Has the Arab Spring Met the Demands in North Africa - Thesis Proposal Example

Has the Arab Spring met the popular demands in North Africa? A Case Study as Tunisia Negotiates an inclusive governance Contents Contents 2 3 Introduction 4 Thesis Statement 6 Proposed methodology or approach 7 Preliminary findings and discussions 8 Work plan including time table 11 Implications of research 13 References 14 Abstract The Arab Spring is a wave of social protests and demonstration against the repressing forces of government regime that started first in the Arab world in 2012 and then spread to the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region. The continuous oppression in the North African states of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya over the last three decades under the dictatorship of the likes of Muammar Gaddafi led to social unrest. The Arab Spring was the outcome of the social unrest in the form of a wave of protests that brought about changes in the political and economic structure of Tunisia. Inspired by the social uprising in Tunisia, the Arab Spring caused similar impacts in other North African states like Egypt, Libya, etc. The extent to which the governments of the North African states have been able to meet the expectations of the Arab Spring and the demands of the people can be found in this thesis work. The thesis work has been conducted with the help of analysis on the secondary data and information on the North African states and the occurrence of Arab Spring that brought about the changes in those countries as desired by the common masses. Introduction The Arab Spring is a wave of mass protests and demonstrations that began in the Arab world for the time in the year of 2010. The wave of protests were not only limited to the Arab countries but also spread to the other parts and majorly in the North Africa. Tunisia which is the smallest country in North Africa and is a member of the Arab League has been in the forefront of the news with Arab Spring spreading to the country and other parts of North Africa. The uprising of the Arab Spring in North African States and Tunisia in particular has been mainly due to the discontent of the people in the region on the failure of their governments to establish an inclusive government that upholds the freedom and rights of the people (Perkins, 2013, p.57). The differential treatment of the North African governments on the different sections of the society and the lack of legitimacy of the Muslim brotherhood rulers in providing the basic infrastructure for the growth of the countries have led to the uprising of the people and opposition leaders against the ruling authorities. The North African government, namely Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, etc were unable to meet the rising demands of the people. There were lack of infrastructure for education, health, livelihood and investments. The availability of jobs in the countries was much below the demand for employments. Thus the income level of the people suffered due to the inefficient policy implementations of the North African Governments. The rising cost of goods also fuelled the dissatisfaction as there was hardly any source of income (Inbar, 2013, p.41). The growth of industries suffered due to the ineffective policies of the governments. Thus the ruling class and a small segment of the people in North Africa enjoyed the privileges with the remaining people struggling to meet their means of livelihood. This led to a wave of protests and demonstrations that were violent in nature and was drives by the masses. These events of violence as a form of wave of protests aimed at uprooting the government regimes have been termed as the Arab Spring in the North African states with Tunisia being at the forefront. Thesis Statement The thesis statement for this paper is, “The demands of Arab Spring in Tunisia and other North African countries and the abilities of the North African governments to negotiate with the demands.” The thesis statement has been designed on the background of the activities and policies of the North African governments over the last three decades that has caused a situation of social unrest and discontent among the masses. The thesis statement argues the role of the Arab Spring in establishing the demands of the people and bringing about forces of change of the government structure and policies. The case of Tunisia has been the pioneer on the context of Arab Spring. The social uprising and the fall of the government regime in the face of social protests and demonstration of the masses have spread to the other North African states like Egypt, Libya, etc. which also witnessed similar repressing regimes (Danahar, 2013, p.43). The role of the governments in being able to meet the aspirations of the Arab Spring could be reviewed with the purview of this thesis statement. The steps taken by the government to meet the demand of the Arab Spring which represents the demands of the people to get a healthy infrastructure, corporate governance, education, livelihood and industry is extremely important to promote a system of inclusive national growth (Wheeler, Clammer and Filou, 2010, p.21). The extent to which these aspirations have been fulfilled by Tunisia and the other North African governments could be reviewed as a part of this thesis statement. Proposed methodology or approach The proposed approach or methodology in order to conduct the research has been explained as follows. The research process has been planned for accomplishment with the help of secondary research methodology. The secondary research methodology has been chosen by taking into account the expectations from the thesis statement and the availability of resources present to undertake the thesis work. In order to understand the specific terminologies like Arab Spring, the reasons behind the formation of Arab Spring, the demands of the Arab Spring and its relation with the North African States and the Middle East (MENA) region, a wide range of data and information on the history, political regime, the economic policies, social infrastructure and growth, social stability, etc should be studied as an inclusive approach. This wide range of data and information pertaining to the North African states could be obtained by referring to online sources like the official state-websites, organizational websites, educational sites, etc. These are all sources of secondary data that could be collected for the thesis work. The secondary data and information collected for the thesis work could then be analysed in the context of the MENA region. The similarities and dissimilarities in the political regime of the North-African countries like Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, etc.; their policies and the expectation of the people, social and economic demands could be studied in the purview of this thesis work. The approach of the government and the consequence of neglecting the people’s demand could be analyzed as important objectives of the thesis work. The reasons behind the Arab spring and the social uprising in the North African states could be analyzed during the thesis work. The changes in the political and social structure of the countries in the period after the Arab Spring has hit the North African states could provide useful findings on the extent to which Tunisia and other North African governments have been able to meet the expectations of the Arab Spring. Preliminary findings and discussions The roots of the Arab Spring lay deep in the underlying failure of the governments in North Africa and the Arab world with Tunisia being in the forefront of the social protests and demonstrations. In Tunisia, the Arab Spring was sparked off mainly from the Jasmine Revolution that shook the presidential regime in the country (Cornell University, 2010, p.1). The growing discontent among the civil society exploded when a rural street vendor in Tunisia put himself on fire in 2011 to protest the acts of ill-treatment meted to him by the authorities. The entire civil society came down to the streets and engaged in violent protests against the authorities (Willis, 2012, p.73). The underlying discontent among the masses fuelled the protests to a great extent as the president of the Muslim brotherhood has been extremely repressive over the period of his regime. In addition to the Tunisian government’s failure to secure the education, livelihood of the people, the masses were treated with extreme oppressive acts (Laremont, 2013, p.48). The lack of an inclusive government witnessed a rapid decline in the areas of corporate governance and the growth of industries in Tunisia also suffered. All these complaints that prevailed among the masses burst out due to the suicide committed by the young street vendor against the ill treatment of the authorities. The mass protests which started in the rural hometown of the young street vendor reached the capital city of Tunis. This was followed by a brutal act by the authorities in an attempt to break down the protests (Chesshyre, 2013, p.38). Several activities, protestors and demonstrators were arrested. The role of the social media was also opposed by the authorities in order to hamper the flow of information to the outside world. It was, however, too late when the president promised to create around 3 lakhs jobs for the civilians. The civil society wanted to uproot the ruling regime and this posed death threats to the president. Ultimately, the president Zine El Abidin Ben Ali fled with his family and took shelter in Saudi Arabia. Tunisia made headlines due to the fact that the president regime of a Muslim Brotherhood have been displace for the first time due to social protest and demonstration conditions of social unrest and not due to military coup d’Etat. The social turmoil, unrest and the loss of regime of the president of Tunisia, Zine El Abidin Ben Ali in 2011 posed a serious question not only for Tunisia but for all the Muslim brotherhood states of North Africa which have faced similar acts of mass protests and demonstration against the ruling government (Manhire, 2012, p.68). This brought to light failure of the governments in being able to put an inclusive structure of corporate governance, legislation and regulatory framework for exclusive growth of the people and the nation. The efficiency of the government of Tunisia as well as other Muslim Brotherhood states of North Africa including Egypt, Libya in being able to fulfil the aspirations of the Arab Spring is an area of interest and discussion in the above context. The three decades preceding the final throw-off of the presidential regime of Tunisia in 2001 witnessed extreme condition of social injustice and lack of political vision to bring about inclusive economic growth of the country (Rand, 2013, p.92). The occurrence of high inflation rates, high unemployment, lack of freedom of speech, corruption, etc. could be considered as the underlying reasons for the revolution. The role of the Tunisian government in dealing with these challenges and aspirations of the people is an area of intense discussion. The reasons for such late promises for creation of jobs by the President of Tunisia could be explored in this case (Gumbiner, 2012, p.46). After the fall of presidential regime, the negotiations of the government in order to meet people’s aspirations by changing the cabinet ministers and eventually resignation from the Prime Minister could be reviewed as the responses of the government to people’s demands. The role of Arab Spring in leading the way to the election of Ennahda party as a result of voting by the citizens of Tunisia is a landmark in the history of the country which reflects the importance of consideration of people’s demands by the governments (UNU, 2013, p.1). Similar situations of social unrest and turmoil occurred in Egypt to protest against the 30 years of oppressive rule of the then president Hosni Mubarak. The Arab Spring ended his regime and the former president was convicted to life time prison for his failure to save the lives of the citizens during the clashes between the police and the masses (Balakrishnan, Michael, Moonesar and Rogmans, 2012, p.57). The long tenure of 30 years and the failure to meet the peoples’ demand for freedom, justice, employment and industry again form the platform of discussion on the ability of another North African government to meet the aspirations of the Arab Spring. The role of another North African State, Libya could also be reviewed as similar form of protests and demonstrations occurred in the country through Arab Spring in order to end the existing political regime and pave the way for the ne government to uphold public interests. The anti-government forces brought an end to the 42 years of rule of the oppressive ruler of Libya, Muammar Gaddafi and ultimately killing him in the process of rejuvenating the demand of the people of Libya. Work plan including time table The work plan for this thesis work including the time table has been presented below in tabular form. The thesis work has been divided into several activities, namely designing of the research question, identification of appropriate methods of research, review of empirical literature on the topic in which the thesis is being undertaken, collection of data and information required to undertake the thesis work, analysis of the available data and information, identifying limitation of the thesis work and suggesting recommendation for improvements in future. The final step is to assimilate the works under all these activities and write the entire thesis on the efficiency of the governments to negotiate with the expectations of the Arab Spring. Month October November December Activity Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 1 Week 2 Designing the research question                     Identifying appropriate research methods                     Review of Literature                     Collection of Data and Information                     Analysis of data and information                     Suggesting limitations and recommendations                     Writing the Thesis                     The time line for the thesis work has been divided with due consideration to the importance of the individual activities to be undertaken to complete the thesis work. The comparatively wider areas corresponding to each activity denotes that such activities are time consuming and a higher degree of importance is attached to those activities in order to complete the thesis work. For example, the analysis of the data and information on the activities of the political regime in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and the entire MENA region is supposed to take a much longer time in order to identify the reasons behind the Arab Spring in these countries. The analysis would also provide findings on the extent to which the government has been able to negotiate with the expectation of the Arab Spring. The changes in the structure of corporate governance and the political regime could be analysed in this thesis work. All these findings would put in the thesis work that would take a much longer time and is expected to be completed in 4 weeks. The entire thesis work is expected to be completed in two and half months. Implications of research The implications of this thesis work suggest the importance of considering the demands of the people and the society in order to obtain and an inclusive growth of the economy. The priorities of the political regimes in implementing policies aimed at upholding the interests of the people and the society could be identified with the help of the findings of this thesis work (WORLD BANK, 2012, p.47). The findings of the thesis work provided the word of caution for the authoritative government regimes all over the world and the impacts of the Arab Spring on such oppressive forces (West, 2011, p.52). The policies of the government should look to establish a demand driven growth model rather than a close economy ruled by a dictator like Gaddafi or others. The national forces should look to establish a favourable infrastructure for the growth of investments (Howard and Hussain, 2013, p.58). The word of caution for the governments on not negotiating with public demands would create an urge for economic reforms in order to create more industries, employment, low inflation rate, etc. The government would also look to restore freedom of speech and action for the common masses. References Balakrishnan, M. S., Michael, I., Moonesar, I. and Rogmans, T. 2012. Actions and Insights - Middle East North Africa: Managing in Uncertain Times. UK: Emerald Group Publishing. Chesshyre, T. 2013. A Tourist in the Arab Spring. UK: Bradt Travel Guides. Cornell University. 2010. The ‘Spark’ That Started it All. [Online]. Available at: http://guides.library.cornell.edu/content.php?pid=259276&sid=2163144. [Accessed on 24 September, 2013]. Danahar, P. 2013. The New Middle East: The World After the Arab Spring. UK: Bloomsbury Publishing. Gumbiner, D. 2012. Now That We Have Tasted Hope: Voices from the Arab Spring. USA: Byliner Inc. Howard, P. N. and Hussain, M. M. 2013. Democracys Fourth Wave?: Digital Media and the Arab Spring. UK: Oxford University Press. Inbar, E. 2013. The Arab Spring, Democracy and Security: Domestic and international ramifications. USA: Routledge. Laremont, R. 2013. Revolution, Revolt and Reform in North Africa: The Arab Spring and Beyond. USA: Routledge. Manhire, T. 2012. The Arab Spring: Rebellion, Revolution, and a New World Order. UK: Guardian Books. Perkins, K. 2013. A History of Modern Tunisia. UK: Cambridge University Press. Rand, D. H. 2013. Roots of the Arab Spring: Contested Authority and Political Change in the Middle East. USA: University of Pennsylvania Press. UNU. 2013. Aid in North Africa after the ‘Arab Spring’. [online]. Available at: http://recom.wider.unu.edu/article/aid-north-africa-after-%E2%80%98arab-spring%E2%80%99. [Accessed on 24 September, 2013]. West, J. 2011. Karama!: Journeys Through the Arab Spring. UK: Quercus. Wheeler, D., Clammer, P. and Filou, E. 2010. Tunisia. USA: Lonely Planet. Willis, M. J. 2012. Politics and Power in the Maghreb: Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco from Independence to the Arab Spring. India: Hurst Publishers. WORLD BANK. 2012. Middle East and North Africa Economic Developments and Prospects, October 2012: Looking Ahead After a Year in Transition. USA: World Bank Publications. Read More