Arab Spring

This article consists of: - the summary below; a chronology of links to current reports; notes on individual national movements and data on democratic change; a catalogue of personalities notes on the civil war in Libya and on national and international reactions. It was last updated on 21 June 2012.

The term Arab Spring refers to the sequence of protest movements that started in Tunisia in December 2010. The protests there, and subsequently in other Arab countries, were intended to put an end to government oppression, corruption and incompetence. They have led to the overthrow of existing regimes and to the conduct of parliamentary elections in Tunisia, in Egypt and in Libya. The protest movement in Syria has so far been frustrated by governmental violence, and protest movements elsewhere in the Arab world have achieved little more than promises of minor reforms. By December 2011 the protest movements had nevertheless achieved a significant overall increase in democratic control.

Background: the Arab condition

Before the uprisings, the political structures of nearly all of the countries involved had been categorised as authoritarian (with Syria, Libya and Saudi Arabia ranking among the 15 least democratic countries), and the governments of five of them have been categorised as exceptionally corrupt (Morocco, Egypt, Algeria, Libya and Yemen appeared among the upper half in the ranking of Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index) . Their populations were predominately ethnically Arab with small native Berber minorities. Oil production had accounted for more than 20 percent of 2004 GDP in Libya (63), Oman and Saudi Arabia (42), Algeria (38), Yemen (32), Bahrain (28) and Syria (21). In Egypt the percentage was 12 and in Jordan, Lebanon, Morrcco and Tunis it was less than 4. . The oil-producing countries of Oman, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Libya had been among the world's more prosperous countries, but the prosperity of each of the others had been below, or well below the world average in terms of GDP per head, with Syria ranking 153rd out of a total of 228. According to the staff of the International Monetary Fund many of their economies were characterised by "stifling economic regulations, state involvement in production and employment, a private sector based on privilege rather than competitiveness, generalized price subsidies instead of targeted social protection, and an educational system that no longer delivers on the expectations of students or their potential employers". Unemployment rates were generally among the highest in the world and youth unemployment rates range from 21 percent in Lebanon to 30 percent in Tunisia. At least 19% of the population lived below the poverty line at the end of the 1990s according to an estimate based upon data from Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia and Yemen,..

Protest movements

(country links are to country-by-country accounts on the addendum subpage)

Following the successful uprising in Tunisia, there were mass protests of differing intensity in eleven other Arab countries. There were also wide differences in the responses to popular demands for change by the governments of those countries. The governments of Bahrain, Libya, Syria and Yemen responded with armed attacks on the demonstrators. The governments of Algeria, Jordan, Morocco, Oman and Saudi Arabia offered changes of governance that have so far had little effect. The governments of Egypt and Tunisia yielded promptly to demands for regime change, and regime change was forced upon Libya by the military defeat of its incumbent regime. Democratic elections have been held in Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia, but it was only in Libya and Tunisia that the elected assemblies were empowered to create new constitutions. In Egypt, the power to draft a constitution has been withdrawn from an assembly that had been elected for that purpose and is to be conferred upon a body appointed by the military junta that had succeeded the incumbent government.

Political change

There was a modest move toward democracy during the first year of the Arab Spring (according to the Economist Intelligence Unit's democracy index), with significant improvements in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, setbacks in Syria and Bahrain, and little change elsewhere. Constitutional changes that are to be introduced in Tunisia, Libya and (possibly) Egypt may result in further improvements. The establishment of democratic constitutions will depend upon the negotiation of compromises between the wishes of Islamists and secularists that will gain the approval of voters in their respective countries. A central issue is likely to be the rôle of Sharia in the countries' legal systems. Possibilities range from its use only for the purpose of voluntary mediation, to its adoption as an obligatory code of behaviour such as that imposed by the Taliban .

Reconstruction

Reconstruction is considered to be a matter of some urgency because of the danger of further uprisings if conditions do not improve. According to a May 2011 report by the staff of the International Monetary Fund, a substantial increase in economic growth rates will be needed, to achieve which the oil-importing countries will need external finance of at least $160 billion. The report recommended international support in the form of market access, credit guarantees, debt relief, and concessional lending. Provision for such support by means of the Deauville Partnership has since been agreed by the Group of Eight major industrialised countries; and an Arab Financing Facility for Infrastructure (AFFI) has been created in order to supply the necessary external finance. For Libya, with its severely-damaged economy, the immediate tasks are to restore the rule of law and avert a humanitarian tragedy, after which there is an urgent need to restart oil production.

As things stand, the economies of the MENA oil-exporting countries, (including Algeria, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen, but excluding Libya), are forecast to expand by 4.9 percent in 2012, and those of the region’s oil importers (including Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Syria, and Tunisia) are expected to grow by 2.6 percent.

The international response

The killing of civilians by Arab Spring governments drew strong protests by the United Nations and adverse reports by its agencies. The Security Council's authorisation of military intervention had a decisive influence on the civil war in Libya, but the United Nations had little influence on events elsewhere in the Arab world. Military interventionin Libya was undertaken by Nato with decisive participation by the United States, France and Britain. In what was termed a "new chapter in American diplomacy the United States undertook to promote reform across the region, and to support transitions to democracy. There was a similar undertaking by the European Union, although there were internal policy differences concerning military intervention in Libya. Opposition to military interventin was expressed by Russia and by China but both countries have given formal recognition to Libya's National Transitional Council. An undertaking to provide financial and technical support to Arab Spring transition programmes has been given by the governments of the Group of Eight major industrialised countries in the form of the Deauville Partnership.