Regime Changes and Uprisings in the Middle East and Parts of North Africa: Some Lessons to be Learnt

Abstract

The event leading to the death of Mohammed Bouzazi in Tunisia in 2009 brought to light the dehumanized conditions which an average Tunis had been subjected to at the hands of the Tunisian government. The death of Bouzazi lead to street protests and demonstrations by thousands of demonstrators, calling for political reforms, free speech, improved conditions of living, etc, in Tunisia. As a result of this, the regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali came to an end. With this success, citizens of other neighbouring countries in North Africa that had similar problems went to the streets asking for reform changes in their countries. These countries include Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain, etc. What later on followed is now history. Therefore, in this work, an overview of the events that led to the uprisings in the affected countries would be looked into. The aftermaths of these uprisings are no doubt what one should ponder upon. This is with a view to analysing the lessons to be learnt from these uprisings so as to avoid a repeat of it in future. Therefore, recommendations are made, followed by a concluding remark of the work.

Keywords: Regime, Changes, Uprising, Revolution, Middle East, Africa