Spring 2011 Critical Thinking Research on Middle East Revolutions
Contents
- 1 WANTED: A Grand Strategy for America
- 2 How Revolutions Happen: Patterns from Iran to Egypt
- 3 Credit the Egyptian People for the Egyptian Revolution
- 4 The Egyptian Protests Are a Many Constituencied Thing
- 5 Egyptian Voters Approve Constitutional Changes
- 6 Egypt: Relive the Revolution
- 7 Columbia Discovery Service
- 8 Egypt Opens Up Political Space
- 9 Executive Order--Libya
- 10 Social Media Sparked, Accelerated Egypt's Revolutionary Fire
- 11 Islamic Mobilization: Social Movement Theory and Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood
- 12 Revolution, Delayed
- 13 The Facebook Freedom Fighter
WANTED: A Grand Strategy for America
Ferguson, Niall. “WANTED: A Grand Strategy for America.” Niallferguson.com Harvard University, 14 February 2011. Web. 16 March 2011.
Link: http://www.niallferguson.com/site/FERG/Templates/ArticleItem.aspx?pageid=237
Summary: Niall Ferguson’s article begins with Otto von Bismarck’s handling of the revolutionary wave of mid-19th-century German nationalism and then Niall goes on to current day and claims that Obama failed at adequately handling the Egyptian Revolution. From there he goes on to say that “no president can be expected to be omniscient” and that other presidents have failed to handle some foreign affairs. The article then returns to the current crisis in Egypt and Niall concludes with the statement that Obama essentially has no plan.
Caitlin Pallai
How Revolutions Happen: Patterns from Iran to Egypt
Almond, Dr. Mark. “How Revolutions Happen: Patterns from Iran to Egypt.” BBC.com. British Broadcasting Company. 13 February 2011. Web. 16 March 2011.
Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12431231
Summary: Dr. Mark Almond talks about several revolutions throughout history such as the Iranian Revolution, Tiananmen Square, the Ukraine Revolution, the Egyptian Revolution, etc. By comparing these revolutions, Dr. Almond makes the point that there are certain recurring elements of a revolution and Dr. Almond believes the most substantial element that causes revolution would be that “Violent death has been the most common catalyst for radicalizing discontent in the revolutions of the last 30 years.” (He gives this as one of the causes of Egypt's revolution, including the longevity of the regime.)
Caitlin Pallai
Credit the Egyptian People for the Egyptian Revolution
Zunes, Dr. Stephen. "Credit the Egyptian People for the Egyptian Revolution." Stephenzunes.org. 17 February 2011. Web. 3 March 2011.
Link:http://stephenzunes.org/category/topic/egypt/ (And then click on title of the article, which directs you to another site)
Summary: Dr. Stephen Zunes argues that the true credit for the Egyptian revolution lies with the people not the military, United States, the internet and WikiLeaks, the Muslim Brotherhood, or a spontaneous reaction to the Tunisian Revolution. Furthermore, the revolution highlights the power of non-violent protest.
Caitlin Pallai
The Egyptian Protests Are a Many Constituencied Thing
Engler, Mark. “The Egyptian Protest Are a Many Constituencied Thing.” Fpif.org. Foreign Policy in Focus. 11 February 2011. Web. 20 March 2011.
Link: http://www.fpif.org/blog/the_egyptian_protests_are_a_many_constituencied_thing
Summary: Mark Engler argues that the Egyptian protests are decentralized, not controlled by any single figurehead or political party, and are made up of everyday citizens. As such, he goes on to say that the Egyptian Revolution isn't simply chaos, as others seem to think, but rather something that was a long time coming.
Caitlin Pallai
Egyptian Voters Approve Constitutional Changes
MacFarquhar, Neil. "Egyptian Voters Approve Constitutional Changes." nytimes.com New York Times, 20 March 2011. Web. 21 March 2011.
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/21/world/middleeast/21egypt.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp
Summary: Most Egyptians voted and approved a referendum of constitutional changes on Sunday. This action will lead to elections for a new leader; however, there is concern that the Muslim Brotherhood and religion crept into the voting process.
Caitlin Pallai
Egypt: Relive the Revolution
Haddad, Mohammed and Gregg Caristrom. "Egypt Relive the Revolution." Aljazeera.net. 06 March 2011. Web. 22 March 2011.
Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/03/2011368587809435.html
Summary: This interactive time-line includes Aljazeera's top news stories for each day of the 18 long revolution. (Article topics range from Mubarak's response to the revolution to what Egypt will do next.)
Caitlin Pallai
Columbia Discovery Service
Cheterian, Vicken. "Columbia Discovery Service." CIAO: Columbia International Affairs Online. Feb. 2011. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.
<http://www.ciaonet.org/pbei/gcsp/0021275/f_0021275_17683.pdf>
Summary: This article discusses two of what the author considers the "main causes of the Egyptian revolution," which are socioeconomic factors (high unemployment rates especially among young people and rising costs of food) as well as ineffective and corrupt government that cannot face the other issues.
Breanne Flynn
Egypt Opens Up Political Space
"Egypt Opens up Political Space - Africa - Al Jazeera English." AJE - Al Jazeera English. 13 Mar. 2011. Web. 16 Mar. 2011. .
<http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/03/20113138251454812.html>
Summary: This is an al-Jazeera article written about the proposed Egyptian constitutional amendments which have since been ratified. The single article taken by itself is now kind of irrelevant and outdated, but we should definitely keep checking al-Jazeera because they report so frequently on the topic and have very reliable and up-to-date information.
Breanne Flynn
Executive Order--Libya
"Executive Order--Libya | The White House." Home | The White House. 25 Feb. 2011. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/02/25/executive-order-libya
Summary: In wanting to find out what the United State's current position is on the Middle East revolutions, I went to the White House website and examined the Executive Orders. Currently there is no order out about Egypt, but President Obama has issued statements that we are unfavorable to the government in Libya and the devastation it has wrecked on its citizens. This is interesting because the order talks about Colonel Qadhafi being unnecessarily violent, and maybe the United States does not feel that the Egyptian government has reached the same extent to warrant interference. Or maybe their are other political factors involved.
Breanne Flynn
Social Media Sparked, Accelerated Egypt's Revolutionary Fire
Gustin, Sam. "Social Media Sparked, Accelerated Egypt’s Revolutionary Fire | Epicenter | Wired.com." Wired.com. 11 Feb. 2011. Web. 16 Mar. 2011.
<http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/02/egypts-revolutionary-fire/>
Summary: This article from Wired magazine addresses Facebook's role in the Egyptian revolution. It was my first exposure to Wael Ghonim, the creator of the revolution's original Facebook page who speaks about how the page helped organize people, but the concerns and want for revolution were already with the Egyptian people.
Breanne Flynn
Islamic Mobilization: Social Movement Theory and Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood
Munson, Ziad. "Islamic Mobilization: Social Movement Theory and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood." The Sociological Quarterly. Blackwell Publishing on Behalf of the Midwest Sociological Society, Autumn 2001. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.
Summary: This article helped trace the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and mostly focused on their period of rapid expansion between the 1930s and 1950s. It was slightly outdated for the topic that we are considering, but if we want to examine the Muslim Brotherhood's role at all in today's context, I thought it would be necessary to take a look at their past and this article definitely depicted their basic structure and their rise to their current status.
Breanne Flynn
Revolution, Delayed
Massimo Calabresi, et al. "Revolution, Delayed." Time 177.7 (2011): 30-36. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 22 Mar. 2011..
Summary: In addition to addressing the revolution more from the perspective of Egyptians living through it, this article also addressed the current government; and now that Mubarak is out of power, what his right-hand man, Suleiman is doing differently or not doing to control the revolution and/or alleviate the concerns of the people.
Breanne Flynn
The Facebook Freedom Fighter
Giglio, Mike. "THE FACEBOOK FREEDOM FIGHTER." Newsweek 157.8 (2011): 14-17. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 22 Mar. 2011.
Summary: This article profiles Google executive Wael Ghonim who is credited with starting the Egyptian revolution on Facebook. Though he had originally planned to keep his identity a secret and under a pseudonym, he was temporarily imprisoned, and once released, everyone knew his name. He stresses that the revolution is really with the people, and that Facebook just helped facilitate. He is NOT the leader of this revolution, nor does he believe there is one. This is a collective effort from Egyptians who are sharing many of the same grievances and can now come together to voice their opposition to the current rule in their country.
Breanne Flynn
