Counter Revolutions via Extremists Groups. (c2016)

Abstract

The end of the year 2010 incorporated a highly significant set of events in the Middle East And North Africa (MENA) region. Islamic radical groups have capitalized on the anarchy and have managed to spread terror in more than one Arab country. As a result, the promised democratic transition of the Arab Spring has been halted and countered by radical extremism. According to Samuel Huntington, every democratic wave has its counter reverse wave. Is the sequence of events in the MENA region considered to be a form of Huntington’s reverse wave, or is the MENA region and its Islamic radicalism antithetical to democracy? This thesis aims to draw a comparative analysis between a respectively successful transition presented by the Tunisian case study, verses a failed transition presented by the Syrian case study. The comparison is based on three levels of analysis- international community, regional powers, and local governance. The purpose of the comparison is to draw the main transitional indicators in both countries and link them to Huntington’s factors of reverse waves to be able to conclude whether Huntington’s theory of reverse waves can be applied to the MENA region.