Introduction

In 2011, the Middle East witnessed waves of protests fueled by citizens demanding better living standards, equality, freedom, government transparency and dignity. Starting in Tunisia and spanning all over the Middle East and North Africa, the uprisings have since become the focus of much attention. Coined the “Arab Spring,” “Arab Uprisings,” “Arab Revolutions,” and “Arab Awakening,” the events have been grappled with by many in their attempts at characterizing them. Some authors, such as Asayef Bayat, defines what was witnessed in the region as “movements” rather than “revolutions,” given the absence of the type of strategic planning prevalent in other historical scenarios, including that witnessed in the 1979 Iranian Revolution. According to Bayat, the people of the region wanted and demanded regime change, but they had not mapped out what such change might look like going forward (Bayat, 2017, p. 6). The term “uprisings,” carrying the least baggage of preconceived assumptions, is arguably the most suitable and will be utilized in this study. ¹