Ideas Can Also Kill: Five Assumptions that Uprisings in the Arab World have Disproved

In 2011, the people of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and later Syria struggled to overthrow their despotic regimes and bring about radical political change. However, to date, little discussion has revolved around the role of long-standing assumptions about political change and human rights in the Arab world in prolonging the lifespan of these collapsing regimes. The first of these assumptions claimed that authoritarian rulers were the guarantors of stability in nations throughout the region. Second was the assumption that Islamists were the sole alternative to authoritarian regimes in the region. These uprisings also proved false the theory that democracy and civil and political rights were not priorities for peoples of the Arab world. Finally, the fourth assumption to be debunked is the claim that the people of the region are not ready for a democratic system that respects human rights because the religion of the majority—Islam—is incompatible with democratic values and human rights.