The world was shocked by the sud-den mass uprisings in the Middle East after a young Tunisian street vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, set himself on fire in protest against the local authorities. Bouazizi claimed that the municipal authorities continually mistreated him by confiscating his wares and asking for bribes. No one could have predicted that such an incident would spark mass uprisings resulting in the overthrow of the Tunisian government. One thing that most likely increased the magnitude of the protests was that a WikiLeaks document revealed the extent of the Tunisian leader Z. Bin Ali and his wife L. Trabelsi’s personal wealth that they had acquired over the years.
The Arab Uprisings: Debating the “Turkish Model”
Mass uprisings on the Arab streets have become the vehicle for reform as the availability of modern means of communication has enabled the Arab opposition to express their frustration caused by the stagnancy and inefficiency of the status quo-oriented authoritarian-bureaucratic regimes of the region. There is currently an ongoing debate about whether Turkey could become a model for the region with its growing economy, strengthening democracy, and spreading soft power due to Turkey’s increasing popularity in the region and its warm relations with the Arab world. Thus, it is not Turkey’s authoritarian secularism or its debacles in the process of democratization that has brought forth Turkey’s prominence as a model. This article discusses what the Turkish model is, whether it is applicable to the rest of the region, and the potential risks of proposing Turkey as a model country for the region.
Ikhwan and other groups in the region do not have the experience of serving at the local and/or national levels and of participating in parliamentary politics in a democracy, which could be a serious obstacle on their path to fully emulate the Turkish mod
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Alper Y. Dede
Assistant Professor, Department of International Relations, Zirve University,...
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