Political Change in the Middle East: First Consolidated Reflections and Challenges Ahead

Abstract

Years after the end of the apartheid regime in South Africa and the democratic reform in Indonesia, the Middle East and North Africa are beginning to change politically. The current popular uprisings sweeping across the region began in Tunisia in December 2010 and in Egypt on 25 January 2011. These uprisings are not the product of foreign interventions or a side-effect of non-domestic agendas. Rather, they are concerned with young men and women who are determined to take their future into their own hands. The younger generation wants their freedom, human rights, and dignity back, and they want to be politically represented in the governance of their countries. As they call for and usher in change and reform, they have brought a renewed vitality and insistence on democracy in many states across the region. They have also raised valuable lessons to be learned, both positively and negatively. These lessons need to be underlined and access to that knowledge should be available for the new emerging actors on the political stage in the region.