The “Arab Spring” is a revolutionary movement for democracy that swept across the Middle East after the self-immolation of a Tunisian street vendor on December 17, 2010, sparked protests that brought down an oppressive, incompetent, and corrupt Tunisian government one month later. The apparent analogy here is the “Prague Spring,” the eight-month liberalization Czechoslovakia enjoyed under Alexander Dubcek before Soviet and Warsaw Pact tanks crushed the fragile experiment in August of 1968. More broadly, “Arab Spring” alludes to democratic revolutions that swept across Eastern Europe two decades after Prague, in 1989.
Source: “Is There an Arab Spring?” – Stanley Kurtz – National Review Online – March 21, 2011
Related:
- The Arab Spring – Rashid Khalidi – The Nation – March 21, 2011
- The Arab Spring – Matt Welch – Reason.com – May, 2011
- 2010–2011 Middle East and North Africa protests – Wikipedia
- “Arab Spring” Has Yet to Alter Region’s Strategic Balance – Paul Salem – Los Angeles Times – May 9, 2011
- The Arab Spring – Marina Ottaway – The Economist – April 27, 2011
- Huge Step up for Democracy in Arab World Revolts – Jessica Tuchman Mathews – PBS Newshour – April 5, 2011
- Arab Uprisings and U.S. Policy – Middle East Policy Council – April 28, 2011
- After the Arab Spring – Steven Cook – The Atlantic – March 28, 2011
