ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the uprisings in Egypt, Libya, and Syria. In Egypt, large-scale political protests in the immediate aftermath of Tunisia's revolution led to the swift removal of Hosni Mubarak from office, ending his 30-year reign over the country. Muammar Al-Qaddafi's end in Libya came about more slowly and violently, as militias loosely organized under the National Transitional Council, with the support of foreign governments and transnational actors, took over Libya and ended Qaddafi's life. Each of the three states were controlled by long-standing dictatorial regimes, are culturally predominantly Arab, violently repressed opposition movements, and witnessed wide-scale corruption throughout the tenures of their respective leaders. One of the essential differences between these states is in the prevalence of private civic organizations within them, and the actions taken by the dictatorial regimes that influenced both levels of generalized interpersonal trust within society as well as whom individuals trusted. These differences influenced how dissident citizens organized to bring about political change.
