Politics and Economy of the Contemporary Middle East Essay

Politics and Economy of the Contemporary Middle East - Essay Example The main question is whether the uprisings were effective in meeting their goals. The people were not aware that after the revolution they would have to rebuild their countries. The revolution was experienced differently across different countries and the effects were felt across the region due to the destabilisation of trade and political sphere. The revolution that started in Egypt and Tunisia was unexpected and many were caught unawareness because of the number of people that came out to support the calls for change in the countries. This triggered a wave of pro-democracy protests across the region, with many achieving their goals. Essentially, the two countries had similar problems facing them mainly social-economic grievances and political objectives (Beinin & Vairel 2011:150). They knew that the only way of attaining their freedom was by changing the political class and instituting change starting from the highest office in the country. The major problem especially amongst the Tunisians and Egyptians was not that the economy was falling, their living standards were. The poor were experiencing harder economic times and the richer were enjoying the spoils without caring about those at the bottom (Anantram, Chase-Dunn & Reese 2010:605). A combination of high inflation rates, decreasing wages and high unemployment amongst t he middle and poor classes was disturbing. The people wanted changes but the government was not listening to the people. The leaders were buys looking the other side instead of creating platforms to improve the lives of their people. The demographic growths were also a point of concern because the jobs created were for the low-skilled and low-wage earners, yet the number was stagnant despite an increase in the population. Political oppression and repression was another cause of the revolution. Many of the basic