Arab Spring Jubilation Turns to Despair
August 23, 2013
After more than two and a half years, the mood surrounding the Arab Spring has drastically shifted from jubilation to despair amid violence and bloodshed in the Middle East. What went wrong and what do current trends mean for the future of the region?
In early 2011, Egyptians were jubilant when a popular uprising ended Hosni Mubarak’s 30 years in power.
Throughout the Middle East and North Africa dictators were being ousted, and the atmosphere among pro-democracy demonstrators was euphoric.
The movement was quickly labeled the Arab Spring but it created what turned out to be a false hope for the future.
“The Obama administration and other Western governments really subscribed to wishful thinking and hoping that this - just the term Arab Spring kind of suggested a hopeful and inevitable transition to democracy, and I don’t think that was ever the case,” said James Phillips, a senior Middle East analyst at the Heritage Foundation.
Soon much of the Middle East would descend into chaos.
Last month, Egypt's military ousted the country's first elected president and then released Mubarak from prison, putting him under house arrest.
Earlier, Syria descended into civil war.There are even indications that chemical weapons may have been used in a conflict that has killed more than 100,000 people.
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