Arab Spring

The Arab Spring is dead, and a new social contract has replaced it - analysis

Across the Arab world in 2026, ideology is giving way to pragmatism, as publics prioritize stability, security, and economic delivery over reform

A demonstrator holds empty tear gas canisters during a protest over the deteriorating economic situation, in Riad al-Solh Square in Beirut, Lebanon, in 2023. Premium
Dutch Education, Culture and Science Gouke Moes and the Egyptian Ambassador to the Netherlands during the formal handover ceremony of the stolen scultpure at the Egyptian embassy in the Hague, February 8, 2026.

Netherlands returns 3,500-year-old sculpture stolen from Egypt during Arab Spring

Yemeni children play soccer at a displaced persons camp in Marib, Yemen, October 29, 2024.

Yemen’s fractured power struggle deepens its humanitarian, political crisis - opinion

A TUNISIAN expatriate shouts slogans while holding a placard reading ‘Free Tunisia,’ as he demonstrates on January 15, 2011, in Paris.

Protests and power vacuums: What the Arab Spring can teach us about Iran's protests


Morsi and the Middle East: In death the symbol of division - analysis

Morsi was sworn in on June 30, 2012. He spent one year in power.

Ex-President Mohammad Morsi seen through prison bars in 2016

Saudi teen faces death sentence for supposed crimes as a minor

While executions in Saudi Arabia are fairly common, it is rare to sentence someone with the death sentence who committed an act while a child.

Old rope with hangman’s noose (illustrative).

Algeria and Morocco: Essential differences

Eventually, short-term desperation overwhelms long-term fears of punishment or death.

A MOROCCO FAN waves his national flag at a soccer match.

Algeria: Learning to smile

Students take part in a protest to denounce an offer by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to run in elections next month but not to serve a full term if re-elected, in Algiers, Algeria March 5, 2019.

Terra Incognita: Why didn’t Algeria light a new fuse by now?

Bouteflika is one of the last of the old men in the region. He was born in 1937 when Algeria was under French colonial rule.

Students carry banners during a protest against Algerian President Abdelaiz Boutleflika in Algiers this week

Eight years after the ‘Arab Spring’ why didn’t Algeria light a new fuse?

The world of the Middle East today, the one that Bouteflika chose to step quietly off the stage from, is much different than that world of towering figures like Saddam, Hafiz, Hosni and the others.

A demonstrator carries a sign as teachers and students take part in a protest demanding immediate political change in Algiers, Algeria March 13, 2019

After 30 years, Sudan's president to step down amid protests

President Omar al-Bashir, accused of genocide in Darfur, remains in office as Sudan is rocked by the largest sustained protests in its history.

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir leaves after delivering a speech at the Presidential Palace in Khartoum, Sudan February 22, 2019

How Arab world youth countered repression using social media, pop culture

While repressive Arab regimes have sought to harness the power of the internet—especially after the 2011 Arab Spring—young people have been experimenting with newer forms of digital activism.

"No Woman No Drive" satire video by Saudi comedian Hisham Fageeh, 2013

Cradle of 'Arab Spring' in flux as massive protests rock Tunisia

The IMF has urged the country to freeze public sector wages and reduce the government’s ballooning deficit

PROTESTERS CLASH with police in Bahrain during 2011 Arab Spring protests

The rehabilitation of mass murderer Bashar Assad

As the Arab upheaval’s worst war winds down, the rehabilitation process of the century’s most prolific mass murderer is under way.

A GIRL holds an image of Syrian President Bashar Assad.