Algeria at the vanguard in the 1960s, a nation that inspired the entire world with its heroic revolutionary war against the french colonialists, paradoxically seemed preserved from these aspirations. Until 1962 the economy was based largely on agriculture and complemented frances economy. Algerians to go to polls in nation left behind by arab spring. Arab spring, while the demands of protestors and revolutionaries were more mundane. Algeria versus the arab spring university of st andrews. Yet it would be difficult to find three more different countries than morocco, the conservative monarchy, revolutionary algeria, and moderate tunisiaparticularly in light of the arab spring of 2011. Following the arab spring protests in 2011, north africa experienced one disruptive event after another, which spilled over into the sahel. While in tunisia hundreds of thousands of citizens stood up to bully dictator zine alabdine ben ali, to the west, cities across algeria erupted into widespread rioting. Not only is algeria the eus third largest energy provider, with a value of 26. A new atlantic council report warns that although the algerian government has effectively maintained the status quo and avoided its own arab spring, it risks future instability if it does not commit to serious political and economic reforms.
Algerians to go to polls in nation left behind by arab spring this article is more than 7 years old. Financial pressures top every list of catalysts and causes of the arab spring, espeeially when cormption at the hands of the mling and social elite is added. The recent protests in algeria and sudan have entered a critical phase in which protesters and militaries are at a standoff. The gaddafi archives libya before the arab spring view gallery an exhibition of photographs, documents and artefacts from the human rights watch archive paints a portrait of libya in the four decades prior to the arab spring. Algeria was not directly affected by the regional storm in north africa, which destabilized tunisia and libya, with whom it shares long borders, and egypt. It would be fitting if algeria was to do it, because both the arabs and berbers fought to. Disturbances have ranged from protests to full civil war and the overthrow of government.
Arab spring as a plague, which, he said, had resulted in the colonisation of iraq, the destruction of libya, the partition of sudan and the weakening of egypt 6. A year ago, a tunisian fruitseller set himself on fire after being humiliated by a police officer. Arab spring comes later in sudan and algeria jordan times. Sudan, however, is not the only version of arab spring, part two. Algeria has to avoid arab spring, because if it did, it would have to the same thing as morocco. Causes of the arab spring causes of the arab spring may be described as following. History, culture and geography have set north africa apart from the rest of the arab and mediterranean worlds. In light of the arab spring, explanations of authoritarian. Pdf algeria and the arab uprisings robert p parks academia. The reasons and economic and political consequences of arab.
The situation began to change after world war ii, when, flush with vic. Algerias economy is dominated by its export trade in petroleum and natural gas, commodities that, despite fluctuations in world prices, annually contribute roughly onethird of the countrys gross domestic product gdp. It would be fitting if algeria was to do it, because both the arabs and berbers fought to get the french out. In early 2011, most pundits expected that algeriaplagued by corruption, nepotism, deteriorating socioeconomic conditions, restricted freedoms, housing shortages, and bad governancewould be the next country to face an arab spring uprising.
The military in algeria removed their aged president on april 2 following widespread protests that began in february. Aftermath of the arab spring in north africa by atlantic. Algeria, large, predominantly muslim country of north africa. From december of 2010 to january 2012 algeria took part in the arab spring.
Amid the disasters routinely visited upon the region, algeria is an exception. Oilrich during the arab spring, the government was able to quiet dissent during the 20102012 protests with increased spending. The story of algeria epitomises the tragedy of women in revolutions. A year and a half into the arab spring, the algerian regime. The endgame is a series of films exploring the fall of the gaddafi regime from the perspective of those who helped to bring it down al jazeera tv the long road to tripoli. The western media portrayed algeria as being at the margin of the arab spring, of being the exception.
The common slogan of the protesters throughout arab spring was the people want to bring down the regime aissa, 2012. However, since 2011, none of the seven land borders is stable and secure. Atlantic council 3 issue brief aftermath o the arab spring in orth africa slipped somewhat below the average over the previous decade to 3. Disciplinary perspectives 2010 and editor of political civility in the middle east 2011. The protests had been inspired by similar protests across the middle east and north africa. Algeria is the core of the maghreb and shares land borders with seven countries maghreb and sahel countries. Pdf what accounts for continuing authoritarian success in the arab world today. Many countries at this time displayed an imbalance between a relatively high economicgrowth. A leader of the movement of society for peace called for more opposition parties to join the alliance to give the best possible chance for the arab spring to happen in algeria as well. Social unrest has also hit algerias southern saharan region because of a significant spike in electricity prices. With this, there is a possibility that protests could move to other arab countries as well, resembling the earlier arab spring.
The event set off uprisings across north africa and the middle east known as the arab spring. The clubs goal is to promote dialogue between russian and international intellectual elite, and to make an independent, unbiased scientific analysis of political, economic and social events in russia and the rest of the. Most of the population resides along the mediterranean coast, while the sahara and its extreme climate dominate the country. The arab spring was a series of prodemocracy uprisings that enveloped several largely muslim countries, including tunisia, morocco, syria, libya, egypt and. Oct 14, 2015 during the first and forgotten arab spring of 20045, algeria repeatedly came up in my interviews with muslim brotherhood leaders in egypt and jordan. Tunisia and the arab spring overview nc essential standards. Despite being the first country in the arab middle east to embark on a process of political reforms, algeria has thus far failed in its democratic transition. The near absence of any support for the arab spring in algeria has not gone unnoticed by anyone watching the events unfold in the region. With libya, tunisia and egypt still struggling to get back on their feet, the secular dictatorship in algeria, perhaps the last in the region, has emerged as a. The shifting foundations of political islam in algeria carnegie. Dec 17, 2011 a year ago, a tunisian fruitseller set himself on fire after being humiliated by a police officer. Tunisias dictator fell and the country held elections. In the february 1, 2016, issue of the weekly standard, john schindler and i.
In algeria, a chill in the arab spring the washington post. In 2011, the first waves of the socalled arab spring exploded in tunisia, followed by a major crisis in libya, in which the ruling regime fell. Algerias retreat from fullscale revolt is key to calculations of just how broadly the historic uprisings sweeping the arab world might. Algeria versus the arab spring frederic volpi journal of democracy, volume 24, number 3, july 20, pp. Algeria and the impact of the arab spring february 20, 2012 by kcarwile14 although the algerian government was not overthrown in the arab spring, and remains in place today, the country was greatly impacted by this time of demonstrations and revolutions. Algeria three years after the arab spring 1 foreword daniela huber a lgeria is an important regional power for the united states and europe in north africa. Algeria and the sahel in the arab spring aftermath youtube. Marxist circles and parties set up in the arab world with moscows help had little influence, and local liberation movements did not depend on the bolsheviks. Pdf algeria three years after the arab spring daniela. Algeria three years after the arab spring iai istituto.
The marking of these two major political turning points in algerian history, in the midst of regional turmoil, places algeria at the forefront of political speculations. Algeria versus the arab spring frederic volpi frederic volpi is senior lecturer in the school of international rela tions of the university of saint andrews scotland. Surrounded by the arab spring, algeria is celebrating both the fiftieth anniversary of its independence and the twentieth anniversary of the abrogation of its democratic process. The roots and causes of the 2011 arab uprisings kamal eldin osman salih abstract. Thi s researc h articl e attempts to scrutinize the nature and cause s of the ara b uprising s which too k people by surpris e globall y throughou t 2011 and int o 2012. May 29, 2014 a new atlantic council report warns that although the algerian government has effectively maintained the status quo and avoided its own arab spring, it risks future instability if it does not commit to serious political and economic reforms. Arab spring used their powers vehemently to crush the demonstrators and consequently the peaceful protesters also became violent. Regardless of algerias support for assad and its alliance with iran, the north african state has also managed to use the arab spring to improve its relationship with the us and uk. Causes cited by the protesters included unemployment, the lack of housing, foodprice inflation, corruption, restrictions on freedom of speech and poor living conditions. Within this context, students will then learn about the arab spring through a powerpoint centered discussion, political cartoons, and a series of news articles. In order to reestablish the greater morocco, the monarchy demanded the. In december 2010 and january 2011, algerians and tunisians took to the streets.
The valdai discussion club was established in 2004. Apr 18, 2019 sudan, however, is not the only version of arab spring, part two. Information about the openaccess article algeria post arab spring. The arab spring jason marshall introduction the arab spring is a blanket term to cover a multitude of uprisings and protests in the middle east that began in the winter of 2010 and continue today. May 31, 2012 algeria has to avoid arab spring, because if it did, it would have to the same thing as morocco. No arab spring for algeria by mohsin khan and karim mezran atlantic council rafik hariri center for the middle east issuebrief. Protesters gathered around the country to speak out against economic hardships and a repressive government, within a year the protests had ceased as a result of effective crowd control tactics, strategic concessions, and a collective desire to avoid the violence and death of the countries recently ended civil war. Fear of return to violence of 1990s and alleged electoral fraud help keep the fln in. Algeria is an important regional power for the united states and europe in north africa. The first would be the countries where the arab spring sounded the death knell for regimes deemed immovable tunisia.
Those arab spring upheavals raised hopes of political and economic reforms in countries such as egypt, where the army watched patiently from the sidelines and then capitalised. The country is investing intensively in the security sector, so its intelligence service. And although riots did shake the country, they were contained swiftly and without bloodshed by a large, well trained, well equipped. Tunisia and the arab spring overview students begin this lesson by discussing the concept of freedom and the attributes of countries that embrace or deny freedom. We al jazeera tv follow a group of libyan exiles as they sacrifice everything to return home for the final assault on tripoli. A superficial look at algeria may misleadingly put the country on a different level of democracy and freedom, but, only when compared to prearab spring tunisia. The reasons of arab spring arab spring was triggered by economic hardships and peoples democratic aspirations stepan and linz, 20.
The reasons and economic and political consequences of. Unrest and uncertainty the big picture, the boston globes photoblog. The forced virtualisation of the borders journal of mediterranean knowledgejmk, 2016, 11, 2743 issn. Images of the arab spring in bahrain images found on weblogs, featuring the pearl roundabout, symbol of the demonstrations in february and march 2011. The 20102012 algerian protests was a series of protests taking place throughout algeria, lasting from 28 december 2010 to early 2012. Libya became a failing state, exporting many security problems to. That is make tamzight into an official language along with arabic. Le seuer, algeria three years after the arab spring, the german marshall fund of the united states, mediterranean paper series, january 2014.
In no arab spring for algeria, mohsin khan and karim mezran, senior fellows at the atlantic councils. Meanwhile, tunisian mass demonstrations ultimately forced ben ali to flee, both marking the tunisian revolution of january 14 and debuting the arab spring. The arab spring and algerias exceptionalism scientific cooperations. Egyptian revolution, also known as arab spring or arab uprising, was a shock for international community because egypt has been seen as one of the strongest military state in north africa region. It was named after lake valdai, which is located close to veliky novgorod, where the clubs first meeting took place.
It is the only arab republic untouched by the arab spring of 20102011. For a variety of reasons, only a small set of riots with no major incidents and no effect marked the historic moment of the arab spring in algeria. Algeria, for example, the unemployment rate went from 19. Satellite view the pearl roundabout by night pearl towers overshadowing the demonstrators shiites praying, photo hh. Dubaitunis the armed forces of algeria and sudan, which pushed out the longserving rulers of those countries after mass protests, are following a script that has failed millions of arabs since the 2011 uprisings. The origin of this war was the territorial moroccan requests.