ABSTRACT
The Arab Spring or Arab awakening refers to a series of protests and demonstrations throughout the Arab Word that either brought about the exit from power of long-time autocrats, as in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, or mobilized popular opposition to regimes, as witnessed in Jordan and Bahrain. It also led to pro-democratic stirrings, albeit to a lesser extent, in East Asia, such as the popular movement which took place under the Jasmine revolution label in China. These uprisings raise many questions of both political and legal nature including whether people and movements in the Arab World and China strive for democracy? If so, does the Chinese Jasmine revolution call for the same kind of democracy as the Arab Spring? And if yes, is this conception of democracy identical to the Western conception of democracy?
