Military Responses to the Arab Uprisings and the Future of Relations

Although the events of the Arab Spring reminded the Western world again of how little its understanding of the Arab world was, it provided a market for opinion makers of various orientations to explain the turning point that occurred and appeared in the form of a popular revolution. Social media that mentions all of this is among the preferred explanations. Surprisingly, very few have sought to explain the role played by armies during this sweeping revolution. Any student of the Middle East will tell us that Arab armies have always been at the center of political life in the Middle East, as a general rule. For a long time, the armed forces represented the most powerful local institution in the region, aided by the massive resources allocated to defense expenditures.