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The Future of the Arab Uprisings is Looking Grim
(Ha'aretz) Shlomo Avineri - This is not an Arab version of the revolutions in eastern Europe in 1989. Only relatively moderate regimes, like those of Mubarak and Tunisia's Ben Ali, fell, while Arab regimes lacking any moral or political qualms about murdering their own people, are holding on. Without a strong infrastructure of civil society, demonstrations are no alternative to the establishment of institutions, which is essential for the consolidation of democracy. The vengeance being directed against the Mubarak family in Egypt is a cheap populist alternative to democracy. Even if the dictatorships in Libya and Yemen are overthrown, it is not reasonable that we will see a stable democracy established in their stead. The writer, professor of political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, served as director-general of Israel's Foreign Ministry.