From Independence To The Arab Spring

Your Name Your Subject and Section Your Professor’s Name April 3, 2018 From Independence to the Arab Spring Due to their drastic experiences towards independence, the former French colonies in the Maghreb region – specifically Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria – have been the subject of study for many scholars. One of the seminal works that tried to understand the effects of these previous experiences toward their reactions on the Arab Spring movement was that of Willis, entitled the Politics and power in the Maghreb: Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco from independence to the Arab Spring. One of the interesting points that was raised by this author was the idea that the shift leading to the present-day events in the region, could nonetheless be characterized and viewed with a distinctive pattern. This point of view is different from that of others which sees the circumstances of the three countries as distinctively separate from one another. In line with this, I believe that despite taking different paths to progress, the very fact that the citizens of all the t three (supposedly different nations) responded to the Arab Spring with contrasting similarity proves the point being purported by Willis. More particularly, it states the fact that despite the differences in terms of progress and socio-political circumstances, the main driver of the revolution had been the entrenchment of both political and symbolic power in the hands of the few that bred class conflict between the rulers and the ruled. By definition, class conflict means “conflict between different classes in a community resulting from different social or economic positions and reflecting opposed interests” (1 Dictionary.com). In order to support this idea, the next section would be dedicated to establishing the “so-called” differences and analyzing these in terms of Willis’ arguments. These days, the differences in terms of progress between the three countries had also influenced how they fared during the Arab Spring revolutions. According to reports, it was Morocco which fared best during the series of an uprising as these movements had forced the king to amend the constitution and relegate power to elected officials. This is different in the case Tunisia where the uprising had almost led to the violence but is nevertheless halted due to the partnership between the traditional monarch and the Sultan. Lastly, it was Algeria – an energy-rich country – that had the least amount of change despite the series of protests. This is because President Abdelaziz Bouteflika commanded the military to use force to repress any kinds reforms (1 FoxNews.com). Despite the differences in the resulting effect of the Arab ...