The Arab Spring Five Years Later

Posted: December 17th, 2015

The Arab Spring was the beacon of hope that would free millions from the grip of autocratic rulers. At first, it looked promising. One by one, the dictators fell: Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia, Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, Moammar Khadafy in Libya, Ali Abdullah Saleh in Yemen. Many believed Bashar Assad’s days were numbered in Syria. Democracy, or at least a form of it, would blossom and prevail.

Five years since a fruit vendor set himself ablaze in Tunisia, great swaths of the Middle East and North Africa remain in chaos. Libya, Yemen and Syria are effectively leaderless and wracked by civil war. A former military strongman controls Egypt. Only in Tunisia, where it all began in December of 2010, is there a semblance of democracy.

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The Arab Spring Five Years Later

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