The Opinion Pages

August 14, 2013

Is This the End of the Arab Spring?

Introduction

Egyptian authorities cleared sit-ins in Cairo.

Ahmed Gomaa/Associated Press Authorities cleared sit-ins in Cairo, killing scores of protesters.

With a state of emergency declared in Egypt, continued unrest in Bahrain, democracy under threat in Tunisia, Libya, and possibly even Turkey, and an all-out civil war in Syria, is there any hope left for the anti-authoritarian movement that swept through the Middle East?

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Debaters

A Future Worse Than Mubarak’s Reign

Shadi Hamid, Brookings Doha Center
Airing Out the House of Egypt

Mona Eltahawy, columnist
If the West Would Step Up

Ed Husain, Council on Foreign Relations
Activists Must Reclaim a Co-Opted Movement

Karima Bennoune, author, “Your Fatwa Does Not Apply Here”
In the Gulf, a New Model for Creating Democracy

Matar Ebrahim, activist
In Turkey, Voters Still Have Power

Christine Ogan, Indiana University
Region’s Hardliners Will Take Heart

Haleh Esfandiari, Woodrow Wilson International Center
‘Spring’ Uprisings Are Nothing New

James L. Gelvin, author, "The Arab Uprisings: What Everyone Needs to Know"
There’s Hope in the Long Run

Michael Albertus, University of Chicago and Victor Menaldo, University of Washington
Consider Egypt’s Peaceful Masses

Tawakkol Karman, human rights activist, Yemen
Democracy May Succeed if Violence Doesn’t Rise

Peter Ackerman, International Center for Nonviolent Conflict