Arab Spring

The Arab Spring (Arabic: الربيع العربي ‎, al-rabīˁ al-ˁarabī) is the media term for a revolutionary wave of nonviolent and violent demonstrations, violent and nonviolent protests, riots, and civil wars in the Arab world that began on 18 December 2010.

To date, rulers have been forced from power in Tunisia,[1] Egypt,[2] Libya,[3] and Yemen;[4] civil uprisings have erupted in Bahrain[5] and Syria;[6] major protests have broken out in Algeria,[7] Iraq,[8] Jordan,[9] Kuwait,[10] Morocco,[11] and Sudan;[12] and minor protests have occurred in Mauritania,[13] Oman,[14] Saudi Arabia,[15] Djibouti,[16] and Western Sahara.[17]

There were border clashes in Israel in May 2011,[18] and the protests in Iranian Khuzestan by the Arab minority erupted in 2011 as well.[19] Weapons and Tuareg fighters returning from the Libyan civil war stoked a simmering conflict in Mali which has been described as "fallout" from the Arab Spring in North Africa.[20] The sectarian clashes in Lebanon were described as a spillover violence of the Syrian uprising and hence the regional Arab Spring.[21] In September 2012, a wave of social protests by Palestinians demanded lower consumer prices and resignation of the Palestinian Prime Minister Fayyad.

The protests have shared techniques of mostly civil resistance in sustained campaigns involving strikes, demonstrations, marches, and rallies, as well as the effective use of social media[22][23] to organize, communicate, and raise awareness in the face of state attempts at repression and Internet censorship.[24][25]

Many Arab Spring demonstrations have been met with violent responses from authorities,[26][27][28] as well as from pro-government militias and counter-demonstrators. These attacks have been answered with violence from protestors in some cases.[29][30][31] A major slogan of the demonstrators in the Arab world has been Ash-shab yurid isqat an-nizam ("the people want to bring down the regime").[32]

Some observers have drawn comparisons...