ABSTRACT
This chapter has three primary purposes. First, the author summarizes the major political consequences of the Arab Spring protests in North Africa and the Middle East. Second, he analyzes how and why US leaders responded to these developments. Prominent in this analysis is a detailed examination of the threats and opportunities to US interests created by the uprisings. He concludes the chapter with a discussion of various policies the United States might adopt to best advance US security in a post-Arab Spring era. The author begins his analysis with an exploration of the Barack Obama administration's reactions to the first set of Middle East mass protests that occurred during his presidency; these took place not in an Arab country but in Iran. The lessons learned from these demonstrations would have major effects on how Obama responded to the uprisings that occurred across the Arab world beginning in 2010.
