Malkah Hayat
The uprising in the Middle Eastern countries, which is widely recognized as “Arab Spring”, started from Tunisia in the last month of 2010 and continued to unfold itself in various dynamics throughout the 2011 and even till the current times. The “Arab Spring”, which proved a long, dark, and disastrous fall for the Middle Eastern regimes, has impacted regional as well as world politics.
The masses across the region protested against the long installed authoritarian regimes for various reasons, including dictatorial rule, corruption, lack of democracy, lack of accountability, lack of freedom, deteriorated health, education and employment conditions, religious divides, etc. The uprising in the region created a socio-political turmoil in the Middle Eastern countries. The chaos is much visible within its various socio-political manifestations in the region.
One of the most significant manifestations is the overthrow of regimes. The demonstrations resulted in overthrowing of various governments including Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen. Even, the governments which survived could not get away with the massive protests leading to challenging the legitimacy of the states.
The regimes in response elsewhere came hard at the protesters in the quest to safeguard their respective governments. The use of power by state authorities converted the demonstrations into severe long conflicts.
The situation became more lethal as civil wars erupted in these Middle Eastern countries including Syria, Iraq, Egypt, and Yemen.
The conflicts in the region resulted in huge material and non-material loss in shape of extremely deteriorating economies together with the loss of precious human lives with causalities reaching to thousands. The conflicts have severely impacted on the domestic structure of the state with respect to its capacities and capabilities to safeguard the constitutional and territorial integrity.
The power struggle between various stakeholders together with extreme religious and political divides have risked millions of lives in the region leading to an alarming human security situation. The situation in the region on all levels gets further worsened with the deep penetration of lethal non-state actors like ISIS. The civil strife and insurgency in the region together with the involvement of international actors have made the situation more complex with respect to the resolution of the crisis.
In this regard, the most significant example to understand ever-evolving complexity in the turmoiled region can be said to as Syrian crisis, where the participants to the conflict are exceeding to more than dozen from within state (non-state actors) to the international level (regional and international actor).
Indeed, the socio-political turmoil has severely impacted the Middle Eastern countries and has changed the regional political dynamics significantly, however, in coming times, the region will have to face its long term effects. The crisis in Syria, where everyone from the U.S to Russia is fighting for influence, demand more effective and impartial world bodies that can play a role in peacekeepingand peacebuilding in times times. The crisis at the same time has proved the existing mediators including the United Nations proved ineffective and biased.
Malkah Hayat writes on the Middle Eastern politics and has a special interest in the region’s relation with world powers. She is pursuing an honor degree in Defense and Diplomatic Studies from Fatimah Jinnah University. She can be reached at malkahhayat97@gmail.com.
