“Arab Spring” in 2011 was meant for overthrowing the corrupt and incapable governments in many of the Middle Eastern countries such as Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, and Egypt (Ibn Abī al-Ḍiyāf and Brown 59). The anarchic rule of the king/president was taken over by democracy in these countries perpetually, as a result of the constitutional reforms. The constitutional changes were meant to implement democracy as the major political system in the Arab world. The question arises as to what interest did the Arab governments had in constitutional reforms and what did the public want?
Revising the constitutional text can promise new beginning in the Middle East that is led by monarchic rule of kings and princes for centuries. In the year 2014, Tunisian government passed the new constitution that could serve as a model for other regimes as Tunisia itself sparked the ‘Arab Spring’. The constitution was articulated to extend freedom and equality to women, to end the ages-long gender discrimination in the region. The constitutional reforms also promise to include creativity, cultural diversity, and religious tolerance as a part of Tunisian post-revolution culture.
The most disturbing-yet-significant pillar of the society that is the role of religion in the country’s law and social ways remains undecided as religion plays central role in the Middle Eastern countries even today. Governments do not want to and cannot exclude the centuries’ long rule of religion to vanish from the region as space for Islamic groups in politics is being created as they can take their part in elections. This creates doubts in an observer’s eyes regarding the role of government in formulating and implementing constitutional reforms.
The foremost purpose of governments to revise constitution is to strengthen the democratic setup by making concessions in already-their constitution or byforming an entirely new constitution. The countries as Morocco still have not given up on King as he remains the center of political power but he has to choose the president from the members of the registered political parties.
The role of Islamism groups in politics can change the shape or even course of revolution backwards, as radical groups do not want gender equality and cultural freedom at any cost. In this regard, the role of public in instigating the constitutional reforms to keep the Islamist groups under control (Khater 68). However, the strength of the public protest and demonstrations has been weakened as the major part of the revolution has been brought, which was to overthrow the corrupt regimes in the countries. People do not want to look back to anarchy and hegemony as a way of government in these countries and for this reason, the public has also supported the constitutional reforms in these countries.
The sovereignty of the government still lies at the core of a ‘kingdom’ that diminishes the role of political government in governing the country. This implies that the politically governments in Middle Eastern countries would want to completely elucidate the rule of kings in the countries. People of these countries want complete freedom in social and economic terms and therefore, they do not want constitutional reforms that do not bring genuine change. However, the constitutional reforms in Middle Eastern countries have acted as a compensating plan to change the outlook of the government system, while still keeping the monarchy intact. The people had obviously wanted the genuine reforms to provide them with basic civil rights. This is to say that despite the constitutional reforms, there is still a long way to reach the ultimate state of democracy in these countries, as constitutional reforms do not meet the public’s expectations.
WORKS CITED
Ibn Abī al-Ḍiyāf, Aḥmad, and L. Carl Brown. Consult Them In The Matter. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2005. Print. 10-70.
Khater, Akram Fouad. Sources In The History Of The Modern Middle East. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004. Print. 10-85.
