Arab Spring: Egypt - Essay Example

This brief analysis essay will compare some of the positive and negative effects that this Arab Spring has had on Egypt as well as discuss some of the key changes that have taken place as a result.

Firstly, it is this author’s strong belief that the Arab Spring in Egypt has created a fundamentally good thing.  Whereas before no level of democratic process typified how the government ruled the people, as a result of the Arab Spring in Egypt, elections have been held, a president has been selected, a constitution drafted, and a representative parliament has been formed.  As opposed to before when Mubarak’s dictatorship was a seemingly endless definition of the future of the nation, the people of Egypt are now able to take part in their own right to self-determination, sovereignty, and the democratic process (el Faki 1).  In this way, the effect of the Arab Spring has been profound in helping a nation to modernize and realize a long-held wish that democracy would come to its inhabitants.

The cons to such a process of course involve the painful transition to democracy.  It is not the argument of this author that such a transition is without its drawbacks.  Whereas Egypt has been controlled by one form of absolute monarch or dictator for the better part of the past several hundred years, providing a smooth and painless segue into a democracy would be all but impossible.  As such, some of the cons that have followed the process are the actions of key groups that feel that their rights have not been fully represented to a satisfactory extent within the confines of the democratic system.  As such, these individuals have resorted to violence, coercion, and other illegalities as a means of expressing their unique views.  However, as has been stated, such is to be expected within the process of democratization and the untimely end of an absolute dictatorship that had gripped the country for the better part of three decades.  In this sense, the onlooker should reasonably expect that the formation of a democratic system will have the requisite growing pains and will not be a seamless process.  However, regardless of how one measures the situation that is unfolding in Egypt currently, the fact of the matter is that the average citizen is better represented and has more rights and freedoms currently than were ever experienced under Mubarak