ABSTRACT
It has been almost five years now since a new collective consciousness of Arab masses transformed the political landscape of the Middle East and North Africa. In just a short period of time, the people of the Arab world protested against their rulers, putting an end to long-time authoritarian leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen, while bringing others to the eve of collapse. Although the uprisings were initially successful, the people’s strong will to see honour, dignity, rights and good governance realized within their respective countries was fiercely combated by the ruling strata of these states and their strategies to ensure authoritarian survival. This dialectical struggle put an end to early optimist accounts and paved the way for speculations that the Arab Spring had come to an end. However, before we can speculate what a precise ending to the uprisings will look (or had looked) like, it must first be asked, what is the destiny of the Arab Spring?
