The Phenomenon of Arab Spring in the Middle East

Abstract

The term Arab Spring or its Arabic term, al-Rabi’ al-‘Arabi is the revolution of demonstrations and protests of the people against the ruling Government. It was claimed to begin on December 18, 2010 in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia. However, this outbreak also spreads to several other Western Asian countries such as Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Syria. As such, this article aims to analyze the phenomenon of Arab Spring happening in those countries. This article also aims to explore how the outbreak of the unrest occurred and identify the factors that led to the protests of the people as well as to review the role of mass media in the revolution of the people. This study uses a qualitative method which is a document analysis approach to synthesize information from authoritative resources to ensure the validity of the information obtained. The study found that the wave of revolution was the people's protests against the current ruling Government. Several factors such as political, economic, and social factors are the main cause leading to the phenomenon of Arab Spring. Although this may be attributed to issues or problems that vary for each country, the goal of the rise of the people remains the same, i.e. protesting against unfair Government and demanding that people's rights be reinstated.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n4s2p152