A discussion of how relevant political players in Arab countries among regimes, opposition movements, and external actors have adapted ten years after the onset of the Arab Spring.
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.
The Carnegie Middle East Program has worked for decades to understand tides of reform in the Arab world. While the uprisings of the Arab Spring have overwhelmingly failed to change Arab politics in a sustained manner, the questions of how Arab states govern and how Arab populations experience governance remain. Through our ongoing research, we seek to understand governance as multi-faceted and fundamental to the domestic and foreign policy of Arab states.
Bashar al-Assad’s regime has used the drug partly as a means of ensuring that Syria is reintegrated into the Arab world, allowing its leadership to reinforce its position after years of isolation and conflict.
Backsliding is less a result of democracies failing to deliver than of democracies failing to constrain the predatory political ambitions and methods of certain elected leaders. Policymakers and aid providers seeking to limit backsliding should tailor their diplomatic and aid interventions accordingly.
India is witnessing the dawn of a “Second Republic,” an inflection point that is equal in magnitude to the constitutional moment in 1950, when India’s “First Republic” was established. Several elements of the Second Republic were visible prior to these elections, and the BJP’s narrow victory has not dislodged them.