Economic Factors Of The Arab Spring In Tunisia And Egypt

Arab Spring was a beginning and period of the revolutionary wave in many Arab countries. It began in Tunisia in December 2010. The revolution culture later spread to Arab League countries and beyond its borders to other countries. The riots went on until mid-2012. Towards its end, many people came to call it the Arab Winter. It was a period that was marked by a lot of resistance towards the many government and projects. There were demonstrations, protests, riots and civil wars. People in trade and work unions were on frequent strikes. There was massive civil resistance against the government by citizens. The government tried to use force from the military to end the revolts, but this only made things worse. It resulted in violent resistance from the public. The main slogan of the spring and the resistance was “the people want to bring down the regime.” The primary reason for the revolutionary culture was that the people were not happy with the present regimes. They cited many injustices. The dissatisfaction was mainly because of dictatorship, monarchy, corruption, a wide gap in income levels, human rights violation, unemployment and extreme poverty. These were the major issues that were facing the people and that led to the Arab Spring. The events and results of the spring are however viewed differently by people. There were adverse effects and especially on the economy of the countries that took part in the spring.

Economical Factors

There were disturbing high levels of unemployment and the inflation was growing. Many people were educated but did not have jobs. Every year these countries added fresh graduates that did not have places to work. They were not being absorbed in the job market. This led to the overdependence on the working class. The per capita income dropped day by day. There was also the issue of the government spending. The two governments were in general debts because they were spending beyond their means. The problem of overspending was greatly attributed to corruption.

Effects of the Arab Spring

The civil resistance led to a significant loss. The two countries are still suffering from the aftershock of the spring. Many investors removed their businesses from the affected countries and took them to other countries. There was also a mass immigration of people from the countries affected by Arab Spring to other countries. Most of the people that moved are the experienced professionals who went to look for greener pastures. This led to brain drain.