I have been wanting to post something about the Arab Spring for a while now. I had the good chance of hearing a great lecture this last week and so I will share with you some of the highlights. Asef Bayat is a professor of Sociology and Middle East studies who is currently at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He is Iranian born and has lived in Iran, Egypt, England and the United States and has worked at Oxford, UC Berkeley, Columbia University and NYU. You can check out his university webpage for a list of his publications.
Dr. Bayat spoke about what he sees as the most important elements of the uprisings that have occurred in the Arab world within the last 10 months. These are some of the points that I found most interesting.
He emphasized that these social movements have all been, what he calls, "post-Islamist", meaning that the main issues and points of contention brought up in the rallies, strikes and sit-ins are issues that transcend Islamic politics. This is in contrast to what we have seen dominate the political scene in the Middle East since the 1970s which was a strong emphasis on Islam and the call for Islamic government institutions by Islamist parties or opposition groups. But what does Islamist mean? Dr. Bayat explained that Islamist politics is obligation based - focusing on the obligations that Muslims have and should carry out in the society (obligation to wear appropriate/modest clothing is the one we often hear the most about). However, these post Islamist movements (which Dr. Bayat explains first appeared in Egypt in 2005), are rights based - focusing on religiosity in relation to a struggle for rights. According to him, these post-Islamist movements are characterized by individuals who want to "transcend Islamic politics" by creating states that are civil, non-religious but within a pious society. There is a greater emphasis on internal issues within these parties and they tend to be non-ideological. These types of movements have been compared to the Christian Democratic movements and parties in Europe. The best examples of current post-Islamist parties are the AKP party (current ruling party) in Turkey, Al Wasat in Egypt and the Khatami government in Iran (1997-2005) as well as the current Iranian green movement.
Dr. Bayat also mentioned some important structural and social changes that have been going on in the last three decades within the Middle East that can help to explain the amazing events of the Arab Spring:
First there has been a dramatic increase in urbanization which has increased literacy rates, consumption levels, social traditions and has created new entitlements on the part of citizens. He explained this really well with the example of a women (like his mother) who moves to the city from a small village. She used to get her water from a well outside of her village. She now lives in an apartment that has running water. If the running water stops working she feels entitled to have that service restored by the government because it is seen as part of what comes with living in the urban environment. This demonstrates the entitlement (vis a vis the governmnet) that a citizen feels just by living in this different environment.
Second, there has been a change in economic policies within the region (and within much of the developing world) since the 1990s. These New Liberal economic policies, encouraged by the IMF and World Bank through structural adjustment programs, have increased privatization, removed subsidies etc. This has resulted in a break of the social contract between state and citizens that has dominated within these countries in the post-colonial period. After colonial powers left, most of these states established a system where they gained loyalty of the population by providing the basic necessities to their people (such as housing, jobs with the government for all university grads, low food prices through subsidies etc.). These economic changes have had widespread affects on the population, the greatest of which has been to shrink the middle class dramatically. Families that traditionally fit into the middle class, who have been educated and who expect to find work after university, are consistently finding no jobs and many of them are being forced into the living conditions of the traditionally poor classes. This has created extreme discontent.
Last, Dr. Bayat recognized the importance of new technology and communication that has becomes possible in the last two decades. Many people have also called the Arab spring the "Facebook" and "Twitter" revolutions, but it is not only this type of technology that has had a lasting impact. He also mentioned the importance of satellite television news networks such as Al Jazeera which broadcast events from across the Middle East and around the world. These new technologies have made it possible for social networks to form, that allow individuals to act on social discontent. Citizens will only risk taking social action (particularly dangerous social action such as protesting against the authoritarian regime) if they feel that enough of the population is also going to participate. Communication of what was going on in Tunisia, from Tunisian to Tunisian was key (through cell phone text messages, texted images, facebook and twitter etc). But also, the communication of protest tactics and the most effective strategies in Tunisia were essential for individuals protesting in Egypt. Communication through new technology has been one of the most important elements in the Arab Spring. Dr. Bayat noted that this new technology has also made it possible for some of the regimes (such as in Yemen, Syria and Bahrain) to correct for the mistakes of the ousted leaders, and to better navigate the public discontent in their own countries by closely studying what has happened in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.
This is only an overview of the notes I was able to take at the lecture, but Dr. Bayat definitely spoke with wisdom and an great knowledge of the history and social context of the region. I hope to read some of his work in the coming months. I will try to write more or post more when I find concise and well researched pieces on the Arab Spring. It is difficult to analyze these types of events as they are going on but perhaps as time goes on we will have a more nuanced understanding of what these events mean for the future of the region.
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