Arab World Final Post

The first article, “Waking From Its Sleep”, describes how Arab history continues to repeat itself due to authoritarian rule, divisions between nations and wars. The Middle East is especially prone to wars because of their natural resources (oil). Furthermore, the absence of democracy and lack of national pride enables violence. The second article, “The World of the Arabs”, distinguishes that the Arab World is made up of many different cultures and peoples. The nations are divided by ethnicities, languages and religions. Unlike Europe, the Arab World lacks a sense of unity as it has not established lasting connections of integrated government organizations. The last article, “Which Way Will They Go?”, also notes that the Arab world continues to repeat its violent cycles. The impact of outside countries, such as America, affects the policies of the Arab world. The article questions whether the Arab world will continue on its undemocratic violent path or erupt into revolutions.

The Wiki article on Arab protests describes the revolutions in the Middle East since December 2010. The article describes the numerous revolts that have occurred due to political and social oppression. I found this article to be especially interesting especially after reading the articles from “The Economist”. Although the violence continues, it seems that predictions that the Arab world would remain undemocratic forever could now be challenged.

The google article, “Karl Marx, part 8: Modernity and the privatisation of hope: The Arab spring is an example of the eternal desire for human liberation, which has often alighted on false utopia”, relates Marxists theory to the Arab spring as the desire for a utopia and freedom serves as human motivation. I found it interesting how easy it was to find articles that relate classic theories to current events. Because classic theories were developed so long ago I often questioned how relevant they still were in modern society (and obviously they are extremely relevant). <http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2011/may/23/karl-marx-privatisation-of-hope>