally entail that there is a level of persistence and continuity. Laws, rules, social conventions and ...

s prior to the revolts. When the Arab Spring began, Tunisia had an established infrastructure and a lower level of petty corruption than did other states, such as Libya. This meant that, following the overthrow of the existing regime, there was less work to be done in reforming Tunisian institutions than elsewhere, and consequently it was less difficult to transition to and consolidate a democratic system of government. Also crucial was the degree of state censorship over print, broadcast, and social media in different countries. Television coverage by channels like

and

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

provided worldwide exposure and prevented mass violence by the Egyptian government in Tahrir Square, contributing to the success of the Egyptian Revolution. In other countries, such as Libya, Bahrain, and Syria, such international press coverage was not present to the same degree, and the governments of these countries were able to act more freely in suppressing the protests. Strong authoritarian regimes with high degrees of censorship in their national broadcast media were able to block communication and prevent the domestic spread of information necessary for successful protests. Countries with greater access to social media, such as Tunisia and Egypt, proved more effective in mobilizing large groups of people, and appear to have been more successful overall than those with greater state control over media. Although social media played a large role in shaping the events of revolutions social activism did not occur in a vacuum. Without the use of street level organization social activists would not have been as effective. Even though a revolution did take place and the prior government has been replaced, Tunisia's government can not conclude that another uprising will not take place. There are still many grievances taking place today. In Tunisia, due to tourism coming to a halt and other factors during the revolution and Arab Spring movement, the budget deficit has grown and unemployment has risen since 2011. According to the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

in 2016, "Unemployment remains at 15.3% from 16.7% in 2011, but still well above the pre-revolution level of 13%." Large scale emigration brought on by a long and treacherous civil war has permanently harmed the Syrian economy. Projections for economic contraction will remain high at almost 7% in 2017. Anti-coup protesters with R4bia sign in Nasr City-Cairo 11-Oct-2013

Anti-coup protesters with R4bia sign in Nasr City-Cairo 11-Oct-2013

The support, even if tacit, of national military forces during protests has been correlated to the success of the Arab Spring movement in different countries. In Egypt and Tunisia, the military actively participated in ousting the incumbent regime and in facilitating the transition to democratic elections. Countries like Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, exhibited a strong mobilization of military force against protesters, effectively ending the revolts in their territories; others, including Libya and Syria, failed to stop the protests entirely and instead ended up in civil war. The support of the military in Arab Spring protests has also been linked to the degree of ethnic homogeneity in different societies. In Saudi Arabia and Syria, where the ruling elite was closely linked with ethnic or religious subdivisions of society, the military sided with the existing regime and took on the ostensible role of protector to minority populations. The presence of a strong, educated middle class has been noted as a correlate to the success of the Arab Spring in different countries. Countries with strong welfare programs and a weak middle class, such as Saudi Arabia and Jordan, as well as countries with great economic disparity and an impoverished working class—including Yemen, Libya, and Morocco—did not experience successful revolutions. The strength of the middle class is, in turn, directly connected to the existing political, economic, and educational institutions in a country, and the middle class itself may be considered an informal institution. In very broad terms, this may be reframed in terms of development, as measured by various indicators such as the

Human Development Index The Human Development Index (HDI) is a statistical composite index of life expectancy, Education Index, education (mean years of schooling completed and expected years of schooling upon entering the education system), and per capita income i ...

: rentier states such as the oil monarchies of the Persian Gulf exhibited less successful revolutions overall. Charting what he calls the 'new masses' of the twenty-first century, Sociologist Göran Therborn draws attention to the historical contradictory role of the middle class. The Egyptian middle class has illustrated this ambivalence and contradiction in 2011 and 2013: "The volatility of middle-class politics is vividly illustrated by the sharp turns in Egypt, from acclamation of democracy to adulation of the military and its mounting repression of dissent, effectively condoning the restoration of the ancien régime minus Mubarak.

Long-term aftermath

Sectarianism and collapse of state systems

Some trends in political Islam resulting from the Arab Spring noted by observers (Quinn Mecham and Tarek Osman) include: * Repression of the Muslim Brotherhood, not only in Egypt by the military and courts following the forcible removal of Morsi from office in 2013; but also by Saudi Arabia and a number of Gulf countries (not Qatar). The ambassadors crisis also seriously threatened the GCC's activities, adversely affected its functioning and could arguably even have led to its dissolution. *Rise of Islamist state-building where state failure has taken place—most prominently in Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen. Islamists have found it easier than competing non-Islamists trying to fill the void of state failure, by securing external funding, weaponry and fighters – "many of which have come from abroad and have rallied around a pan-Islamic identity". The norms of governance in these Islamist areas are militia-based, and the governed submit to their authority out of fear, loyalty, other reasons, or some combination. The "most expansive" of these new "models" is the

Islamic State The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS ...

. *Increasing sectarianism (primarily Sunni-Shia) at least in part from

proxy war In political science, a proxy war is an armed conflict where at least one of the belligerents is directed or supported by an external third-party power. In the term ''proxy war'', a belligerent with external support is the ''proxy''; both bel ...

s and the escalation of the

Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict Iran and Saudi Arabia are engaged in a proxy conflict over influence in the Middle East and other regions of the Muslim world. The two countries have provided varying degrees of support to opposing sides in nearby conflicts, including the civil wa ...

. Islamists are fighting Islamists across sectarian lines in Lebanon (Sunni militants targeting

positions), Yemen (between mainstream Sunni Islamists of al-Islah and the Shiite

Zaydi Zaydism () is a branch of Shia Islam that emerged in the eighth century following Zayd ibn Ali's unsuccessful rebellion against the Umayyad Caliphate. Zaydism is one of the three main branches of Shi'ism, with the other two being Twelverism ...

Houthi movement), in Iraq (Islamic State and Iraqi Shiite militias). *Increased caution and political learning in countries such as Algeria and Jordan where Islamists have chosen not to lead a major challenge against their governments. In Yemen, al-Islah "has sought to frame its ideology in a way that will avoid charges of militancy". *In countries where Islamists did choose to lead a major challenge and did not succeed in transforming society (particularly Egypt), a disinterest in "soul-searching" about what went wrong, in favor of "antagonism and fiery anger" and a thirst for revenge. Partisans of political Islam (although this does not include some prominent leaders such as Rached Ghannouchi but is particularly true in Egypt) see themselves as victims of an injustice whose perpetrators are not just "individual conspirators but entire social groups". "The repercussions of the 2011 uprisings have influenced Middle Eastern youth's experiences providing impetus for questioning perennial sacred beliefs and positions, and forging ahead avant-garde views and responses to the constraints they face." Contrary to the common discourse, Hussein Agha and Robert Malley from ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' argue that the divide in the post–Arab Spring in the Middle East is not sectarianism: Agha and Malley point out that even in Syria there has been a misrepresentation of the conflict, that the Assad regime relied on an alliance that included middle class Sunnis along with other religious minorities. Prior to the uprising, the Syrian regime enjoyed some financial and political support from Sunni Gulf states. The "select rich urban bourgeoisie, the Sunni Damascene in particular", according to Tokyo University researcher Housam Darwisheh, "now has a direct interest in preserving stability and their relations with the regime as long as their businesses prosper." In the view of the Arab sociologist Halim Barakat, "the persistence of communal cleavages complicates rather than nullifies social class consciousness and struggles."

Second Arab Spring (Arab Summer)

Arab Spring: Revolution or reform

Very few analysts of the Arab societies foresaw a mass movement on such a scale that might threaten the existing order. In his 1993 sociological study of the Arab societies, culture and state, Barakat stated confidently that "one should expect the first Arab popular revolution to take place in Egypt or Tunisia. This does not, however, exclude the possibility that revolutions may occur in more pluralistic societies as well." What was prevalent, according to the Syrian writer and political dissident Yassin al-Haj Saleh was three 'springs' that ensured the status quo. One of which was a "spring of despotic states that receive assistance and legitimacy from a world system centered around stability". Most democracy protests do not result in reforms. Two months into the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings, ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

'' magazine in a leader article spoke about a new generation of young people, idealists, "inspired by democracy", which made revolutions. Those revolutions, the article stated, "are going the right way, with a hopeful new mood prevailing and free elections in the offing". For those on the streets of Egypt the predominant slogan was "bread, freedom and social justice". Some observers, however, have questioned the revolutionary nature of the 'Arab Spring'. A social theorist specialising in social movements and social change in the Middle East, Asef Bayat, has provided an analysis based on his decades-long of research as "a participant-observer" (in his own words). In his appraisal of the Arab revolutions, Bayat discerns a remarkable difference between these revolutions and the revolutions of the 1960s and 1970s in countries like Yemen,

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

and Iran. The Arab revolutions, argues Bayat, "lacked any associated intellectual anchor" and the predominant voices, "secular and Islamists alike, took free market, property relations, and neoliberal rationality for granted" and uncritically. New social movements' define themselves as horizontal networks with aversion to the state and central authority. Thus their "political objective is not to capture the state", a fundamental feature in the twentieth-century revolutionary movements. Instead of revolution or reform, Bayat speaks of 'refolution'. Wael Ghonim, an Internet activist who would later gain an international fame, acknowledged that what he had intended by founding a Facebook page was a "simple reaction to the events in Tunisia" and that "there was no master plans or strategies" a priori. That the objective was reform to be achieved through peaceful means and not revolution was explicitly put forward by April 6 Movement, one of the leading forces of the Egyptian uprising, in their statements. It called for "coalition and co-operation between all factions and national forces to reach the reform and the peaceful change of the conditions of Egypt". "Even in Tahrir Square with so many people and the rising level of demands," recalls an activist in the movement, "we were very surprised by the people wanting the downfall of the regime; and not a single one of us had expected this." In comparing the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Syria, researcher Housam Darwisheh concludes: "The Egyptian uprising, in neither dismantling the ancien regime nor creating new institutional mechanisms to lead the transition, permitted the so-called 'deep state' to reassert itself while the deepening polarization led many non-Islamists to side with the military against the MB he Muslim Brotherhood" According to Cambridge sociologist Hazem Kandil, the

Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ('' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar, Imam and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna in 1928. Al-Banna's teachings s ...

did not aim at taking power during the events leading up to the toppling of Mubarak. The biggest and most organised organisation in Egypt in fact negotiated with the regime in "infamous talks between Morsi and the then vice-president Omar Suleiman", and "an informal deal was reached: withdraw your members from Tahrir Square, and we allow you to form a political party." Then the Brotherhood wavered whether to file a presidential candidate and did not push for a new constitution, choosing to work with the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF): George Lawson from the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

places the Arab uprisings within the post-Cold War world. He characterises the uprisings as "largely unsuccessful revolution" and that they "bare a family resemblance to the 'negotiated revolutions'... Negotiated revolutions ... seek to transform political and symbolic fields of action, but without a concomitant commitment to a program of economic transformation." In this 'negotiated revolution', comments Bayat, "revolutionaries had in effect little part in the 'negotiations'." What has been treated by some analysts as intellectual weakness of the revolutionary movement is partly due to the pre-2011 stifling cultural environment under repressive regimes. Although Egyptian intellectuals enjoyed a bigger margin of freedom than their counterparts in Tunisia, cultural figures sought protection from political players, and instead of leading criticism, they complied. The post-Cold War era saw the emergence of the idea and practice of gradual reform and liberal agenda. It saw an influx of humanitarian projects,

NGOs A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

and charity work, liberal

think tanks A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-gov ...

and emphasis on

civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.free market In economics, a free market is an economic market (economics), system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of ...

. The new idea of

civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.Antonio Gramsci Antonio Francesco Gramsci ( , ; ; 22 January 1891 – 27 April 1937) was an Italian Marxist philosophy, Marxist philosopher, Linguistics, linguist, journalist, writer, and politician. He wrote on philosophy, Political philosophy, political the ...

, for instance, envisaged: 'a revolution before the revolution'. In her field study in Yemen, anthropologist Bogumila Hall depicts the effects of what she terms as "the marketization of civil society and its heavy reliance on donors", which "led to a largely depoliticized form of activism that by passed, rather than confronted, the state". Hall, with her focus on the ''muhammashīn'' (the marginalized) in Yemen, described how in the 1990s and 2000s international NGOs established charity projects and workshops "to teach slum dwellers new skills and behaviours". But, besides the "modest changes" brought by the NGOs, concludes Hall, "delegating the problem of the ''muhammashīn'' to the realm of development and poverty alleviation, without addressing the structural causes underlying their marginalisation, had a depoliticising effect. It led to a widely held assumption, also shared by the ''muhammashīn'', that ending marginalisation was a matter for experts and administrative measures, not politics." When Arab regimes viewed NGOs' leaders and other similar organisations with suspicion, accusing Western governments of providing funding and training to 'illegal organisations' and fomenting revolution, diplomatic cables reported "how American officials frequently assured skeptical governments that the training was aimed at reform, not promoting revolutions". And when the Egyptian uprising was gaining its momentum, the American president

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

"did not suggest that the 82-year-old leader step aside or transfer power... the argument was that he really needed to do the reforms, and do them fast. Former ambassador to Egypt (Frank G.) Wisner publicly suggested that Mr. Mubarak had to be at the center of any change, and Secretary of State

Hillary Rodham Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

warned that any transition would take time." Some activists, who read the American thinker and nonviolence advocate Gene Sharp, obtained training from foreign bodies, including the Serbian opposition movement Otpor!, and April 6 Movement modelled its logo after Otpor's. Otpor, writes Bayat in his discussion of the agencies of the Arab Spring activism in Tunisia and Egypt, obtained funds from well-known American organisations such as the American

USAID The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an agency of the United States government that has been responsible for administering civilian United States foreign aid, foreign aid and development assistance. Established in 19 ...

, and the

International Republican Institute The International Republican Institute (IRI) is an American nonprofit organization founded in 1983 and funded and supported by the United States federal government. Most of its board is drawn from the Republican Party. Its public mission is to a ...

. Thus Otpur, in line with these organisations' advocacies, "pushed for political reform through nonradical, electoral, and market-driven language and practices". Early 2019 witnessed two uprisings: one in Algeria and another in Sudan. In Algeria under pressure of weeks of protests, the head of the army forced the ailing twenty-year-serving president,

, to abdicate. In Sudan, after four months of protests, the Sudani defense minister ousted longtime President

in a coup. Writing about what he calls "a rebirth of Tahrir Square", the prominent Lebanese novelist and critic Elias Khoury, averred that "perhaps the secret of the Arab Spring lies not in its victories or defeats, but in its ability to liberate people from fear." Despite the "faded spirit of Tahrir Square" and an outcome that Khoury describes as a "monarchy that abrogates legal standards", a renaissance of resistance is unstoppable: There was a need, suggested Khoury, to turn "the uprisings of the Arab Spring into an intellectual, political and moral project that gives meaning to the goals of freedom, democracy and social justice". From the outset the 2011 Arab uprisings raised the banner of 'social justice'. The concept, what it means and how to achieve it has been a major subject of discussion and contention since then.

Social justice

In its economic and social manifesto, the Tunisian Ennahda Movement states that the movement "adopts the social and solidarised market economy within a national approach based on free economic activity, freedom of ownership, production and administration on the one hand, and social justice and equal opportunities on the other hand" and that "national capital has to be the axis in the development process." The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt mainly focuses on "reform of existing political systems in the Arab world. It embraces the idea of political activism and social responsibility, organising charitable works and social support programmes as part of its outreach to its core support base of lower-income populations." On its part the International Centre for Transitional Justice has set nine 'concrete and tangible' goals with focus on "accountability for serious violations of human rights, access to justice, facilitating peace processes, advancing the cause of reconciliation and reforming the state and social institutions". One of those goals was taken up by Truth and Dignity Commission (Tunisia) that recorded and submitted to the relevant court the human rights abuses which had been committed by the Tunisian regime. A new climate of freedom of speech, freedom of organisation and elections characterised the political environment of post-Ben Ali Tunisia. Some observers and social analysts remarked, however, that the issue of

social justice Social justice is justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society where individuals' rights are recognized and protected. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has of ...

remained a rhetoric or was marginalised. According to Fathi Al-Shamikhi, an expert in debt issues and founder of the Tunisian association RAID, different social forces played a crucial role in matters related to social demands and achieving social justice. "This role varies between those who advocate these demands and those who reject them, according to the social nature of each of these forces." "Bread, freedom and social justice" were the main slogans of the Arab revolutions. But although social and economic demands were raised, argued researcher and former editor in chief of the Egyptian Al-Shorouq Newspaper, Wael Gamal, "they were pushed aside in the political arena, and more attention was given to issues such as the transfer of power arrangements, the constitution first, the elections first, democratic transformation and the religious-secular conflict."

Counter-revolution and civil wars

With the survival of the regime in Egypt and the rolling back of what was gained in the short period after the overthrow of Mubarak, the persistence, or even the worsening, of the socio-economic conditions that led to the Tunisian uprising, a Saudi-led intervention in Bahrain assisted the defeat of the uprising in the country, and especially the descent of other uprisings into brutal civil wars in Syria, Libya and Yemen, with acute humanitarian crises, there are: In April 2019, amidst an offensive to take Libya's capital city. of Tripoli by military leader

Khalifa Haftar Khalifa Haftar (; born 7 November 1943) is a Libyan-American politician, military officer, and the commander of the Tobruk-based Libyan National Army (LNA). In 2015, he was appointed commander of the armed forces loyal to the 2014 Libyan parliam ...

, for whom U.S. President Donald Trump had voiced his support, the Syrian policy scholar Marwan Kabalan argued in an opinion piece for Al Jazeera that "counter-revolutionary forces are seeking to resurrect the military dictatorship model the Arab Spring dismantled." Kabalan contended that "regional and world powers have sponsored the return of military dictatorships to the region, with the hope that they would clean up the Arab Spring 'mess' and restore order." He also referred to Western powers' history of backing military rule in the region, and how American interests in the Middle East clashed with French and British ones. He cited the U.S.-supported coups in Syria and Egypt, but generally how, as former U.S. Secretary of State

Condoleezza Rice Condoleezza "Condi" Rice ( ; born November 14, 1954) is an American diplomat and political scientist serving since 2020 as the 8th director of Stanford University's Hoover Institution. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served ...

admitted, the United States "pursued stability at the expense of democracy... and achieved neither." Kabalan concluded: Analyst H. A. Hellyer attributes the persistence of

autocracy Autocracy is a form of government in which absolute power is held by the head of state and Head of government, government, known as an autocrat. It includes some forms of monarchy and all forms of dictatorship, while it is contrasted with demo ...

and

dictatorship A dictatorship is an autocratic form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, who hold governmental powers with few to no Limited government, limitations. Politics in a dictatorship are controlled by a dictator, ...

, as well as counter-revolution, to structures that go back to

colonialism Colonialism is the control of another territory, natural resources and people by a foreign group. Colonizers control the political and tribal power of the colonised territory. While frequently an Imperialism, imperialist project, colonialism c ...

- and also to the forms that states in the

MENA The Middle East and North Africa (MENA), also referred to as West Asia and North Africa (WANA) or South West Asia and North Africa (SWANA), is a geographic region which comprises the Middle East (also called West Asia) and North Africa together ...

region took in the postcolonial era and the social pacts established in the process. What we are seeing since 2011, Hellyer says, is a clash between those "inherited structures" and the new "demographic realities" of the populations in the region. Compromise and dialogue with the entrenched regimes, followed by elections in

and Egypt, have produced either limited change or counter-revolution. In the first quarter of 2019, protests and mass mobilisation in Sudan and Algeria succeeded in toppling the heads of state, but, as scholar and

Woodrow Wilson Center The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (WWICS) or Wilson Center is a Washington, D.C.–based think tank dedicated to research and policy discussions on global issues. Established by an act of Congress in 1968, it serves as both ...

fellow Marina Ottaway states, there is a dilemma: The demands of the genuine grassroots movements are unlikely "to be attained through a peaceful process – one without violence and the violation of the human rights of many." Ottaway points to the experiences of Algeria and Egypt; in the former, the regime annulled the results of the elections in the early 1990s, and in the latter, the military carried out a bloody repression of the Muslim Brotherhood government after the Brotherhood's own short-lived presidency was removed from office:

By country

* : 2010–2012 Algerian protests * : 2011 Bahraini uprising * : Egyptian crisis (2011–2014) * : 2011 Iraqi protests and 2012–2013 Iraqi protests * : 2011–2012 Jordanian protests * : Kuwaiti protests (2011–2012) * : 2011 Lebanese protests * : Libyan crisis (2011–present) * : 2011–2012 Moroccan protests * : 2011 Omani protests * : 2011-2012 Palestinian protests * : 2011-2012 Saudi Arabian protests * : 2011–2013 Sudanese protests * : Syrian revolution (2011–2024) * : Jasmine revolution (2010–2011) * : Yemeni crisis

Notes

References

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Asharq al-Awsat ''Asharq Al-Awsat'' (, meaning "The Middle East") is an Arabic international newspaper headquartered in London. A pioneer of the "off-shore" model in the Arabic press, the paper is often noted for its distinctive green-tinted pages. Although pu ...

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Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to: People * Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer * Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian * Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician a ...

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Arab News ''Arab News'' is an English-language daily newspaper published in Saudi Arabia. It is published from Riyadh. The target audiences of the paper, which is published in broadsheet format, are businesspeople, executives and diplomats. At least as ...

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The Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles both in Electronic publishing, electronic format and a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 ...

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The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

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Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse (; AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency. With 2,400 employees of 100 nationalities, AFP has an editorial presence in 260 c ...

, work=

France 24 France 24 ( in French) is a French state-owned publicly funded international news television network based in Paris. Its channels, broadcast in French, English, Arabic and Spanish, are aimed at the overseas market. Based in the Paris suburb ...

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"The Footage That Reveals the Brutal Truth About Bahrain's Crackdown"
{{webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110321010402/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/the-footage-that-reveals-the-brutal-truth-about-bahrains-crackdown-2245364.html , date=21 March 2011 . ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

''. Retrieved 15 April 2011. {{cite news, url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/27/AR2011012702081.html , title=Inspired by Tunisia and Egypt, Yemenis join in anti-government protests , newspaper=The Washington Post , date=27 January 2011 , access-date=1 February 2011 , first=Sudarsan , last=Raghavan , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430151341/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/27/AR2011012702081.html , archive-date=30 April 2011 {{cite news , url=http://www.alsumaria.tv/en/Iraq-News/1-60907-.html , title=Iraq angered protesters call for Maliki resignation , work= Al Sumaria , date=26 February 2011 , access-date=27 February 2011 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110925071202/http://www.alsumaria.tv/en/Iraq-News/1-60907-.html , archive-date=25 September 2011 {{cite news, url=http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/02/05/43000042.html , title=Iraq PM plans no re-election , work=Voice of Russia , date=5 February 2011 , access-date=27 February 2011 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111044547/http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/02/05/43000042.html , archive-date=11 January 2012 {{cite news , url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna41437551 , title=Iraqi prime minister won't run for third term , publisher=NBC News , date=5 February 2011 , access-date=3 August 2024 , archive-date=16 April 2023 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416121125/https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna41437551 , url-status=live {{cite news, url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0127/breaking26.html , title=Yemenis in anti-president protest , newspaper=The Irish Times , date=27 January 2011 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520132726/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0127/breaking26.html , archive-date=20 May 2011 {{cite news, url=https://www.reuters.com/article/jordan-government-idUSLDE7101C620110201 , title=Jordan king appoints new PM, government quits , publisher=Reuters , date=1 February 2011 , access-date=2 February 2011 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110204083047/https://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/01/jordan-government-idUSLDE7101C620110201 , archive-date=4 February 2011 {{cite news , url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/04/2012426135051510986.html , title=Jordan's prime minister resigns , publisher=Al Jazeera , access-date=28 September 2012 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120616172335/http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/04/2012426135051510986.html , archive-date=16 June 2012 {{cite news, url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-01/30/c_13712927.htm , title=Jordanians stage anti-gov't sit-in in Amman , agency=Xinhua News Agency , date=30 January 2011 , access-date=13 April 2011 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110202074731/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-01/30/c_13712927.htm , archive-date=2 February 2011 {{cite news, title=Heavy police presence blocks Bahrain protests , date=15 February 2012 , publisher=Al Jazeera , url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/02/201221415146400277.html , access-date=17 February 2012 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120807144949/http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/02/201221415146400277.html , archive-date=7 August 2012 {{cite news, title=Bahrain live blog 25 Jan 2012 , date=25 January 2012 , publisher=Al Jazeera , url=http://blogs.aljazeera.com/liveblog/bahrain-jan-25-2012-1836 , archive-url=https://archive.today/20121205042332/http://blogs.aljazeera.com/liveblog/bahrain-jan-25-2012-1836 , archive-date=5 December 2012 , access-date=17 February 2012 {{cite news, url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/jordan/8296589/King-Abdullah-II-of-Jordan-sacks-government-amid-street-protests.html , title=King Abdullah II of Jordan sacks government amid street protests , work=The Telegraph , date=1 February 2011 , location=London , first=Adrian , last=Blomfield , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120702040342/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/jordan/8296589/King-Abdullah-II-of-Jordan-sacks-government-amid-street-protests.html , archive-date=2 July 2012 {{cite news, title=King's order to benefit {{gaps, 180, 000 temporary employees , newspaper=

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, author=Marc Lynch , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120825155616/http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/01/06/obamas_arab_spring , archive-date=25 August 2012 , author-link=Marc Lynch {{cite news, url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12260465, title=Man dies after setting himself on fire in Saudi Arabia , publisher=BBC News , date=23 January 2011, access-date=29 January 2011 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110125223439/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12260465 , archive-date=25 January 2011 , url-status=live {{cite news, url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-morocco-protests-idUKTRE74L2YU20110522 , publisher=Reuters UK , title=Many wounded as Moroccan police beat protestors , date=23 May 2011 , access-date=12 June 2011 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120110041056/http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/05/22/uk-morocco-protests-idUKTRE74L2YU20110522 , archive-date=10 January 2012 {{cite news , url=http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/08/201282972539153865.html , date=29 August 2012 , title=The 'Arab Spring' and other American seasons , publisher=

, first=Joseph , last=Massad , author-link=Joseph Massad , access-date=29 August 2012 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120830211354/http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/08/201282972539153865.html , archive-date=30 August 2012 {{cite web, url=http://dekhnstan.wordpress.com/2011/01/23/mauritanias-bouazizi-died-today/ , title=Mauritania's Bouazizi died today , publisher=Dekhnstan.wordpress.com , date=23 January 2011 , access-date=28 October 2011 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110830065407/http://dekhnstan.wordpress.com/2011/01/23/mauritanias-bouazizi-died-today/ , archive-date=30 August 2011 Moroccan king to make reforms with constitutional body
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{{webarchive , url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110223064913/http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/middleeast/news/article_1621209.php/Bahrain-s-king-to-free-political-prisoners-as-protests-continue , date=23 February 2011 , Monsters and Critics, 22 February 2011. {{cite news, last=Bakri , first=Nada , author-link=Nada Bakri , url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/world/middleeast/28yemen.html , title=Thousands in Yemen Protest Against the Government , newspaper=

, date=27 January 2011 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161109131203/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/world/middleeast/28yemen.html , archive-date=9 November 2016 {{cite web , url=http://www.neurope.eu/article/nato-announces-withdrawal-all-troops-libya , title=NATO Withdrawal from Libya , work=New Europe , date=31 October 2011 , access-date=31 October 2011 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120106165618/http://www.neurope.eu/article/nato-announces-withdrawal-all-troops-libya , archive-date=6 January 2012 {{cite news, url=http://www.afrol.com/articles/37450, work=Afrol, date=27 February 2011, access-date=12 June 2011, title=New clashes in occupied Western Sahara , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707093158/http://www.afrol.com/articles/37450 , archive-date=7 July 2011 , url-status=live {{cite news, title=New president: Egypt turns page to new era , url=https://edition.cnn.com/2012/06/30/world/africa/egypt-morsi/index.html , publisher=CNN , access-date=30 June 2012 , date=30 June 2012 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120630080543/http://edition.cnn.com/2012/06/30/world/africa/egypt-morsi/index.html , archive-date=30 June 2012 {{cite news, last=Kirkpatrick , first=Patrick D. , title=New Turmoil in Egypt Greets Mixed Verdict for Mubarak , url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/03/world/middleeast/egypt-hosni-mubarak-life-sentence-prison.html , access-date=2 June 2012 , newspaper=The New York Times , date=2 June 2012 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120605014553/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/03/world/middleeast/egypt-hosni-mubarak-life-sentence-prison.html , archive-date=5 June 2012 {{cite news, last=Krause , first=Flavia , url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-25/egyptian-policeman-two-people-killed-in-cairo-protest-inspired-by-tunisia.html , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110129111442/http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-25/egyptian-policeman-two-people-killed-in-cairo-protest-inspired-by-tunisia.html , archive-date=29 January 2011 , title=Obama Poised to Step Up Criticism of Mubarak If Crackdown Is Intensified , work=Bloomberg , date=27 January 2011 , access-date=28 October 2011 {{cite news, url=https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ie73NUpvWHkuIAFKwLnqmyl0paLw?docId=CNG.29a2ebdaf178435a5e82e857cf4725de.ac1 , title=Oman boosts student benefits , agency=Agence France-Presse , access-date=27 February 2011 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111222221336/https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ie73NUpvWHkuIAFKwLnqmyl0paLw?docId=CNG.29a2ebdaf178435a5e82e857cf4725de.ac1 , archive-date=22 December 2011 {{cite news , url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2011/02/201122620711831600.html , title=Oman shuffles cabinet amid protests , publisher=Al Jazeera , access-date=27 February 2011 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111223203257/http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2011/02/201122620711831600.html , archive-date=23 December 2011 {{cite news , url=http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2011/February/middleeast_February780.xml§ion=middleeast , title=Oman takes measures to address public grievances , work=Khaleej Times , date=27 February 2011 , access-date=6 March 2011 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608232828/http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data%2Fmiddleeast%2F2011%2FFebruary%2Fmiddleeast_February780.xml§ion=middleeast , archive-date=8 June 2011 {{cite news, title=Saudis vote in municipal elections, results on Sunday , date=30 September 2011 , work= Oman Observer , agency=

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family from Algeria , date=29 August 2011 , publisher=Reuters , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110830061940/https://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/29/us-libya-algeria-gaddafis-idUSTRE77S47020110829 , archive-date=30 August 2011 {{cite news , url=https://vancouversun.com/story_print.html?id=5061000&sponsor=, work=The Vancouver Sun , date=6 July 2011 , access-date=20 July 2011 , title=Rebels wage a secret night-time war on the streets of Tripoli , first=Adrian , last=Blomfield , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206120930/http://www.vancouversun.com/story_print.html?id=5061000&sponsor=, archive-date=6 February 2012 "Mass exodus" from Western Sahara cities
{{webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101023140842/http://www.afrol.com/articles/36808 , date=23 October 2010 . Afrol News, 21 October 2010. {{cite news, url=https://apnews.com/article/f91b86df98c34fb3abedc3d2e8accbcf , title=Report: 338 killed during Tunisia revolution , work=Associated Press News , date=5 May 2012 {{cite news, url=http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/07/2011718674562571.html , publisher=Al Jazeera , date=18 July 2011 , access-date=20 July 2011 , title=Report: Doctors targeted in Bahrain , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718134321/http://english.aljazeera.net//news/middleeast/2011/07/2011718674562571.html , archive-date=18 July 2011 {{cite news, title=Bahrain delays U.N. investigator, limits rights group visits , url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-bahrain-protests-un-idUKTRE8201VU20120301 , publisher=Reuters , date=1 March 2012 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120515145706/http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/03/01/uk-bahrain-protests-un-idUKTRE8201VU20120301 , archive-date=15 May 2012 {{cite news, title=Protester killed in Bahrain 'Day of Rage' , url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-bahrain-protests-idUKTRE71D1G520110214 , publisher=Reuters , date=14 February 2011 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218145528/http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/02/14/uk-bahrain-protests-idUKTRE71D1G520110214 , archive-date=18 February 2012 {{cite news, title=Mass pro-democracy protest rocks Bahrain , url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-bahrain-protest-idUKBRE82816T20120309 , publisher=Reuters , date=9 March 2012 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023021816/http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/03/09/uk-bahrain-protest-idUKBRE82816T20120309 , archive-date=23 October 2012 {{cite news, title=Thousands rally for reform in Bahrain , url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bahrain-idUSTRE75A19G20110611 , publisher=Reuters , date=11 June 2011 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022170504/http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/11/us-bahrain-idUSTRE75A19G20110611 , archive-date=22 October 2012 {{cite news, title=Bahrain declares state of emergency after unrest , url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-bahrain-emergency-idUKTRE72E3E620110315 , publisher=Reuters , date=15 March 2011 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023021911/http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/03/15/us-bahrain-emergency-idUKTRE72E3E620110315 , archive-date=23 October 2012 {{cite news, url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-mubarak-idUSTRE74N3LG20110524, title=Mubarak to be tried for murder of protesters, publisher=Reuters , date=24 May 2011, access-date=24 May 2011 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110531105100/https://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/24/us-egypt-mubarak-idUSTRE74N3LG20110524 , archive-date=31 May 2011 , url-status=live {{cite news, title=Mauritania police crush protest – doctors announce strike , publisher=

Radio Netherlands Worldwide Radio Netherlands (RNW; ) was a public radio and television network based in Hilversum, producing and transmitting programmes for international audiences outside the Netherlands from 1947 to 2012. Its services in Dutch ended on 11 May 2012. Eng ...

, url=http://www.rnw.nl/africa/article/mauritania-police-crush-protest-doctors-announce-strike , date=9 March 2011 , access-date=23 March 2011 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121205012606/http://www.rnw.nl/africa/article/mauritania-police-crush-protest-doctors-announce-strike , archive-date=5 December 2012 {{cite news, url=http://onthenews.org/saharawi-protests-violence-and-blackmail-moroccan/ , agency=On the News , date=20 May 2011 , access-date=6 June 2011 , title=Saharawi protests, violence and blackmail Moroccan , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727144609/http://onthenews.org/saharawi-protests-violence-and-blackmail-moroccan/ , archive-date=27 July 2011 {{cite news, url=http://www.thenational.ae/news/worldwide/middle-east/saleh-appears-on-yemen-tv-bandaged-and-burnt , work=The National , date=8 July 2011 , access-date=20 July 2011 , title=Saleh appears on Yemen TV, bandaged and burnt , first=Mohammed , last=Al Qadhi , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110709211229/http://www.thenational.ae/news/worldwide/middle-east/saleh-appears-on-yemen-tv-bandaged-and-burnt , archive-date=9 July 2011 {{cite news , author=Salem , author2=Fadi , author3=Mourtada , title=Civil Movements: The Impact of Facebook and Twitter , date=6 June 2011 , url=http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/facebook-and-twitter-key-to-arab-spring-uprisings-report , publisher=Dubai School of Government , access-date=16 May 2012 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120516161234/http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/facebook-and-twitter-key-to-arab-spring-uprisings-report , archive-date=16 May 2012 {{clarify, reason=!url=and !archive-url=point to a different source from that identified by the rest of the citation;, date=May 2023 {{cite news, title=Saudi King Boosts Spending, Returns to Country , publisher=

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is an international broadcasting network funded by the federal government of the United States that by law has editorial independence from the government. It is the largest and oldest of the American internation ...

, date=23 February 2011 , url=https://www.voanews.com/a/saudi-king-boosts-spending-returns-to-country-116739074/172738.html , access-date=23 February 2011 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110309231441/http://www.voanews.com/english/news/middle-east/Saudi-King-Boosts-Spending-Returns-to-Country-116739074.html , archive-date=9 March 2011 {{cite news, title=الاف السوريين يثورون في قلب دمشق و المحافظات مطالبين بالحرية , work=Sawt Beirut , url=http://www.sawtbeirut.com/news-in-arabic/world-now/16474-syria-revolution-2011-march-15.html , access-date=16 March 2011 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110319034725/http://www.sawtbeirut.com/news-in-arabic/world-now/16474-syria-revolution-2011-march-15.html , archive-date=19 March 2011 {{cite news, title=معلومات عن سقوط شهداء في تظاهرات الثلاثاء في سوريا , work=Sawt Beirut , url=http://sawtbeirut.com/news-in-arabic/world-now/16483-2011-03-16-18-33-05.html , access-date=16 March 2011 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110516012947/http://sawtbeirut.com/news-in-arabic/world-now/16483-2011-03-16-18-33-05.html , archive-date=16 May 2011

Press release A press release (also known as a media release) is an official statement delivered to members of the news media for the purpose of providing new information, creating an official statement, or making an announcement directed for public releas ...

(30 March 2011)
"USA Emphatic Support to Saudi Arabia"
{{webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110404215206/http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1103/S01049/usa-emphatic-support-to-saudi-arabia.htm , date=4 April 2011 . Zayd Alisa (via

Scoop Scoop, Scoops or The Scoop may refer to: Artefacts * Scoop (machine part), a component of machinery to carry things * Scoop (tool), a shovel-like tool, particularly one deep and curved, used in digging * Scoop (theater), a type of wide area l ...

). Retrieved 15 April 2011. {{cite news, title=Sharm el-Sheikh resort in world spotlight as Egypt's Mubarak flees Cairo , url=http://travel.usatoday.com/destinations/dispatches/post/2011/02/sharm-el-sheikh-resort--in-world-spotlight-as-egypts-mubarak-flees-cairo/142665/1 , access-date=11 February 2011 , work=USA Today , date=11 February 2011 , first=Laura , last=Bly , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110211191733/http://travel.usatoday.com/destinations/dispatches/post/2011/02/sharm-el-sheikh-resort--in-world-spotlight-as-egypts-mubarak-flees-cairo/142665/1 , archive-date=11 February 2011 {{cite news, url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/22/world/africa/22sidi.html , title=Slap to a Man's Pride Set Off Tumult in Tunisia , newspaper=

, date=22 January 2011 , access-date=1 February 2011 , first=Kareem , last=Fahim , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120521072140/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/22/world/africa/22sidi.html , archive-date=21 May 2012 {{cite news, first=Uriel , last=Abulof , url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/uriel-abulof/what-is-the-arab-third-es_b_832628.html , title=What Is the Arab Third Estate? , work=The Huffington Post , date=10 March 2011 , access-date=1 May 2011 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607064239/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/uriel-abulof/what-is-the-arab-third-es_b_832628.html , archive-date=7 June 2011 {{cite news, last=Schillinger , first=Raymond , title=Social Media and the Arab Spring: What Have We Learned? , url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/raymond-schillinger/arab-spring-social-media_b_970165.html , work=The Huffington Post , access-date=21 May 2012 , date=20 September 2011 , url-status=live , 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date=31 May 2011 , access-date=12 June 2011 , title=Syria's crackdown , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111026093919/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2011/0531/1224298143757.html , archive-date=26 October 2011 {{cite news, url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/syrias-ramadan-massacre/2011/08/01/gIQAZHCKoI_story.html , newspaper=The Washington Post , first=Erik , last=Wemple , date=2 August 2011 , title=Syria's Ramadan massacre , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111020111633/http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/syrias-ramadan-massacre/2011/08/01/gIQAZHCKoI_story.html , archive-date=20 October 2011 {{cite news, url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12679902 , title=Syrian activist Haitham al-Maleh freed under amnesty , publisher=BBC News , date=8 March 2011, access-date=8 March 2011 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110311052247/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12679902 , archive-date=11 March 2011 , url-status=live {{cite news, url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2011/04/2011428182333234775.html , title=Syrian army units 'clash over crackdown' , publisher=Al Jazeera , date=28 April 2011 , access-date=28 April 2011 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110503052426/http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2011/04/2011428182333234775.html , archive-date=3 May 2011 {{cite news, title=Syrian cabinet resigns amid unrest , date=29 March 2011 , url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2011/03/201132975114399138.html , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110407090350/http://aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2011/03/201132975114399138.html , archive-date=7 April 2011 {{cite news, title=Bahrain authorities destroy Pearl Roundabout , url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/bahrain/8390773/Bahrain-authorities-destroy-Pearl-Roundabout.html , work=The Daily Telegraph , date=18 March 2011 , location=London , first=Ben , last=Farmer , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110322053958/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/bahrain/8390773/Bahrain-authorities-destroy-Pearl-Roundabout.html , archive-date=22 March 2011 {{cite news , url=http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/spotlight/2011/02/2011222121213770475.html , title=The Arab awakening – Spotlight , publisher=Al Jazeera English , access-date=5 July 2012 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120704163242/http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/spotlight/2011/02/2011222121213770475.html , archive-date=4 July 2012 {{cite news, url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/newsbook/2011/03/protests_middle_east , newspaper=The Economist , title=The Arab awakening reaches Syria , date=21 March 2011 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110422100232/https://www.economist.com/blogs/newsbook/2011/03/protests_middle_east , archive-date=22 April 2011 {{cite news, url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/mar/06/arab-spring-european-reply-labour , title=The Arab spring requires a defiantly European reply , work=The Guardian , location=UK , date=8 March 2011 , access-date=9 March 2011 , first=Jackie , last=Ashley , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921205548/http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/mar/06/arab-spring-european-reply-labour , archive-date=21 September 2013 {{cite book , author=Marc Lynch , title=The Arab Uprising: The Unfinished Revolutions of the New Middle East , publisher=PublicAffairs , location=New York , year=2012 , pag
9
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, url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161109131203/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/world/middleeast/28yemen.html , archive-date=9 November 2016 {{cite news, url=http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/global-filipino/world/01/27/11/thousands-yemenis-call-president-quit , title=Thousands of Yemenis call on president to quit , publisher=ABS-CBN News , date=27 January 2011 , agency=Agence France-Presse , access-date=14 January 2012 , first=Hammoud , last=Mounassar , location=Sanaa , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110206212614/http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/global-filipino/world/01/27/11/thousands-yemenis-call-president-quit , archive-date=6 February 2011 {{cite news, date=28 January 2011 , access-date=12 June 2011 , url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2011/01/2011128125157509196.html , publisher=Al Jazeera , title=Thousands protest in Jordan , url-status=live , 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archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111231153601/http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/111021/tunisia-vote-tunisia-election-campaign-arab-spring-test , archive-date=31 December 2011 {{cite news, url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12209621 , title=Tunisia forms national unity government amid unrest , publisher=BBC News , date=17 January 2011 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110119014933/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12209621 , archive-date=19 January 2011 {{cite news, last=Spencer , first=Richard , url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/tunisia/8258077/Tunisia-riots-US-warns-Middle-East-to-reform-or-be-overthrown.html , archive-url=https://archive.today/20120524164735/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/tunisia/8258077/Tunisia-riots-US-warns-Middle-East-to-reform-or-be-overthrown.html , archive-date=24 May 2012 , title=Tunisia riots: Reform or be overthrown, US tells Arab states amid fresh riots , work=The Daily Telegraph , date=13 January 2011, access-date=14 January 2011 , location=London {{cite news, url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jan/19/tunisia-political-prisoners , title=Tunisia set to release political prisoners , work=The Guardian , date=19 January 2011 , location=London , first=Peter , last=Beaumont , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313071731/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jan/19/tunisia-political-prisoners , archive-date=13 March 2016 {{cite news, url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12120228 , publisher=BBC News , title=Tunisia suicide protester Mohammed Bouazizi dies , date=5 January 2011 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110124022249/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12120228 , archive-date=24 January 2011 {{cite news, title=Tunisia's Ben Ali flees amid unrest , url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2011/01/20111153616298850.html , publisher=Al Jazeera , date=15 January 2011 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120319181444/http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2011/01/20111153616298850.html , archive-date=19 March 2012 {{cite news , last=Ryan , first=Yasmine , url=http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2011/01/20111614145839362.html , title=Tunisia's bitter cyberwar , publisher=Al Jazeera , access-date=14 January 2011 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111110172403/http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2011/01/20111614145839362.html , archive-date=10 November 2011 {{cite news, url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=NewsLibrary&p_multi=BBAB&d_place=BBAB&p_theme=newslibrary2&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=122601958BA022A0&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM , title=Tunisian government faces growing dissent in mining region , publisher=NewsLibrary.com , date=4 August 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archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170226020144/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/feb/27/tunisian-prime-minister-ghannouchi-resigns , archive-date=26 February 2017 {{cite web, url=http://www1.albawaba.com/main-headlines/unrest-continues-syria , title=Unrest continues in Syria , work=Al Bawaba , date=23 March 2011 , access-date=24 March 2011 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110531145641/http://www1.albawaba.com/main-headlines/unrest-continues-syria , archive-date=31 May 2011 {{cite news, url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2011/01/201112314714887766.html , title=Yemenis urge leader's exit , publisher=Al Jazeera , date=23 January 2011 , access-date=14 February 2011 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111227093314/http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2011/01/201112314714887766.html , archive-date=27 December 2011 {{cite news, url=http://www.theage.com.au/world/warning-egypt-could-follow-tunisia-20110119-19wly.html , title=Warning Egypt could follow Tunisia , first=Jack , last=Shenker , location=Melbourne , work=The Age , date=20 January 2011 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110201020658/http://www.theage.com.au/world/warning-egypt-could-follow-tunisia-20110119-19wly.html , archive-date=1 February 2011 Applying pressure on Bahrain
{{webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202174907/http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/applying-pressure-on-bahrain/2011/05/09/AF3sV6bG_story.html , date=2 February 2014 , 9 May 2011, Retrieved 9 May 2011 {{cite web, last=Miller , first=Aaron , title=What Is Palestine's Next Move in the New Middle East? , url=http://www.momentmag.com/moment/issues/2011/06/IsraelsNextMove.html , work= Moment, access-date=5 June 2011 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110614193015/http://www.momentmag.com/moment/issues/2011/06/IsraelsNextMove.html , archive-date=14 June 2011 {{cite web, last=Keene , first=Jamie , url=https://www.theverge.com/2012/2/10/2788979/samuel-aranda-world-press-photo-award , title=World Press Photo presents Samuel Aranda with photo of the year award , website=The Verge , date=10 February 2012 , access-date=19 June 2012 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120413190707/http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/10/2788979/samuel-aranda-world-press-photo-award , archive-date=13 April 2012 Egypt's Mubarak Steps Down; Military Takes Over
{{webarchive , url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110215082342/http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110211-713327.html , date=15 February 2011 , The Wall Street Journal, 11 February 2011. {{registration required, date=April 2011}

{{webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110827095806/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3f6c2574-54b6-11e0-b1ed-00144feab49a.html , date=27 August 2011 . ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

''. 22 March 2011. Retrieved 9 April 2011. {{cite news, last=McCann , first=Colum , title=Year in Pictures: Arab Spring , url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/25/opinion/sunday/arab-spring.html , newspaper=

, access-date=16 May 2012 , date=23 December 2011 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121115235952/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/25/opinion/sunday/arab-spring.html , archive-date=15 November 2012 {{cite news , first=Jon, last=Leyne , url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13661373 , publisher=BBC News , date=5 June 2011 , access-date =5 June 2011 , title=Yemen crisis: One-way ticket for Saleh? , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606112054/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13661373 , archive-date=6 June 2011 , url-status=live {{cite news, url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/world/middleeast/yemens-parliament-approves-immunity-for-president-saleh.html , title=Yemen Legislators Approve Immunity for the President , newspaper=

, date=21 January 2012 , access-date=21 January 2012 , first=Laura , last=Kasinof , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120122004822/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/world/middleeast/yemens-parliament-approves-immunity-for-president-saleh.html , archive-date=22 January 2012 {{cite news, url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15030899 , publisher=BBC News , date=23 September 2011 , access-date=6 December 2011 , title=Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh returns to Sanaa , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111212125835/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15030899 , archive-date=12 December 2011 {{cite news, url=http://articles.cnn.com/2011-09-12/world/yemen.saleh.power.transfer_1_mohammed-qahtan-saleh-opposition-parties , archive-url=https://archive.today/20130110210405/http://articles.cnn.com/2011-09-12/world/yemen.saleh.power.transfer_1_mohammed-qahtan-saleh-opposition-parties , archive-date=10 January 2013 , work=CNN World , date=12 September 2011 , access-date=6 December 2011 , title=Yemen president authorizes deputy to negotiate power transfer {{cite news , url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-02/02/c_13716611.htm , title=Yemen reinforces forces around capital amid fear of protest escalation , work=Xinhua News , date=2 February 2011 , access-date=2 February 2011 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110206052246/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-02/02/c_13716611.htm , archive-date=6 February 2011 {{cite news, last=Lubin, first=Gus, url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2011/02/yemen-protests-revived-in-friday-of-rage.html, title=YEMEN: Protests revived in 'Friday of Rage', work=Los Angeles Times , date=11 February 2011, access-date=11 February 2011 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110211192407/http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2011/02/yemen-protests-revived-in-friday-of-rage.html , archive-date=11 February 2011 , url-status=live {{cite news, last=Hatem , first=Mohammed , url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-23/yemen-s-saleh-agrees-to-step-down-in-exchange-for-immunity-official-says.html , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110813161300/http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-23/yemen-s-saleh-agrees-to-step-down-in-exchange-for-immunity-official-says.html , archive-date=13 August 2011 , title=Yemen's Saleh Agrees to Step Down in Exchange for Immunity, Official Says , publisher=Bloomberg , date=23 April 2011 , access-date=28 October 2011 {{cite news, url=https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iqhKKOqo6XDujeTI_yaD4B0CcyVA?docId=CNG.12cc0199ecc6457c2d2a25874218f73d.691 , agency=Agence France-Presse , title=Yemen's Saleh formally steps down after 33 years , date=27 February 2012 , access-date=19 June 2012 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120525115035/https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iqhKKOqo6XDujeTI_yaD4B0CcyVA?docId=CNG.12cc0199ecc6457c2d2a25874218f73d.691 , archive-date=25 May 2012 {{cite news, url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/yemeni-government-supporters-attack-protesters-injuring-hundreds/2011/03/16/AB56R9g_story.html , newspaper=The Washington Post , date=16 March 2011 , access-date=12 June 2011 , title=Yemeni government supporters attack protesters, injuring hundreds , first=Hakim , last=Almasmari , location=Sanaa , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305234013/http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/yemeni-government-supporters-attack-protesters-injuring-hundreds/2011/03/16/AB56R9g_story.html , archive-date=5 March 2012 {{cite news, url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15865253 , publisher=BBC News , date=23 November 2011 , access-date=6 December 2011 , title=Yemeni President Saleh signs deal on ceding power , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111205130243/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15865253 , archive-date=5 December 2011 {{cite news, last=Sudam , first=Mohamed , url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-president-idUSTRE7111WC20110202 , title=Yemeni president signals he won't stay beyond 2013 , publisher=Reuters , date=2 February 2011 , access-date=2 February 2011 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110203084622/https://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/02/us-yemen-president-idUSTRE7111WC20110202 , archive-date=3 February 2011 {{cite news , url=https://www.france24.com/en/20130813-abbas-caretaker-pm-hamdallah-stay-form-government-prime-minister , title=Abbas asks caretaker premier Hamdallah to remain , publisher=France 24, date=13 August 2013 , access-date=19 February 2014

External links

{{Sister project links, auto=1, wikt=Arab Spring * {{usurped,
Arab Spring
} (archived 9 February 2015)
Right to Nonviolence
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120214093933/http://www.righttononviolence.org/ , date=14 February 2012
United States Institute of Peace

Civil Movements: The Impact of Facebook and Twitter

Middle East Constitutional Forum

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Ongoing coverage

A (Working) Academic Arab Spring Reading List
collected ''

peer-reviewed Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

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Constitutional Transitions Timeline
Collected legal and political changes and short analysis a
Middle East Constitutional Forum

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{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130122225731/http://www.carnegieendowment.org/topic/?fa=list&id=839 , date=22 January 2013 collected news and commentary at

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Middle East protests
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Unrest in the Arab World
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CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

'' * {{Guardiantopic, world/arab-and-middle-east-protests, Arab and Middle East unrest * {{Guardiantopic, world/interactive/2011/mar/22/middle-east-protest-interactive-timeline, Arab and Middle East unrest – interactive timeline * {{usurped,
Rage on the Streets
} collected news and commentary at '' Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review'' (archived 8 April 2011)
Middle East Unrest
collected news and commentary at '' The National'' * {{usurped,
Middle East Uprisings
} collected news and commentary at ''Showdown in the Middle East'' website (archived 26 September 2011) * {{Spiegeltopic, the_arab_revolution/, The Arab Revolution * {{usurped,

} collected news and commentary at ''Time'' (archived 3 February 2011)

Other

* {{cite journal, last1=Hassan, first1=Oz, title=Undermining the transatlantic democracy agenda? The Arab Spring and Saudi Arabia's counteracting democracy strategy, journal=Democratization, volume=22, issue=3, year=2015, pages=479–495, issn=1351-0347, doi=10.1080/13510347.2014.981161, doi-access=free
The Arab Spring—One Year Later: The CenSEI Report analyzes how 2011's clamor for democratic reform met 2012's need to sustain its momentum.
''The CenSEI Report'', 13 February 2012
Interface journal special issue on the Arab Spring
'' Interface: A Journal for and about Social Movements'', May 2012 * {{cite news , url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/02/daily_chart_arab_unrest_index , title=The Shoe Thrower's index (An index of unrest in the Arab world) , newspaper=The Economist , date=9 February 2011 * {{cite news , url=http://en.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php/_c-478/_nr-1164/i.html , title=Interview with Tariq Ramadan: 'We Need to Get a Better Sense of the Trends within Islamism' , publisher= Qantara.de , date=2 February 2011 , access-date=4 March 2011 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110226115107/http://en.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php/_c-478/_nr-1164/i.html , archive-date=26 February 2011
Sadek J. Al Azm, "The Arab Spring: Why Exactly at this Time?" Reason Papers 33 (Fall 2011)
* {{usurped,
Tracking the wave of protests with statistics
}, ''RevolutionTrends.org'' (archived 15 May 2014)
Arab uprisings: 10 key moments
from

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowden (10 December 2012) *
How to Start a Revolution
', documentary directed by Ruaridh Arrow {{Arab Spring, state=expanded {{Revwave {{Post-Cold War Asian conflicts {{Post-Cold War African conflicts {{Authority control 2010 in Africa 2010 in Asia 2010 protests 2010s coups d'état and coup attempts 2011 in Africa 2011 in Asia 2011 protests 2012 in Africa 2012 in Asia 2012 protests 21st-century revolutions Democratization History of North Africa Spring Internet censorship Intifadas Protest marches Revolutionary waves

Etymology

Causes

Pressures from within

Social media

Timeline

History

Events leading up to the Arab Spring

Protests and uprisings

Summary of conflicts by country

Major events

Bahrain (2011)

Saudi Arabia

Egypt (2011)

Libya (2011)

Syria (2011-2024)

Tunisia (2010–2011)

United Arab Emirates (2011)

Yemen (2011)

Outcomes

Arab Winter

Long-term aftermath

Sectarianism and collapse of state systems

Second Arab Spring (Arab Summer)

Arab Spring: Revolution or reform

Social justice

Counter-revolution and civil wars

By country

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links

Live blogs

Ongoing coverage

Other