A Look Back at The 2011 Arab Revolts The Last Wave of Democratization, A Function of Capitalism, or A Challenge to Neoliberalism? A Multi-Factor Analysis

2011 yılında başlayan Arap İsyanları sık sık indirgemeci bir biçimde bir veya birkaç faktöre dayanarak açıklanmakta, seküler-liberal demokrasiye doğru “küresel yürüyüşün” son safhası (veya “demokratikleşmenin dördüncü dalgası”), neoliberal kapitalizme karşı bir başkaldırı veya küresel kapitalizmin genişlemesinin bir sonucu ve gereği olarak görülmektedir. Bu makale ise bu isyanları daha iyi anlamak için tek bir ana faktöre indirgemek yerine uluslararası siyasi-askeri bağlamdaki değişimler çerçevesindeki birtakım küresel gelişmeler ile yerel siyasi, ekonomik ve psikolojik-kültürel etkilerin dikkate alınması gerektiğini varsaymaktadır. Bunun ortaya koymak üzere, makro-sosyolojik bir bakış açısından hareketle bu makalede Arap isyanlarını şekillendiren birtakım ana siyasi ve iktisadi, teknolojik, kültürel ve psikolojik faktörler incelenmektedir. Bu faktörler, insanların eşitsizlik ve ekonomik özgürlük ve fırsat eşitsizliğine karşı tepkileri ile siyasi ve iktisadi adalet talepleri, bilgi-iletişim teknolojilerinin (BİT’ler) toplumsal seferberlik üzerindeki etkileri, İslam’ın bireyler ve siyasi kültür üzerindeki etkisi ile bütün bu faktörleri tamamlayan bir psikolojik faktör olarak insanların onur (kerame) arayışı ve baskıcı yönetimler ve başarısız neoliberal iktisat politikaları sebebiyle rejimlere karşı duyulan öfkeyi ihtiva etmektedir.

A Look Back at The 2011 Arab Revolts The Last Wave of Democratization, A Function of Capitalism, or A Challenge to Neoliberalism? A Multi-Factor Analysis

The 2011 Arab revolts have often been explained in a somewhat reductionist manner as the lastchapter of Huntington’s democratization waves and a celebrated march toward secular-liberal democracy, oras part of a world-wide revolt against neo-liberal capitalism, or simply as a function of the global expansionof capitalism. Rather than reducing these complex events to a single overarching factors, this article arguesinstead that they are better understood with reference to an interplay between global developments (changes in the international politico-military context) and local politico-economic, psychological, and culturalinfluences. I demonstrate this argument by focusing, from a macro-sociological perspective, on the majorpolitical-economic, technological, cultural, and psychological factors that helped shape the Arab revolts.These include people’s reactions to inequality, lack of economic opportunities, and their demand for economic justice on the one hand, and their more general aspirations for social and political liberties and justiceon the other. The article also addresses the impact of information and communications technologies (ICTs)on social mobilization and of religion on individual and political culture, and it further argues that thesefactors were complemented by people’s search for dignity (karama) in the face of frustration with oppressionas well as neoliberal social and economic policies.

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