Bachour 1

Kinan Bachour
Mr. Totino
CPT Part 2
CPW4U1
25-Nov-2018
Essay Outline
Introduction
The Arab Spring Uprisings were a series of political protests and revolutions against
multiple governments and regimes of the Middle East. The protests began in 2010, where a
street vendor in Tunisia, Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire after authorities seized his
vegetable stand for lacking a permit. This incident is said to be the spark that ignited people
throughout the Middle East to overthrow their oppressive governments. The Arab Spring
Uprisings are a product of governments’ practices for decades. The causes of the Arab Spring
were an effect of three political drivers that emerged between the early 1990s and late 2000s1.
Firstly, an increasing demand for free expression, which over time created an enlarged public
sphere, a space for public debate beyond state control. Secondly, a top-down de-
democratization effort, as authorities initiated new rule-of-law reforms in order to restrict political
rights. Thirdly a pattern of liberalizing reforms that, over time, stalled, as new leaders who had
come to power at the turn of the twenty-first century lost interest in reforming2. These three
practices are more than enough reasons for the suppressed populous to revolt.
Thesis
The Arab Spring uprisings have had a negative impact on Syria, Libya and Egypt. Syria has
dwelled in a civil war and is a playground for foreign powers to settle their scores. Libya has
retracted from all aspects of government. Tribal powers and militia groups have dismembered
the unity of the country. While in Egypt, mass protests have managed to change the form of
government twice leaving an element of uncertainty and instability in the country.

Background information
The sequence of protests began in 2010 in Tunisia, the revolutions managed to force
Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali Ben Ali to resign by January 2011.3 The next significant protests came in
Egypt where people demanded the end of the autocratic rule of Hosni Mubarak. Mubarak
eventually stood down at the end of February and power was transferred to the military.
Parliamentary elections in 2011 and 2012 saw overwhelming victories for the Islamist Muslim
Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party and Salafist al-Nour party. In June 2012, the
Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi was elected president though he was himself impeached the
next year. General Abdul Fattah al-Sisi remains the country’s leader after winning the 2014
presidential election.4 As the wave of protests began to spread, Libyans in the eastern city of

1
Miller, Laurel E., et al. Democratization in the Arab World: Prospects and Lessons from around the Globe. Rand,
2012.
2
Ibid
3
Bengtsson, Jesper. “‘The Arab Spring’-a Timeline.” The Dissident Blog, Sweden Pen, 2011,
www.dissidentblog.org/en/articles/arab-spring-timeline.
4
Al Jazeera. “Timeline: Egypt's Revolution.” GCC News | Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 14 Feb. 2011,
www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2011/01/201112515334871490.html.
 Bachour 2

Benghazi rose up after security forces opened fire at a protest. In March 2011, the UN Security
Council authorized all necessary measures to protect civilians. Nato powers then launched air
strikes on government targets,5 with military help from the West and several Arab states, rebel
forces took Tripoli after six months of fighting in which several thousand people were killed.
After four decades in power, Gaddafi went on the run and was captured and killed outside Sirte
in August 2011. As the wave of protests began to spread. Demonstrators took to the streets
demanding President Bashar al-Assad's resignation in Syria in March 2011. The opposition then
began to take up arms to defend themselves. What had begun as a peaceful demonstration
against the government soon became a brutal civil war that harmed millions of people as a
consequence. 6

Argument 1 (Syria)
Paragraph A The Uprisings led to a civil war
In March 2011, the Syrian revolution broke out demanding the change of authoritarian
rule of the Al-Assad family. The Syrian government employed violence in efforts to suppress
demonstrations, The protests had a peaceful theme in the beginning. However, through the
extensive use of police and military in order to contain the revolution.7 These tactics by the
government compelled once-peaceful demonstrators into becoming armed rebel forces by the
end of 2011. As an outcome, Syria has resided in a civil war after the Arab Spring protests
spread to the country leaving Syria in ruins.
- In the decades before the war, Syria’s population of 22 million— which is 65 to 70
percent Sunni Arab, 10 to 12 percent Sunni Kurdish, 10 to 12 percent Alawite, and 10 to
12 percent Druze, Christian, and other non-Sunni minorities.8 The vast population
displacement caused by the war has increased sectarian segregation within cities even
as they become more diverse in the aggregate due to internal displacement. It has also
led to partial sectarian cleansing in rural areas, destroying longstanding patterns of inter-
sectarian tolerance between Sunni and minority villages in conflict-affected areas.
- From early on the regime’s response had a sectarian dimension, many of the protesters
belonged to the country’s Sunni majority, while the ruling Assad family were members of
the country’s Alawite minority. This method escalated the protests to a civil war based on
ethnicity.
- Assad regime’s ferocious repression and then by the country’s descent into a brutal and
increasingly sectarian civil war.9
- Sectarian divisions hardened. Assad’s regime sought to portray the opposition as Sunni
Islamic extremists in the mould of al-Qaeda and as participants in foreign conspiracies
against Syria.
- The regime also produced propaganda stoking minorities’ fears that the predominantly
Sunni opposition would carry out violent reprisals against non-Sunni communities.

5
NATO. “NATO and Libya (Archived).” NATO, 9 Nov. 2015, www.nato.int/cps/ic/natohq/topics_71652.htm.
6
“Syria Profile - Timeline.” BBC News, BBC, 24 Apr. 2018, www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-14703995.
7
"The Loss of Humanity: The Human Rights Dimension of the Civil War in Syria," SETA Publications, Ankara, p. 23-
24.
8
Heydemann, Steven. “Tracking the Arab Spring.” Journal of Democracy, vol. 24, Oct. 2013.
9
Ibid
 Bachour 3

- The Syrian government has conducted deliberate and indiscriminate attacks against
civilians and civilian infrastructure, withheld humanitarian aid, employed starvation as a
war tactic, and forcibly displaced Syrians in contravention of international law. 10
- Chemical weapons were used against Syrians11 and harmed thousands of Civilians.12
- Non-state armed groups also committed appalling acts of violence. The groups have
launched deliberate and indiscriminate attacks against civilians, abducted, and arbitrarily
detained activists, used excessive force and interfered with humanitarian aid delivery.
ISIS has reportedly used civilians as human shields and employed landmines causing
significant harm to civilians and civilian infrastructure.13
- As the protests increased in strength and size, the regime responded with heavier force.
In some cases, this meant encircling cities or neighbourhoods that had become hubs of
protest, with tanks, artillery, and attack helicopters and cutting off utilities and
communications.14
- More than 400,000 since 2011 with 5 million seeking refuge abroad and over 6 million
displaced internally.15
Paragraph B The split of nations into pro/anti Regime and international interventions
By the summer of 2011 Syria’s regional neighbours and the global powers had both
begun to split into pro- and anti-Assad camps. An anti-Assad bloc consisting of Qatar, Turkey,
and Saudi Arabia formed in the last half of 2011. The United States, the EU, and the Arab
League soon introduced sanctions targeting senior members of the Assad regime. Meanwhile,
Syria’s long-standing allies Iran, Russia and Hezbollah continued their support. An early
indicator of the international divisions and rivalries that would prolong the conflict.
- In October 2011 when Russian and China cast the first of several vetoes blocking a UN
Security Council Resolution.16
- Israel has an unmeasurable interest in the conflict. The outcome of the conflict is
strategically important for Israel and how it may benefit its arch-enemy Iran.
- The Syrian opposition accused pro-Assad forces of having carried out the attacks.
Syrian officials denied having used chemical weapons and asserted that if such
weapons had been used, rebel forces were to blame.17

10
"Bashar Al Assad: Criminal against Humanity --Report of human rights violations committed in Syria," FIDH Report
(July 2011), www.fidh.org/ IMG/pdf/reportSyria2807eng.pdf, p. 7.
11
Gomez, Nicole, "Syria and Colombia: A Study of Intervention" (2017). Open Access Theses. 701.
https://scholarlyrepository.miami.edu/oa_theses/701
12
Edelson, Chris, and Donna G. Starr-Deelen. “Libya, Syria, ISIS, and the Case against the Energetic Executive.”
Vol. 45, no. 3.
13
Humud, Carla E., and Christopher M. Blanchard. “Armed Conflict in Syria: Overview and U.S. Response.”
Congressional Research Service, Sept. 2018.
14
Siddique, Haroon, and Brian Whitaker. “Syria Crisis: Assad Regime Oppressive, Says Morsi.” The Guardian,
Guardian News and Media, 30 Aug. 2012, www.theguardian.com/world/middle-east-live/2012/aug/30/syria-crisis-live-
bashar-al-assad.
15
“World Report 2018: Rights Trends in Syria.” Human Rights Watch, 18 Jan. 2018, www.hrw.org/world-
report/2018/country-chapters/syria.
16
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Syrian Civil War.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica,
Inc., 23 Oct. 2018, www.britannica.com/event/Syrian-Civil-War/Civil-war.
17
Ibid
 Bachour 4

- The U.S. British and French leaders denounced the use of chemical weapons
and made it known that they were considering retaliatory strikes against the
Assad regime. Russia, China, and Iran spoke out against military action18
- Assad has claimed that the rebel fighters used the chemical weapons on
civilians in an attempt to frame the Assad regime and gain international
attention.19
- Chemical weapons have intensified the interventions is Syria by powers, whether
the interventions were justified or not.
- International involvement in Syria
- The US
- International involvement by foreign powers especially the US was to counter the
threat of terrorism and punish the Syrian government for using chemical
weapons. The US has led an international coalition fighting IS with airstrikes and
special forces since 2014. It has also provided air support and weapons to
opposition groups in northern Syria, including Kurdish forces opposed to Turkey,
a US ally in NATO. Washington has also deployed about 2000 special forces to
fight alongside the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a mixed Kurdish and Arab
force in control of about 25 percent of Syrian territory.20
- Certain members of Congress have voiced concern that providing support to the
Syrian opposition could empower anti-American extremist groups, while others
worry that failure to back moderate forces could prolong fighting and bolster
extremists. It is necessary to debate the prospective rewards and consequences
of deeper U.S. involvement in Syria.21
- The Obama Administration has voiced support to the rebels in the form of “non-
lethal” military assistance, such as equipment (body armour, night vision goggles,
armoured vehicles and advanced communications systems), and support of a
flow of arms from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey to the Free Syrian Army.22
- The Trump Administration have also carried many airstrikes in retaliation of the
supposed government use of a chemical weapon. For example, the US fired 59
Tomahawk missiles at the government-controlled Shayrat airbase in central Syria
in 2017. 23
- The incidents and attacks from above clearly show that the US has interests that
are related to the downfall of the regime and that is why it is benefitting the
opposition since it is not an ally of the regime. The US is not there for the
oppressed Syrian people since weapons that are being supplied by the US to the

18
Ibid
19
Gomez, 17
20
“What Foreign Powers Want from the Syrian War.” DW.COM, Deutsche Welle, Apr. 2018, www.dw.com/en/what-
foreign-powers-want-from-the-syrian-war/a-42686306.
21
Gomez, 13
22
Nader, Hashemi. “The Arab Spring, U.S. Foreign Policy, and the Question of Democracy in the Middle East.”
Denver Journal of International Law and Policy, vol. 41, no. 1, 2012.

23
“A Look at US Involvement in Syria.” The National, The National, 14 Apr. 2018, www.thenational.ae/world/mena/a-
look-at-us-involvement-in-syria-1.721352#11.
 Bachour 5

rebels are not always being used strictly against the government since both sides
have harmed civilians continuously fueling the civil war.
- The US wants to its credibility and reputation as a great power, or to earn the
respect of its allies and adversaries. 24
- Eliminate Iran’s, Russia’s and other allies of the Syrian regime control
over Syria.
- Control Syria’s strategic geographic position.
- Eliminate ISIS threats and other Muslim extremist groups.
- Help the Syrian people and combat chemical weapons that have been
allegedly used by the regime. (WMD in Iraq)
- Saudi Arabia
- Riyadh has given money and weapons to Syrian opposition forces, including
some Islamist militant groups such as the Army of Islam. It has also played a
limited role in the US-led international coalition against ISIS. 25
- Saudi Arabia, a majority Sunni country, opposes Iran's attempts to expand its
influence in the Middle East. Riyadh wants to replace Assad with a pro-Saudi,
anti-Iranian leader.26
- Israel
- Israel has launched airstrikes against the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah and
Iranian targets in Syria, especially suspected weapons shipments and bases. It
has also backed several smaller rebel groups and Druze along the border in the
Golan Heights to create a buffer zone.27
- Israel wants to prevent Iran from developing a political and military presence on
its northern doorstep. Israel also wants to rollback Hezbollah in Syria in order to
prevent it from forming a wider northern front, alongside its main backer Iran. 28
The Assad’s Allies
- The regime has similarly exploited its strategic and diplomatic relationships with
Russia, China, and other authoritarian counterparts. These give the regime
sources of direct military and financial support as well as a set of advocates who
act on its behalf within international institutions, a role that neither Iran nor
Hezbollah is able to play.29
- Came to Assad's aid in late 2015, deploying hundreds of troops and acting as the
regime's air force. Russian officials say it targets terrorist organizations like
"Islamic State" (IS). But Russian bombers have also struck other anti-Assad
groups, turning the tide of the war in the regime's favour. As a veto-wielding UN

24
Gomez, 15
25
“A Look at US Involvement in Syria.” The National
26
Blanga, Yehuda U. “Saudi Arabia's Motives in the Syrian Civil War.” Middle East Policy Council, vol. 24, no. 4,
2017.
27
“What Foreign Powers Want from the Syrian War.” Deutsche Welle
28
The Arab Spring: Change and Resistance in the Middle East By Mark L. Haas; David W. Lesch
29
Haas, 80
 Bachour 6

Security Council member, Russia has also provided the Syrian regime diplomatic
cover.30
- Moscow wants to secure its influence in the Middle East by keeping Assad in
office and maintaining an important military air base in the province of Latakia
and a naval base in the port city of Tartus. Russian President Vladimir Putin also
appears to want to bolster Russian prestige and influence in the Middle East at
the expense of the United States, which it blames for creating instability.31
- Iran
- Iran has been one of Assad's strongest backers, supporting loyalist forces with
money, weapons and intelligence. Iran has also sent military advisors from its
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to Syria and directed fighters from Hezbollah,
which is also involved in the conflict. It has also organized paramilitary militia
from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq to fight for the Assad regime. Iran has set up
multiple bases in Syria, raising concern in Israel that Tehran plans to stay in
Syria for the long haul.32
- Iran and Syria had a mutual defence pact before the onset of the Syrian civil war
in 2011. Iran has sought to bolster the Assad regime in its fight against various
rebel factions, many of which are backed Tehran's regional rivals such as Saudi
Arabia and the Gulf States. Iran views the Syrian war as a frontline against Sunni
militant groups and as a means to expand its regional influence. The Assad
regime allows Iranian aid to flow to Hezbollah, a major regional military power
and enemy of Israel.33
- Ending Statement
- The uprisings caused by The Arab Spring has led Syria to struggle for nearly a
decade and has broken the society into sects due to the civil war that was a
result of a demonstration calling for democracy. The possibilities of
democratization receded since the uprisings started. All the while, countries
such as Iran, Israel, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the United States, and Russia, have a
significant stake in what the situation in Syria means in terms of their own
interests and objectives34
Argument 2 (Libya)
- Paragraph A (The fall of Gaddafi’s Regime)
Libya was the third country to be hit by The Arab Spring wave. The revolution started on
February 15, 2011, the first protests began in Benghazi.35 Protesters gathered in front of a
police station that used gunfire in order to suppress the demonstrators, a number of people

30
“Syrian Civil War.” Encyclopædia Britannica
31
Reuter, Christoph. “No Peace after Islamic State: Foreign Powers Compete for a Slice of Syria - Speigel online, 20
Feb. 2018, www.spiegel.de/international/world/foreign-powers-competing-for-a-slice-of-syria-a-1194259.html.
32
Mohseni, Payam, and Hassan Ahmadian. “What Iran Really Wants in Syria.” Foreign Policy, Foreign Policy, 10
May 2018, foreignpolicy.com/2018/05/10/what-iran-really-wants-in-syria/.
33
Bani Nasur, Nader Ibrahim M. “The Syria - Iran Axis: Cultural Diplomacy and International Relations in the Middle
East.” Choice Reviews Online, vol. 51, no. 08, 2014, doi:10.5860/choice.51-4703.
34
Hass, 13
35
Miller, 73
 Bachour 7

died. Two days later, on February 17 the official date of the start of the uprising,36 thousands of
demonstrators began protesting peacefully throughout eastern Libya while Security forces
responded with live ammunition, and there were some casualties. The demonstrations reached
Tripoli and seized the city. Violence in the country continued to rise, as powers such as France,
the UN Security Council, and the U.S. stepped in. On the 20th of October, Gaddafi was
captured and killed in the city of Sirte.37
- Paragraph B The Uprisings aspirations
- Build a viable government. Freedom of the press, trade unions, and political
opposition, were all banned under the law.38
- In Libya, the perception of the young and educated, whose standard of living was much
higher than that of their parents, was not only that the political elites in their country were
politically oppressive, but also that the corruption that existed meant that the country’s
wealth was concentrated at the top and that they were being prevented from sharing in
it.39
- Paragraph C Post Gaddafi Libya and foreign interventions that proved to be sterile
- As the takeover of Benghazi was unfolding, a group of people, including a former
minister of justice, Mustafa Abd al-Jalil, a human rights activist, Fathi Terbil, and a
Libyan professor teaching in the United States, Abd al-Rahim el-Keib, formed the
National Transitional Council (NTC).40 They claimed that they and not Gaddafi
represented the Libyan people. The NTC played a critical role in getting European
powers and eventually the United States to recognize it as the legitimate interim
government and in obtaining military and other forms of aid for the rebels.
- The transition to a new political system in Libya has proven to be more complex after
Gaddafi in out of the picture.
- The economy has not recovered from the fighting, and government officials have not
been paid for months. Despite repeated pledges by Libya’s transitional government to
find jobs for the rebel fighters who forced Gaddafi from power, tens of thousands of them
are operating in armed militia groups, patrolling streets and guarding buildings in Tripoli
and other cities.41
- An estimated 200,000 men are organized into as many as three hundred militias.42
- Some militia groups in the capital, Tripoli, have formed alternative committees to the
NTC, while in Cyrenaica an estimated one hundred militia groups have joined forces and
created a federation challenging the NTC.43

36
Haas, 75
37
Meltz, Danielle, "Civil Society in the Arab Spring: Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya" (2016). Undergraduate Honors
Theses. 1228. https://scholar.colorado.edu/honr_theses/1228
38
Ibid
39
Hass, 76
40
Ibid
41
Abdessadok, Zineb. “Libya Today: From Arab Spring to Failed State.” GCC News | Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 30 May
2017, www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/04/happening-libya-today-170418083223563.html.
42
Ibid
43
Stephen, Chris. “War in Libya - the Guardian Briefing.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 29 Aug. 2014,
www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/29/-sp-briefing-war-in-libya.
 Bachour 8

- The International Commission of Inquiry on Libya reported in March 2012 that the Libyan
rebels committed and continue to commit “serious violations, including war crimes and
breaches of international human rights law … [such as] unlawful killing, arbitrary arrest,
torture, enforced disappearance, indiscriminate attacks, and pillage.44
- “A revolution is a rapid, fundamental, and violent domestic change in the dominant
values and myths of a society, in its political institutions, social structure, leadership, and
government activities and policies.” 45
- With the ouster of Gaddafi, the Great Libyan Republic came to an end. The socialist and
somewhat esoteric values that were the foundation of the were swept away, and the
political institutions such as the popular committees and the security apparatus,
including the military and paramilitary state organizations, were dismantled or
foundered.46
- Three other new groups have also entered the political arena The first is the Islamists,
who had been kept out by Gadafi for fear that they might overthrow his regime, as they
had tried on a number of occasions.
- The second group is made of the Arab tribes, the basic social organizational unit of
Libya since time immemorial.47
- The third group that actively participated in the revolution is the Amazigh people as they
call themselves, who fought actively against Gaddafi's forces. They constitute of 5 to 10
percent of the population.48
- Concluding statement
- In Conclusion, the revolution that was ignited as a result of the Arab Spring has
dismantled the unity of Libya leaving at war with itself. It is split between a government in
Beida, in the east of the country, which is aligned with the military, and another in Tripoli,
in the west, which is dominated by Islamists and militias from western coastal cities. 49
- Libya is now governed by tribal forces and armed militias. Lacking any form of
government and any sense of a sovereign state.

Argument 3
Paragraph A Regime in Egypt
- After ruling Egypt for nearly 30 years. On February 11, 2011, President Hosni Mubarak
was forced to cede power.50
- Anger at Mubarak's rule had built up over the past decade. An accidental president, who
came to power because of Anwar Sadat's assassination on October 6, 1981.51
- As he began his second term, in 1987, he refused to reform the constitution, extended
the state of emergency, promulgated laws to exclude opposition parties from local

44
Hass, 74
45
Huntington, Samuel. Political Order in Changing Societies. Yale University, 2006.
46
Hass, 75
47
Haas, 76
48
Ibid
49
“That It Should Come to This.” The Economist, The Economist Newspaper, 10 Jan. 2015,
www.economist.com/briefing/2015/01/10/that-it-should-come-to-this.
50
Miller, 79
51
Lesch, Ann M. “Egypt's Spring: Causes of the Revolution.” Middle East Policy Council, vol. 18, no. 3, 2013.
 Bachour 9

councils and tightened the grip of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) over
parliament. He denounced opposition groups for criticizing his policies.52
- Egypt’s political leadership has adopted a variety of strategies to perpetuate control and
has created a complex system best understood as a hybrid regime type.6 These
strategies produced a veneer of democratic institutions and the expansion of civil society
coexisting with repression and the application of extralegal measures.53
Paragraph B When It all started and why
- On a national holiday to commemorate the police forces, Egyptians take to the streets in
large numbers, calling it a "day of rage". Thousands march in downtown Cairo, heading
towards the offices of the ruling National Democratic Party, as well as the foreign
ministry and the state television. Similar protests are reported in other towns across the
country.54
- The interior ministry issued a statement blaming the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's
technically banned but the largest opposition party, for fomenting the unrest.
- Police use tear gas, water cannons and batons to disperse protesters in Cairo also live
ammunition was in the air to disrupt the protestors.
- Economic grievances were clearly one driver of the discontent that fueled the January
25th Revolution.55
- One of the demonstrators’ initial demands was the establishment of a minimum wage.56
- Demonstrates also wanted more political freedom and more dignity.57
Paragraph C Post Mubarak Egypt
- Elections for both the lower and upper houses of parliament were held in late 2011-early
2012. 58
- Muslim Brotherhood won 45 percent of the seats in the lower house (the People’s
Assembly) and 58 percent of the contested seats in the upper house (the Shura
Council). The Salafi movement’s main representative, the al-Nur Party, won 25 percent
in the lower house and 25 percent in the upper house. party, the Wafd (Delegation)
Party, won only 7.5 percent of the seats in the lower house and 8 percent in the upper
house. An alliance of other liberal parties, the Egyptian Bloc, won 6.7 percent of the
seats in the lower house and 4.5 percent in the upper house.59
- The first round of presidential elections occurred on May 23-24, 2012. In the run-up to
the balloting, five candidates led the race: Mohammed Mursi, a senior Muslim
Brotherhood leader and president of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party.
Mursi received the largest share of the vote, with 24.8 percent60

52
Idib
53
Miller, 81
54
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Egypt Uprising of 2011.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia
Britannica, Inc., 2 May 2018, www.britannica.com/event/Egypt-Uprising-of-2011.
55
Miller, 85
56
Ibid
57
Ibid
58
Haas, 43
59
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Egypt Uprising of 2011.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia
Britannica, Inc., 2 May 2018, www.britannica.com/event/Egypt-Uprising-of-2011.
60
Ibid
 Bachour 10

-Once a political prisoner who opposed Mubarak, Mohamed Morsy became Egypt's first
democratically elected President. A former member of the Muslim Brotherhood.61
- Mursi’s efforts were successful. He won 52 percent of the vote to Shafiq’s 48 percent.
The military accepted the defeat of Shafiq and allowed Mursi to assume office. However,
the tension between Morsy and the military remains despite his victory.62
- Morsy issued an order preventing any court from overturning his decisions, allowing him
to run the country unchecked.
Demanding the impeachment of newly elect president
- Morsi issued an order preventing any court from overturning his decisions, allowing him
to run the country unchecked.63
- Protests erupted surrounding allegations of mistreatment of anti-Morsi demonstrators
outside the presidential palace gate in 2012. The turmoil convinced many Egyptians that
Morsy was not just incompetent but also violent.64
- After a year in office, Morsi was ousted in a military coup. Roughly 1,000 Egyptians were
killed during protests against the military government.
Post Morsi Egypt
- Egypt's former military chief, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, became President, winning 96% of the
vote. He vowed the nation would witness a total rise on both internal and external fronts,
to compensate what we have missed and correct the mistakes of the past.65
- Morsi was sentenced to 20 years in prison after being convicted on charges related to
violence outside the presidential palace in December 2012.66
Ending Statement
- For a moment in 2011, it appeared that the revolution worked. Thousands upon
thousands of demonstrators who had massed in Cairo's Tahrir Square succeeded in
toppling a dictator who had ruled for nearly 30 years. But the euphoria faded as Egypt
was whiplashed from one political extreme to another67, from the oppressive government
of the Muslim Brotherhood to the military regime that now rules. Five years after Egypt's
Arab Spring, the country is on shaky ground financially, unemployment is rampant and
the people are angry. And an ISIS-linked insurgency is growing, the terror attacks
becoming more brazen and frequent. Nothing seems sure in Egypt today, except that
there's bound to be more fitful change ahead.

Conclusion

61
Davison, John, and Ahmed Aboulenein. “Major Events in Egypt since Arab Spring Uprisings.” Reuters, Thomson
Reuters, 26 Mar. 2018, www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-election-timeline/major-events-in-egypt-since-arab-spring-
uprisings-idUSKBN1H217Y.
62
Fantz, Ashley. “Egypt's Bloody Road from Arab Spring to Chaos.” CNN, Cable News Network, 27 Apr. 2016,
www.cnn.com/2016/04/27/middleeast/egypt-how-we-got-here/index.html.
63
Ibid
64
Ibid
65
Miller, 101
66
“Egypt's Bloody Road from Arab Spring to Chaos.” CNN,
67
“Egypt's Bloody Road from Arab Spring to Chaos.” CNN,
 Bachour 11

The Arab Spring Uprisings that started in 2010 and affected most countries in the Middle
East has left a negative impact on all countries that were hit the democratization wave.
Syria residing in a Civil war for almost a decade and has been described as the greatest
tragedy since World War II. The war has taken the lives of thousands and leaving
millions displaced either internally or abroad, Syrians are drowning on their way to seek
refuge and in hopes of finding a safe place where hope is present and a fresh start is
attainable. Libya, freeing itself form a dictatorship rule that laster 42 years. However, as
a result of the Uprisings sparked by the Arab Spring, Libya has also lost its way to
democracy with tribal powers and armed militias emerging claiming power and
dismembering the unity of the nation and lacking the sense of a sovergin state. While in
Egypt has yet to overcome the element of instability, uncertainty and insurgency that still
roams the country, crippled by the uprisings that led to two regime changes in a span of
couple of years, Egypt is still headed into an amibegeous future and it needs to remove
all traces of former government that were elected, bringing all citizens of the country
together for the betterment of the country.