The Arab Spring of 2010-11 led to the popular ouster of repressive dictators acr
ID: 1137400 • Letter: T
Question
The Arab Spring of 2010-11 led to the popular ouster of repressive dictators across the Arab world: Tunisia, Libya, Syria, Yemen and Egypt. While supporters of democracy initially cheered the development, all of the countries that experienced regime change (with the exception of Tunisia) ended up where they began: with another dictatorship.
Egypt posed a particular problem for both the classical realists and the idealists. The idealists were heartened by the removal of the dictator Hosni Mubarak and the subsequent holding of the first democratic presidential election in Egypt’s history (going back to the pyramids). However, following the election the party that came into power was the Muslim Brotherhood. The U.S. angered the classical realists and traditional Gulf allies (the unelected monarchies of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait) for betraying a friend and failing to come to the aid of Mubarak. Furthermore, the U.S., while always supporting the growth of democracy, was challenged by the fact that Egypt’s little experiment with democracy replaced Mubarak, who was friendly to the U.S., with the Brotherhood, who are deeply hostile to the U.S.
The Muslim Brotherhood, it turns out, could not govern, so they were ousted by popular revolt, their president imprisoned. Now Egypt has a new dictator, President Sisi, who by most estimates is worse than Mubarak.
Choose one of the following arguments. (1) Make classical realist arguments for why the U.S. should support friends like Mubarak, even if they don’t share your values and ideologies; or (2) stand for idealism, the rule of law and democracy. Make arguments for why the U.S. was right, at least in the long term, to support the development of democratic institutions in Egypt.
Explanation / Answer
At Chegg we try to help student and solve your queries. Do give a thumbs up for the answer and the efforts put in.
Answer-
2) Stand for idealism, the rule of law and democracy. Make arguments for why the U.S. was right, at least in the long term, to support the development of democratic institutions in Egypt.
Egypt was the most important centers during the period of Arab Spring. However it turned out that Tunisia was the only country that was not again controlled by the dictator post the major event.
Egypt was supported by the US to bring an democratic setup because the Muslim Brotherhood that were against the US and against the setup of democratic infrastructure in the country had been influencing the industries and economic development in the nation. During this rule there were civil war, riots and di-economies of scale in the country. The Muslim brotherhood was a group of sycophant that was supporting imperial leadership at the cost of economic development of a mineral and cultural rich Egypt.
However the US had spotted this earlier and had always intended to establish the democratic setup in the nation. US being a great nation that itself promotes free economy and preserves its culture and tradition was trying to approach Egypt with the same thought. However the rule of Muslim brotherhood and Sisi were totally contradictory.
Also US wanted to have long-term feasible relation with the nation as it was an industrially beneficial and also would help US fulfill its import need. Though these objectives were not understood by local politics of the region and the long-term beneficial propositions of the US failed for Egypt.
Related Questions
Navigate
Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.