The Washington Post: In the Middle East, The Dream of Democracy Is Dead

In 2010 a Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire to protest harassment that limited his ability to earn a living. His action triggered region-wide populist uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa that became known as the Arab Spring. Fleeting hopes for radical reconstruction of state and society now seems dead, buried and even forgotten. Asli Aydıntaşbaş observes for the Washington Post: “seven years down the road, what the people got in return is upgraded despotism and chaos.” Rising tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia along with the Syrian crisis, extremism and non-state initiatives like ISIS and Israeli expansionist ambitions take place against the “backdrop of an increasingly fraying liberal world order.” The region's sectarian divide has the potential to claim the entire Middle East in its violent field of vision, and the United Nations and international community now settle for stabilization over democracy. “Even countries that once had a fair chance of establishing a democratic order, such as Turkey, are backsliding,” notes Aydıntaşbaş. Only Bouazizi’s Tunisia has enjoyed democratic progress. Otherwise, the region endures failed governance with no safety net. – YaleGlobal