I. Armed conflict in the wake of the Arab Spring

Chapter:

1. Armed conflict

Source:

SIPRI Yearbook 2013

Author(s):

Neil Melvin

The Arab Spring of 2011 represented a major upheaval in a region that had previously seen few open, mass-based challenges to its regimes. It brought radical political change in a number of countries, notably Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Libya.¹ In some countries, processes for regime change continued into 2012—in the case of Syria as a full-fledged civil war, whereas in other countries, such as Bahrain and Jordan, protests remained largely non-violent. In some countries where regimes did change in 2011, political instability continued, largely because of the unsettled nature of the political landscape. For example, in Egypt protests continued against the new military-led government, at times violently, and then also against the newly elected president, Mohamed Morsy; in Libya there were incidents of violence between the new regime and supporters of former leader Muammar Gaddafi.