The so-called Arab Spring is one of the most pivotal geopolitical happenings of the current century and one which will no doubt reverberate and define the academic discourse on the subject in later.
While no doubt unsavory strongmen like Ben Ali of Tunisia and Hosni Mubarak of Egypt had well earned the resentment of their population, to engage in a reductionist paradigm of the Arab Spring illustrating down-trodden masses merely rising up against political exploitation does injustice to the behind-the-scenes networks of NGOs and special interests who helped influence popular sentiment and channel it in ways to bolster western objectives.
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