The Wisconsin Spring After Two Gubernatorial Elections

The Arab Spring Revisited

Appropriately enough, Sohrab Ahmari’s article in the Wall Street Journal talks about how five years after 2010 the Arab countries, that had experienced uprisings toppling autocracies and bringing the promise of democratic transition, find themselves no closer to stability than they had expected. The popular uprisings and anger in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Syria have died down. The revolution that social media brought was only effective against the unpopular regimes they sought to unseat but has not been effective in sustaining the kind of power that would bring about stability to these nations. Without the certainty of political equality and universal participation, without the effectiveness of responsible government alternation in power brought about by regularly scheduled elections, there is no ability to hear the voices of the public. Thus these Arab countries are still finding their way towards democracy.