Revista Enfoques (Jul 2011)
Crisis en el mundo árabe. Análisis desde el “paradigma de la transición”
Abstract
Several Arab countries and Middle East nations have faced since the end of 2010 a wave of protests that have shaken the dominance of authoritarian regimes in power since the end of colonialism. The movement has its origin in Tunisia and has expanded toward Egypt resulting in the fall of Ben Alí first and Mubarak second, spreading in a few months to practically the entire region. The demands of demonstrators bear little relation to Islamic fundamentalism, centering more on increases in food prices, with decadent leaders holding on to power for decades, with corruption, with repression and with timid demands for democracy. The paper analyzes these winds of change from a “transition paradigm” perspective. Recurrent factors in this kind of process are analyzed, such as the coherence of the system, and efforts are made to decode the intrinsic characteristics of this movement, such as the presence of Islamic fundamentalism and “social networks”.
