The Transition Towards Revolution and Reform: The Arab Spring Realised?

Description

Why do some Arab Spring uprisings led to reforms and others to revolutions?The Arab Spring created attempts to transition toward democracy by the peoples of Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Jordan. This study compares the methods used by the secular leaders of Tunisia and Egypt to deal with people power demanding revolution with the methods that the monarchs of Morocco and Jordan resorted to in accommodating their people’s priority of reform. In contrast with the monarchs, the secular leaders avoided resorting to the palliative of religion to ensure the stability of their rule and were, as a result, unable to survive. After the Arab Spring, moderate Islamist parties were, at first, elected to lead the populace out of economic deprivation and corruption. But were the ideals of the Arab Spring realised? This study evaluates the relative success of the move to democracy in these four Middle Eastern countries.Key FeaturesUses four case studies: Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and JordanExplores the differences between revolution in republics and reform in monarchies in the Arab world following the Arab SpringExplains the reforms in Morocco and Jordan in an innovative way that shows how the leaders used religion to surviveTakes a creative approach to analysing revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, which can also be applied to other revolutions in the Middle East Helps you to understand the trends in the electoral victories of moderate Islamist parties in the transition toward democracy following the Arab Spring