THE NORTH AFRICAN REVOLUTIONS: THE GENIE IS OUT OF THE BOTTLE

Résumé

The Arabs of North Africa and the Middle East crave for liberal/democratic values like the other peoples of the world, but this craving had remained bottled up by religious orthodoxies, cultural inertia and the “Genie” of fear. This Genie of fear kept agitation in check, though simmering in the so called bottle. The events of the “Jasmine Revolution” of Tunisia sparked off by the spontaneous act of self-conflagration of a 26 year old unemployed high school graduate, Bouazizi Mohamed in Dec, 2010 shattered this bottle of fear and liberated the spirit to fight for liberal values in the minds of the ordinary citizens and with this cataclysmic development the story, status quo ante, has changed in the region. Using qualitative analysis of data gathered, including consultation of primary, secondary and internet sources, this paper therefore seeks to investigate the moving force namely, the genie behind the December 2010 Arab Spring otherwise known as Jasmine Revolution. The intention also is to examine the impacts the revolution had on the long tradition of monarchies and religious orthodoxies following the enthronement of democracies in the North African states.