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{
  "authors": [
    "Michele Dunne"
  ],
  "type": "testimony",
  "centerAffiliationAll": "dc",
  "centers": [
    "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
    "Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center"
  ],
  "collections": [
    "Arab Awakening"
  ],
  "englishNewsletterAll": "menaTransitions",
  "nonEnglishNewsletterAll": "",
  "primaryCenter": "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
  "programAffiliation": "MEP",
  "programs": [
    "Middle East"
  ],
  "projects": [],
  "regions": [
    "North Africa",
    "Egypt",
    "Gulf",
    "Levant",
    "Maghreb"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Political Reform"
  ]
}

Source: Getty

Testimony

Egypt's Revolution and the Arab World

Demand for change in the Middle East and North Africa has been building for years, as youth unemployment plagued countries across the region and citizens felt their governments were not being held accountable for growing socio-economic problems.

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By Michele Dunne
Published on Feb 22, 2011
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The Middle East Program in Washington combines in-depth regional knowledge with incisive comparative analysis to provide deeply informed recommendations. With expertise in the Gulf, North Africa, Iran, and Israel/Palestine, we examine crosscutting themes of political, economic, and social change in both English and Arabic.

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Source: Women's Foreign Policy Group

The ongoing unrest in the Middle East and North Africa has its roots in similar conditions that prevail throughout the region, explained Michele Dunne in a speech at the Women's Foreign Policy Group. One of the main drivers of the tumult has been socio-economic grievances. Countries throughout the Arab world have burgeoning youth populations who find themselves with few, if any, economic opportunities. Meanwhile, most leaders of Arab countries have been in power for many years, decades in some instances, and political authority is heavily concentrated in their hands. Dunne explained that these kings and presidents are not freely elected, and thus unaccountable to the people, and the parliaments in these countries are very weak and generally unable to affect change.

Due to these phenomena, the demand for change in the region has been building for some time, Dunne said. Experts in the field did not predict the Tunisian uprising, but once it happened, it demonstrated to the people of the region that their regimes were more vulnerable than they thought and broke a barrier of fear. Since then, Dunne said, protests have swept across the region.

About the Author

Michele Dunne

Former Nonresident Scholar, Middle East Program

Michele Dunne was a nonresident scholar in Carnegie’s Middle East Program, where her research focuses on political and economic change in Arab countries, particularly Egypt, as well as U.S. policy in the Middle East.

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Michele Dunne
Former Nonresident Scholar, Middle East Program
Michele Dunne
Political ReformNorth AfricaEgyptGulfLevantMaghreb

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

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