The Nature of 2011 Arab Uprisings: AComparative Analysis

The fall of the tunisian and egyptian rulers as a result of the popularuprisings in the arab world was the harbinger of vast, surprisingdevelopments, which rapidly restored self-confidence to the arab street,attracting the attention of international actors and observers to the revivedpower of a new player affecting developments in the middle east. although in contemporary history, arab public opinion has been tense at most timesand always been present in the margins or core of developments, it failed to be involved in developments as extensively as it recently did. in addition, in contemporary arab history, this is the first time that rulers have been dismissed as a result of popular pressure and street protests. this articleexamines the developments and uprisings in the arab world in 2011 in lightof the change in behavior and increased capability of arab public opinion.in particular, this article assesses the reasons for the lack of democracy among the arabs, and differences between the recent uprisings, and protestsand movements in the past decade. the main argument of this paper is thatthe change in political behavior of the arab youth and new political elites isa result of change in their political outlook and redefinition of the self andthe other in their relationship with domestic rulers and foreign powers. thearticle tries, using an epistemological approach, to portray the character ofthe new arab uprisings; arguing that they are different from other uprisingsin contemporary history in terms of form, content and people's demands. in this picture, arab nationalism and salafist islamism, which promotetransnational ideals, are declining on the horizon of new uprisings. instead, anew arab political identity with an anti-despotic, pluralist and democracy-seeking approach is expanding.