Lisa Anderson
Demystifying the Arab Spring
In
It was 1919.
That year's events demonstrate that the global diffusion of information and expectations -- so vividly on display in
The important story about the 2011 Arab revolts in
As a result,
The profound differences between the Tunisian, Egyptian, and Libyan uprisings are not always apparent in the popular media. The timing of the popular revolts -- so sudden and almost simultaneous -- suggests that the similarities these autocracies shared, from their aging leaders and corrupt and ineffectual governments to their educated, unemployed, and disaffected youth, were sufficient to explain the wave of revolutions. Yet the authorities that these young protesters confronted were unique in each nation -- as will be the difficulties they face in the future.
Former Tunisian President Zine el-
That said, although the scale of corruption at the top was breathtaking,
Since
The protests also revealed a sharp generational divide among the opposition. The quick-fire demonstrations filled with angry youth made the generation of regime dissidents from the 1980s, primarily union activists and Islamist militants then led by
In
As it assumed control of
Repairing decades of public-sector corrosion may also prove problematic. Everything in
But the remarkable discipline demonstrated by
This latent political wisdom reflects the changes that transformed Egyptian society over the last 15 years, even while the country's aging and ineffectual autocracy remained in place. As Tahrir's protesters were at pains to demonstrate,
THE WRECKAGE OF LIBYA
Whereas demonstrators in
This lack of social and governmental cohesion will hamper any prospective transition to democracy.
THE CHALLENGES AHEAD
The young activists in each country have been sharing ideas, tactics, and moral support, but they are confronting different opponents and operating within different contexts. The critical distinctions between
These distinctions will matter for
LISA ANDERSON is President of the American University in Cairo
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