Since the end of the Second World War, the Middle East has often found itself at the focal point of discussions on global governance, peace, stability and security. The reasons for this are manifold. On one hand, the Middle East constituted a major source for global energy needs, which made access to the region’s natural resources essential for global economic development. The resultant twentieth-century global geopolitical conflicts that played out in the region left the Middle East with a legacy of armaments and weapons stockpiles that continue to plague the region in the form of on-going violence.
Some authors fault the Western powers for contributing to regional instability in the Middle East. The legacies of occupation after First World War, the arbitrary drawing of borderlines, disregard for ethnic and tribal divisions, and the creation of an Israeli state all have left unresolved legacies across the region. Therefore, when Arab governments across the region are under challenge with demands for radical political transformation, these transformations are of global interest from the perspective of the maintenance of global peace and security.
This contribution will reflect upon the opportunities and risks posed by the Arab Spring for Middle East Democratization, and examine whether existing frameworks for understanding post-conflict transformation and democratization are adequate for understanding political transformations in the region. It will emphasize that when exploring the consequences of the Arab Spring and Arab transitions it is necessary to acknowledge that within the Middle East and North Africa, states have witnessed multifaceted transitions that require a wide range of policy responses. Amongst the Arab states that have been impacted by Arab Spring, some states, including Libya and Syria, experienced armed struggles resulting either in protracted armed conflict, which require a conflict resolution approach, or an armed conflict that brought about the defeat of the old regime, which means that the dual legacies of political transition and post-conflict transition must be dealt with at once.
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Zakaria, S.M. (2015). Arab Spring and Middle East Democratisation: Issues and Challenges. In: Lamont, C.K., Harst, J. van der, & Gaenssmantel, F. (Eds), Non-Western Encounters with Democratization: Imagining Democracy after the Arab Spring. New York: Routledge
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