POLI 340 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Mohamed Bouazizi, Arab Spring, Iranian Revolution
17 Dec 2014
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Document Summary
Arab spring = debated term = often criticized because implies a unidirectionality to events, exessicely optimistic. Overview of arab spring = because it helps to frame many research questions generated by the arab springs = towards understanding the me. Place to start is the me before 2010, that is the me from 1970-2010. Although the me tends to be thought of as unstable, between 1970-2010 it was one of the most stable regions in the developing world. There had been beforehand from the aftermath of wwii and decolonization a lot of military coups, revolutions, threats against monarchies, violence But in 1970 that changed and until 2010 the me remained pretty stable. With the notable exceptions of the iranian revolution (1979) and us intervention in iraq (overthrow of hussein in 2003) that had regional implications. For those 40 years, the me was a pretty stable place . It was a stable authoritarian place = highly authoritarian regimes.
