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Reality Check: The Hazards of Optimism

(World Affairs Journal) Walter Laqueur - The exultant reception of the Arab Spring is a particularly poignant example of the triumph of hope over experience in international affairs. When the Arab Spring first bloomed in the winter of 2010-2011 it was welcomed by jubilation on the part of foreign correspondents who carried the good news about the fall of tyrants to the rest of the world. What followed were elections in which the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis received an overwhelming majority. A new constitution was prepared according to the rules of Islamic sharia law. Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi successfully grabbed more power in order to incorporate religious fundamentalism as the constitution's guiding light. It was not what the freedom fighters had hoped for. Optimism has not entirely disappeared in the past two years. However, the enthusiasm no longer concerned the prospects of the progressive forces themselves. Nicholas D. Kristof, the New York Times columnist, wrote of the "mutually beneficial relationship" which had developed between the American Embassy in Cairo, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Salafis who had been the main beneficiaries of the redistribution of power. Such encouraging views were not shared by secular Egyptians and Tunisians.
2013-04-12 00:00:00
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