ABSTRACT
The upheavals that have shaken the Arab world since December 2010 have to a large extent been shaped by the behaviour of the security services in each country. During the past year, the military forces of Arab states have at times behaved as an organic extension of ruling regimes, and at times as independent institutional players bent on securing and maintaining their own standing and privileges. The strategic landscape in the Middle East changing fast, with new questions and uncertainties affecting long-held assumptions about regional power balances, military capabilities and deterrence. The Arab Awakening has also seen unprecedented willingness by several Arab governments to back and participate in military interventions. Among the many grievances that fuelled the Arab Awakening, pervasive state repression and incessant police brutality ranked near the top. In February 2011 internal protest in Libya disintegrated into dvil war.
