Repercussions of the Arab Spring on GCC States

Abdulkhaleq Abdullah

Dr. Abdelkhaleq Abdullah is an associate professor at United Arab Emirates University in the Political Science Department, as well as the editor-in- general of the Gulf Strategic Report. His research interests include security and political transformations within the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council, while his writings cover a number of diverse and contemporary intellectual and political issues, on both an Arab level and globally. He received his PhD in Comparative Politics from Georgetown University in Washington, DC after completing an MA in Political Philosophy from the American University. He has been a Visiting Professor at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown, and has participated in a number of conferences and symposia, and lectured widely at universities and research institutes across Europe, North America, Asia, and the Arab countries. Dr. Abdullah is a founding and active member in a number of professional, voluntary, and cultural organizations within the United Arab Emirates, and in the Gulf, including the UAE National Committee Against Normalization with the Israeli Enemy, and has served as editor of the journal Shuoon Ijtima’ia (“Social Affairs”). His published books, in Arabic, include: Al Haraka al Thaqafia fi Al Emiraat (The Cultural Movement in the Emirates, 2000) and Al Alam al Muasar wa al Siraat ad Duwalia al Muasira (The Contemporary World and Contemporary International Conflicts, 1989). Dr. Abdulkhaleq has also contributed to and edited a number of other works, including Al Nizam al Iqleemi al Khaleeji (“The Gulf’s Regional System,” 1999), Qadaya Khaleejia Muasira (“Contemporary Gulf Affairs”, 1998), and Al Watan al Arabi Bayn Qirnain (“The Arab Homeland Through Two Centuries”, 2001). His other writings, both English and Arabic, have appeared in a variety of Arab and international periodicals.

Abstract

Regardless of the final outcome of the Arab Spring, it is beyond doubt that the Arab Homeland is undergoing an exceptional revolutionary moment and has witnessed a formative year, which does not often occur in history. Thus, the year 2011 will enter history as an exceptional Arab year, the likes of which come only once in a lifetime, and once in every generation. Not only was 2011 an exceptional year, but it was also a formative one, with transformations of such depth and magnitude that they have cancelled all of the postulates, institutions, personalities, mentalities, and behaviors that existed prior to 2011, while laying the foundations for what would come to replace them. This rupture was total, comprehensive, and, perhaps, final. The events of 2011 will enter history as foundational events, not only for Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen, and Bahrain, but also for the entire Arab region. What has been confirmed is that the era of Arab stasis, surrender, frustration, and misery, which lasted too long, extending over more than four decades, has finally reached its end.

Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies