Should Europe Support Arab Revolutions - Research Paper Example

Should Europe Support Arab Revolutions For any individual who has witnessed the horrible scenes while watching the Arab spring in the television and the study of Arab political environment from time to time, on of the striking things about Europe’s response to the spring is the speed with which transitory frameworks were re-emerged as a defining narrative, especially but not excluding in the cases of Tunisia and Egypt. After more than ten years in which the limits of transition based models of regime change had come increasingly apparent to those who studied the region’s politics, almost overnight we found ourselves once again in their plight (Noueihed & Warren, 2012). The Arab revolutions have become all too real. Given the nearness of the European Union to the region, the EU will expectedly have a greater motivation for peace when engaged in communications and negotiations with the political leaders of the region. The larger area from turkey to Pakistan, inclusive of morocco, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman , Qatar, and Iran have all shown objection to the united states’ diplomatic strategies. This can be seen in the Iraqi prime minister, a close friend of the United States, lent only qualified support (Noueihed & Warren, 2012). The Iraq war has been very expensive for the United States since the European Union as a whole refused to allow the Iraq war, though some European nations provided some little support. The United States alone had to finance the full cost of the war. In addition the United States shouldered the consequences of the war in terms of the lives lost and finance. This is an occasion for the EU leadership to play a positive role in the Arab revolutions. The European countries did play an important leadership role in helping Libya remove the dictatorial form of government. “Given its own continental framework, the EU is expected to welcome the American Hemispheric Economic Union. Mutual recognition and cooperation will add to the economic gains of all the peoples of the two continents. We must wait and watch as and when the new policy will be instituted. The sooner this happens, the better the outcome. The EU and the American Hemispheric Economic union will have 25 percent of the world population and some 60 percent of the world’s total economic activities, and will be an enormously substantive resource base to help the economic development of the Arabic world and the rest of the world. Economic reconstruction efforts around the world must not be conditional and politically limited.” (Peters, 2012, p. 170). The current state of the European neighbourhood policy places a crucial emphasis on the contribution of the human rights bodies in the transition of new forms of government in the Arab world. The European Union, over the years, has stressed that a new relationship with the local societies should established with the aim of fostering advocacy capacity of the human rights groups and non governmental organizations. The Arab spring will need from the European Union a re-evaluation of its relationships with slam and its engagement with Islamic political leaders. European policy towards the Arab world has been largely driven in part by fear of Islam and the rise of Islamic radicalism; however, this should not be the case. Involvement in the regions politics will bring a change in the political systems of the Arab world (Peters, 2012). Authoritarian breakdown in the region should hold lessons for Egypt and Tunisia as well as Syria. The world witnessed the immediate flow European authoritarian transitions into Egypt and other Arab nations ready to offer advice and guidance to the Arab counterparts about transition processes. In essence, there is a lot to be learnt from previous experiences of transition for lessons that might ease the path to democratic environment for Arab countries. Several world leaders have argued that the Arab politics are not special and should be viewed as being compatible with the conceptual frameworks developed to explain the political situations in some locations. However, the idea of integrating the Arab crisis into the broader comparative models is a positive step (Noueihed & Warren, 2012). Europe should intervene in the current Arab revolutions because of the number of causalities. In the region, there are militaries that define themselves as defenders of the nation and not as defender of the regime and its citizens. The military is also affected by high levels of ethnic and sectarian politics. Further, the region has experience high levels of social violence that are typical of the nature of third world countries, for instance, Libya’s revolution was marked by civil war. Other countries such as Yemen and Syria have also experience a wave of civil war that has left thousands of civilians dead. These problems have created the best examples that will need support not only for democratic transitions, but for effective process of post conflict reconstruction that can lead to less destructive and socially divisive circum stances (Noueihed & Warren, 2012). All problems that are as a result of authoritarian rule, including the design of new political institutions and coming to terms with legacies of the war should be solved to ensure that the mstakes are not repeated and large scale violence including possible atrocities and crimes against humanity can also be controlled through Europe’s involvement in the region’s politics. While most countries around the world have discovered the benefits of democracy and have realized the failures of theocracy, most Arab countries around the world still think that Islam is the solution to their problems. This idea appeals to most people in the region and have never realized the difference between religion and the political system. It is of great hope that Europeans involvement in the region may bring some ideological change concerning the difference between politics and religion. Citizens, with their religious following on the political ideologies will decide which kind of political system they will live under. If religion carries the day, any secular democracy in the region will be left at the mercy of those supporting the introduction of sheria law into the constitutional order of the region’s countries (Thomson, 2012). It not watched keenly, the trend in the Arab world is towards the restoration of sheria law as a political solution and to create the perfect Islamic states that many individuals in the Arab world dream of and that never actually existed. Further, in virtually all countries in the Arab world that have freedom movements today, the laws are sheria based, making the laws act in attempt of removing sheria from the future bloody wars. This phenomenon will only separate Muslims and non Muslims in the region. Religious interference in the national politics is very dangerous in the ensuring stability of the region. Religion should not be criticized. Religions ensure a personal relationship with the supernatural being. However, in individual in the region, acting in the name of religion expect its spheres to politics until their country becomes a one party totalitarian state, then they would be overstepping their mandate and crating suitable grounds for more wars to happen. Further, the region’s nations have been able to put up legal justice systems that have been able to allow death penalty to any individual who disobeys the sheria law. This will actually trample on the rights of the nationals in the region. Further, if these states are allowed to form a military mandate called the jihad, then there will be the violation of the sovereignty of non Muslim countries. Europe should have been concerned about the region’s politics from the day Islam wanted to turn into a political system with imperialist aspirations. If religion has assumed for itself such totalitarian rights in the Middle East, the European Union have the mandate to challenge, discredit and defeat it (Darwish, 2012). It should be noted that Arab countries have made religion to challenge the world while making it a crime to challenge their religion-Islam. Having seen what religion has done to the Arab countries, countries that live in free democracies have got the duty to criticize and scrutinize religion in the Arab world. If Europe’s’ intervention into the politics of the Arab world bring some reforms, then they would have achieved an honorable goal. As it stands today, religion in the Arab world is the problem, not the solution (Alcaro & Haubrich, 2012). The world witnessed the uprisings in the Middle East with much pity. They were able to watch hope for a people yearning for freedom. The appeal of western popular culture remains strong in the Arab world, despite the constant anti-Western propaganda. Having watched the revolutions, it is possible to read the minds of the citizens that they are starving for freedom and dignity in their social and political order (Darwish, 2012). In Egypt, even though President Mubarak was a dictator and had to take long time to leave office, to his credit he had the decency not to use military force in torturing the civilians. However, other dictators in the Arab world such as those in Iran, Libya and Syria continue to use and have used military forces to kill innocent civilians opposing their systems of rule. If the European Union doesn’t intervene, then the war in the region, especially the conflict in Syria will result in one of the worst humanitarian crisis of the world. Poor governance in the Arab world has resulted into hopelessness and despair in the lives of citizens. It can be noted that the main causes of the revolutions have been due to poverty, unemployment, dictatorship and lack of accountability from political leaders. In addition, religion in the Arab world has clearly fell short of channelling the problem of human aggression and oppression toward fellow men/women and instead has perpetuated it. Religion has failed to promote respect and love for humankind as a whole principle from which all love and respect emanate. Political leaders have allowed the application of religious laws into the laws of the country. It is worth noting that more effort should be directed in changing the ideologies off most people in the region. They should learn that religious commandments in the region clearly restrict friendship and compassion only to fellow Muslims and advocate hatred, mistreatment, and violence toward non-Muslims (Alcaro & Haubrich, 2012). Being a citizen of any Arab nation is a challenge to any person’s health lifestyle. The world has been able to watch horrible scenes of police brutality in the region where poor people and those with menial jobs are humiliated and slapped by not only the police but also people of influence. Perhaps European involvement in the politics of the region will bring about reforms in the development of human rights laws. Brutal mistreatment of citizens is still true today, for instance, any person who has money is capable of bribing the police and can literally get away with murder. Other citizens, forming the majority, have had to put up with a grinding life of constant oppression and abuse from the well off. Further, maids are often treated as slaves; slavery has always been an important Arab institution, which was never abolished by Islam and is still being practiced in most countries in the Arab world. European involvement in the Arab revolutions should be geared toward tackling the root causes of the wars. Without effective problem solving, nothing significant can be attained in the region. The world should understand that the Arab society is oppressive on every level. Men are forced to carry out violent jihad and the oppression of women, gender segregation and taboos, the criminalization of free speech, and polygamy are almost universally practiced. In addition, the revolution has brought about abuse and hostility from any person in power: bosses over workers, husbands over wives. Child abuse is at epidemic level, there are cases whereby children have been force to go to war instead of going to school (Noueihed & Warren, 2012). Europe needs to redraft their political and economic ideologies in relation with the Arab world. First, the Arab revolution in Tunisia and Egypt, and the current wars in Libya, Syria, and to some degree Yemen, took Europe by shocker and left them devoid of sufficient solutions. Now there is a scarcity of solutions to the new problems, and, regardless of all hard work, there is no signal of a reliable approach. Europe needs to begin a radical re- analysis of their relations with several Arab countries. It is difficult to tell whether the new regimes in most Arab nations will effectively realign their nations’ policy outlook on Israel. Early signs from Egypt clearly show a continuity of earlier policies on this insightful idea, regardless of some grave frustration after the lethal scenes at the universal border in late summer. In the meantime, Israel itself certainly faces the danger that anxiety from public opinion arising from the Arabs – will improve in the nonexistence of despotic rulers who can concurrently bargain with Israel while viciously infringing the rights of their people. At the danger of overlooking, Europe has resources but has got no trained workers. On the contrary, North Africa desires resources but has more trained human resources than jobs. Mirror-image challenges like this are vulnerable to joint interventions. But Europe needs to be cautious here; no answer to a crisis can be easier than the trouble itself. A limited opportunity of Europe’s labor market to skilled human resources has to be part of the intervention measures, but it is not adequate ate on its own (Darwish, 2012). Europe requires sharp programs that will make it easier for trained human resources from Arab countries to seek employment train and collaborate in EU nations for about three to five years and that also provide opportunities and helpful mechanisms for Arab citizens to set up their own economic support systems that can enable them live decent life. The causes for immigration of this type have to be determined in the employees countries of birth, and the expenses could be to a certain extent met by human resources in Europe. The likelihood is that European human resources would shell out fraction of an Arab employees wage into a business enterprise principal finance for returnees from Europe as long as they can really go into big business back in their country of origin. In return, European nations would be allowed to employ staff on a quota basis from countries outside the EU (Dabashi, 2012). Another sector in which the interests of European countries partly cover is energy policy. Europe should not only consider nations that have no energy wealth like Tunisia and Morocco they should also consider other oil-rich countries such as Algeria and Libya. Further, Europe should be concerned in the collective utilization of renewable energy. Yemen is a depressing case in point of what takes place when a country’s inadequate natural resources are not channeled in onward-looking technology but are as an alternative exploited by a corrupt elite (Dabashi, 2012). Education can also be a major factor in the European involvement in the Arab spring politics. Lack of education have been brought about by poor policies on education and have formed part of the major problems leading to the revolutions. There is lack of trained human labor that can effectively contribute in the growth of economy. Without education and appropriate employment, poverty will still affect the region. Europe should gladly extend their education programs to Arab citizens. The increased cooperation between higher education institutions along with the recognition of educational institutions in the Arab world will facilitate the improvement in the quality of education there by bringing about exchanges of skilled labor (Dabashi, 2012). What Europe needs in the Arab region is political vision. Europe need to come up with a political will to collaborate in this vision with Arab counterparts. Further, Europe’s interests in the regions security, migration, energy sources and the fast economic growth should be the motivating factors towards intervention into the region’s crisis. Another reason why Europe should consider intervening in the Arab revolutions is to open constructive dialogue with the Arab countries on democracy, the rule of law as well as the social market economy. The intergovernmental relations between Europe and Arab countries are not enough. To fully benefit fro the revolution, it is to Europe’s interest to broaden and foster dialogue on democratic principles (Dabashi, 2012). Conclusion Europe should take active interventions in the current Arab revolutions because of the number of civilians who continue to lose their lives due to security forces loyal to the government brutal ways. In the region, there are militaries that define themselves as defenders of the nation and not as defender of the regime and its citizens. The military is also affected by high levels of ethnic and sectarian politics. Further, the region has experience high levels of social violence that are typical of the nature of third world countries, for instance, Libya’s revolution was market by civil war. Other countries such as Yemen and Syria have also experience a wave of civil war that has left thousands of civilians dead. These problems have created the best examples that will need support not only for democratic transitions, but for effective process of post conflict reconstruction that can lead to less destructive and socially divisive circum stances (Praussello, 2011). European involvement in the politics of the region will bring about reforms in the development of human rights laws. Brutal mistreatment of citizens can be avoided if Europe intervenes, for instance, any person who has money is capable of bribing the police and can literally get away with murder. The majority of citizens, have had to endure constant oppression and abuse from the . Further, maids are often treated as slaves; slavery has always been an important Arab institution, which was never abolished by Islam and is still being practiced in most countries in the Arab world. Living in any Arab nation is a challenge to any person’s health lifestyle. The world has been able to witness horrible scenes of police brutality in the region where poor people and those with menial jobs are slapped and humiliated by not only the police but any person of authority and power. European involvement in the politics of the region will bring about reforms in the development of human rights laws. References Alcaro R & Haubrich, M (2012), Rethinking Western Policies in Light of the Arab Uprisings, New York: Edizioni Nouva Cultura. Dabashi, H (2012), The Arab Spring: The End of Post colonialism, London, Zed Books. Darwish, N (2012). The Devil We Don’t Know: The Dark Side of Revolutionsin the middle east, New York: John Wiley & Sons. Noueihed, L & Warren, A (2012). The Battle for the Arab Spring: Revolution, Counter-Revolution and the making of New Era, Yale University Press. Peters, J (2012), The European Union and the Arab Spring: promoting Democracy and the human rights, New York: McGraw-Hill. Praussello, F (2011), Euro-Mediterranean partnership in the Aftermath of the Arab Spring, New York, Cengage Learning. Thomson, L (2012), The Arab Spring: Revolutions and Unrest in the Arab World, New York: FastBook Publishing. Read More