A Prospect of Democratic Uprisings in the Arab World

Throughout December 2010 and January 2011, political protest movements and uprisings shook the Arab world. The revolts began in Tunisia on December 17, 2010, when Mohammed Bouazizi committed suicide by setting himself on fi re, in protest against unemployment and the violation of his dignity. Before a month had passed, on January 14, 2011, the Tunisian people had forced President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali out of the country. On January 25, the Egyptian uprising began; within 18 days, on February 11, President Hosni Mubarak was compelled to relinquish power. And a mere six days later, the uprising of the Libyan people erupted. In the meantime, the Yemenis had risen up demanding that President Ali Abdullah Saleh leave, and in Bahrain political protestors sought to transform the existing autocratic monarchy into a constitutional monarchy. This same period saw successive political protests in Syria, Algeria, Morocco, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, and to a lesser extent in Sudan and Oman.