The Cost of the Arab Spring is Half a Trillion Dollars
18 September 2016
By Abdulrahman Al-Rashed
The UN's Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia's report stated that
the Arab Spring led to a net loss of $613.8 billion in economic activity in
countries involved in it. This is equivalent to 6 per cent of the region's GDP
in the period between 2011 and 2015.
Nevertheless, the unforeseen losses are bigger than all of this as the
revolutions failed with regards to almost everything that they promised:
democracy, individual rights and freedoms, transparency, development,
stability, securing jobs and raising the standard of living and economic
prosperity. Absolutely none of these things were achieved and in all cases,
they declined dramatically.
Those who believe that change comes in stages and that the revolutions of the
Arab Spring that started in 2011 are just experiencing a setback that will be
followed by hurricanes will not be able to see even a little progress made in
the societies where the revolutions took place. I do not mean physical
improvement but rather intellectual change. Not only that, but the principles
that the revolutions were supposed to have instilled into society have been
hit by a terrible setback as a result of the frustration, despair and shock
that followed the operations of change.
No one can defend the Libyan ruler Colonel Muammar Gaddafi or his rule. His
people revolted against him in a genuine and popular revolution and it
continued until his regime was destroyed and he was killed at the hands of
angry citizens in a brutal manner. Gaddafi was a model of an insane and bad
dictator who squandered his country's wealth, left it poor and mistreated his
citizens. Although we thought that it was impossible for any alternative to
Gaddafi to be worse than him, the result is that Libya has become worse than
before and is being governed by extremists and tribal leaders who are more
repulsive than he was. The country is in deep chaos, and political and
community leaders have been killed or exiled instead of being allowed to rule
and achieve the desired change. The situation in all the other countries where
the Arab Spring took place is no better at the moment.
Some may consider Libya to be an extreme case compared to the birthplace of
the Arab Spring, its neighbour Tunisia. It is true that Tunisia is
experiencing better stability than Libya, that only one political system
governs there, and that there is some public participation and freedom.
However, Tunisia was better off socially and economically. The situation in
Tunisia is still subject to the control of its politicians and the protection
of its military which is not guaranteed.
The problem is structural and the values of a modern state have still not been
introduced. That includes the elite that failed to put aside their idealistic
proposals that suit their political positions, the Islamists who insisted on
controlling everything and the leftists who wasted their chance in Egypt,
Tunisia, Libya and Yemen.
What has been achieved in accordance with the standards of reform and
development or slogans of the revolution itself, even in a stable country like
Egypt? Nothing, and it will take a long time to recover from the wounds that
it sustained due to the Arab Spring uprising.
There are those who deny the failure of the revolutions of change and consider
what happened as just an exercise that will be followed by change! There are
those who admit failure but shift the blame to others and claim that the
revolutions have been subject to conspiracies to end them.
In my opinion, a culture of change towards sophisticated systems that have
modern values does not exist as we imagine it. There are bread revolutions but
not revolutions of freedom.
Al Rashed is the general manager of Al -Arabiya television. He is also the
former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al- Awsat, and the leading Arabic weekly
magazine, Al Majalla. He is also a senior Columnist in the daily newspapers of
Al Madina and Al Bilad. He is a US post-graduate degree in mass
communications. He has been a guest on many TV current affairs programs. He is
currently based in Dubai.
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EsinIslam.Com
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