The Arab Spring: Three Years On

In December 2010, Mohamed Bouazizi, a fruit vendor in Tunisia, set himself ablaze in protest of his government. In the three years since that event much of the Arab world has experienced upheaval ranging from mass protests to toppled governments. Though the western media has portrayed this uprising as a grass roots democratic response to the various totalitarian regimes, the facts do not, nor have they ever, supported that analysis. In many ways, there have been few real changes in governance, and in some cases the uprisings led to armed conflict with the involvement of different regional and extra-regional powers.