Arab Uprisings in Egypt and Syria
CPO3404 - Politics of the Middle East
The Arab uprisings were a revolutionary wave of protests and demonstrations that occurred because of the disconnect that existed between people and the state throughout the Middle East. When it comes to the Egyptian and Syrian uprisings there are a few differences and also similarities that eventually led to different results. In Egypt, the uprising didn’t fully playout due to the military coup that occurred. In Syria, everything that was done was in Vain. [endnoteRef:1] [1: James L. Gelvin, The Arab Uprisings: What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford: Oxfor]
Egypt
The Egyptian uprising happened spontaneously and lacked specific leadership.[endnoteRef:2] Inspired by the events that occurred in Tunisia, different protest movements such as the April 6 movement and We Are All Khaled Said came together on January 25, 2011.They sought a change in regime by calling for the removal of president Mubarak. It became a movement characterized by its policy of nonviolence, its use of social media to mobilize, and the fact that it was a revolution of the Egyptian people. This was because support came from the secular, the religious, the young, the old, men, woman, the poor, the wealthy, and so on. [endnoteRef:3] Despite this, the Muslim brotherhood and other religious figures decided to stay in the sidelines and not get involved. [2: d University Press, 2012), 83.ii James L. Gelvin, The Arab Uprisings: What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), 50.] [3: John L. Esposito, Tamara Sonn, and John Obert Voll, Islam and Democracy after the Arab Spring (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016), 210.]
Mubarak responded to the protests by ordering the police to use ammunition. When that was denied, he called for the Army who instead of following orders turned against him. The Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) was formed by a group that consisted of 28 senior generals. [endnoteRef:4] On day 18 of the uprisings, the military was able to successfully carry out a coup and removed Mubarak from power. With Mubarak out of the picture, SCAF became the ones in charge stating that they would be there until the next presidential election took place. iv Sixteen months passed with still no election and the situation for the Egyptian people did not get any better.[endnoteRef:5] SCAF’s reaction towards the nonviolent protestors was to confront them with violence and chaos ensued. [4: Mark J. Gasiorowski and Sean L. Yom, The Government and Politics of the Middle East and North Africa (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2017), 416.] [5: Mark J. Gasiorowski and Sean L. Yom, The Government and Politics of the Middle East and North Africa (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2017),417.]
The Muslim Brotherhood started to gain the support of the people because they were the only ones who had the ability to exert any type of influence on SCAF. This situation allowed for them to finally obtain po...
