Browsing by Subject "Arab Spring"
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Item History of Baathist regime resilience in Syria from 1970 to 2014(2015-08) Klosterman, Elliot Patrick; Barany, Zoltan D.; Goodnow, ReginaThe Arab Spring protest movements that swept through the Middle East in the beginning of 2011 managed to dislodge many durable regimes and longtime heads of state, but has not yet succeeded in overthrowing the autocratic Baathist regime in Syria despite the overwhelming political pressure and armed opposition to its rule. While the world was shocked by the wave of popular protest that shook ostensibly stable regimes in Egypt and Tunisia, the Baathist regime in Syria has managed to withstand the Arab Spring challenge to their rule through at least the end of 2014 in part by employing tactics learned during previous instances of political insurrection. The diverse, tribal, and sectarian composition of the modern Syrian state has aroused many periods of political instability in the decades leading up to the ongoing Arab Spring uprising therefore allowing the ruling regime ample opportunities to learn how to contend with existential threats to its rule. Unlike the relatively homogenous and historically political stable states of Tunisia and Egypt, the Baathist Regime in Syria has become well accustomed to balancing opposition to its rule in order to maintain a tenuous hold on power. This thesis will reveal how the Baathist regime in Syria has managed to defeat past existential political and armed threats to their rule in the decades leading up to the present Arab Spring Uprising. An analysis of the regime’s political and military strategy during prior instances of domestic upheaval will reveal that much of the political and security actions taken by the regime post-Arab Spring can be explained historically. Prior to the contemporary Arab Spring Uprising, the regime had become well accustomed to the challenges of ruling a diverse and politically unstable state and thus has mastered the techniques of driving opposition forces while co-opting or coercing domestic and international support Over the years politicians and analysts have referred to the Baathist regime in Syria as being on the ropes or poised to fall at any time, yet the regime has managed to survive. Since history has revealed both the remarkable resiliency and entrenched position of the Baathist regime in Syria, there is little reason to believe that the regime will crumble in the face of the Arab Spring Uprising. Although the pressure for regime change felt in Yemen, Egypt, and Tunisia may have been fundamentally similar to those felt in Syria, the Syrian Baathist regime makeup and experience in dealing with existential threats reveal why Bashar al-Assad and his regime have remained in power at least through the end of 2014.Item Let them eat war : the effect of the Libyan Arab Spring on Texas' oil field economy(2012-05) Badlissi, Frederick Joseph; Todd, Russell G.; Alves, Rosental C.At the beginning of 2011, independence movements arose across the Middle East and stoked the fires of revolution in nations like Libya, Egypt and Syria. Colloquially known as “The Arab Spring,” the movement toppled dictatorships that had existed for decades. Those dictatorships also provided stability for foreign business conducted in their countries, including Texan oil field companies. But as civil unrest persists and the political story unfolds, Texan oil field companies continue to do business in the region, largely unabated. This report addresses the effects of the Arab Spring on the performance of select Texan oil field companies operating in Libya.Item The limitations of structural theories of revolution : Egypt, scale, and Twitter as "History 2”(2012-12) Arnold, Timothy Jason; Winget, Megan Alicia; El-Ariss, TarekThrough a qualitative analysis of messages posted on the micro-blogging application, Twitter, and qualitative research interviews with people from Egypt and the United States who were active on Twitter during the eighteen day Egyptian Revolution in 2011, this study considers why Dr. Theda Skocpol’s theory of revolution proffered in States and Social Revolutions (1979) does not work in the case of the Egyptian Revolution. Skocpol asserts that a weakening of the state vis-à-vis a dominant class within the state or other states is a necessary precondition for revolution. By examining Twitter as a mechanism through which on-the-ground activists in Egypt were able to circumvent repressive state structures and “jump-scales” to a transnational configuration of resistance, this thesis asserts that emergent technologies complicate Skocpol’s assertion that states must be weakened politically and financially prior to the execution of a successful social revolution.Item The Arab spring and U.S national security(2012-08-10) Johnson, William; Johnson, William Whitley; Celso, Anthony; Ehlers, Robert; Nalbandov,Robert; Klingemann, John; Angelo State University. Department of Security Studies and Criminal Justice.The manner in which the United States understands the background, motivations, and aspirations of the participants in the Arab Spring within the Maghreb Region will have significant implications for the development of future National Security Policy. In an effort to better quantify this understanding, this work presents an analysis of the following three alternative scenarios: 1) The Arab Spring leads to internal conflict and Regime Change of Pro American Ally, which is detrimental to U.S. National Security Interests; 2) The Arab Spring leads to internal conflict and Regime Change of Anti-American regime, which produces a positive change in US National Security Interests; and 3) The Arab Spring leads to a protracted civil war and national dismemberment, which harms US National Security Interests in the region. A thorough analysis of these three possibilities as led to a key realization. The relative stability of Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco is a definite positive aspect of the post-Arab Spring transition. However, there is still significant instability in Libya as well as Al Qaeda in the Maghreb’s (AQIM) continued capability to operate from Mali and southern Algeria. This will make the Maghreb region a potential flash point in Arab-Western relations, and it therefore also makes the Maghreb a region of strategic interest to the United States.Item The status of women and the Arab Spring(2014-09-29) Pimentel, Karen