With the benefit of hindsight it is possible to view the Arab Spring that erupted last December from a more considered perspective. The world was taken by surprise when pro-democracy protests started in Tunisia and even more astonished when they spread to Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen and beyond. Many experts had long concluded that authoritarianism was too embedded in the Arab world for it to ever be challenged. A common argument was many Arab regimes had instituted “authoritarian bargains” in which they provided basic welfare in return for their citizens eschewing political rights.
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