Arab Spring 2.0? Understanding the New Wave of Protests
A new wave of protests and demonstrations has erupted across the Middle East and North Africa over the past 9 months, the Wilson Center’s Middle East Program observes. In… Read more »
Category: Middle East/North Africa
Time to recognize the ‘new faces of Iranian protest’
The Islamic Republic of Iran has come under fierce criticism amid reports that the judiciary amputated a man’s fingers for theft in the latest in a series of incidents… Read more »
Explaining the global protest wave
Sixty-three people died over the weekend in a crackdown by security forces against ongoing anti-government protests [HT: CFR], according to the semi-official Iraq High Commission for Human Rights. Iraq is… Read more »
The protests in Lebanon and Iraq are really about…..
In both Iraq and Lebanon’s unfolding protests, people’s demands for accountable governance, economic relief and an end to corruption stand at odds with identity-based sectarian solidarity, argues Bassel F. Salloukh,… Read more »
Lebanon paralyzed: Anti-corruption protesters ‘demand the fall of the regime’
Nationwide protests paralyzed Lebanon Friday as demonstrators blocked major roads in rallies against the government’s handling of a severe economic crisis and the country’s political class, CBS reports: The tension… Read more »
Tunisia’s ‘Robocop’ revolution: No easy lessons from new Arab democracy
Despite Tunisia’s vote for change, enduring miseries are driving an exodus of youth, Reuters reports. A survey by the Arab Barometer research network said a third of all Tunisians, and… Read more »
Turkish attack endangers Kurds’ resilient ‘democratic experiment’
The Turkish attack on Syria endangers a remarkable democratic experiment by the Kurds, argues James L. Gelvin, Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History at the University of California, Los Angeles. Syrian… Read more »
The ‘real anti-system candidate’ set to curb foreign funds, remake Tunisian politics
Law professor Kais Saied, an independent candidate who did little campaigning, was projected to win a landslide victory (The FT reports, HT:CFR) in the country’s presidential election. Saied, a social… Read more »
Late dictator ‘casts a shadow’ over Tunisia’s bumpy transition to democracy
Tunisia’s vote for president on Sunday is the next step in its bumpy transition to democracy after a revolution that triggered the “Arab Spring” uprisings of 2011, Reuters reports. In… Read more »
Iraq’s ‘wobbly democracy faces most dangerous moment yet’
The streets of Baghdad were silent Tuesday after a week of peaceful protests — against corruption, unemployment and lack of basic services — turned deadly. More than 100 people were… Read more »