Q.1 The Arab springs uprising has toppled the governments of long serving dictators in the world. The uprising started in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, the three nations of which are located in Africa that saw dictators such as Ben Ali and Muammar Gaddafi overthrown by the people through protests and war. The Syrian government is facing the same problem where people are trying to remove the government of Bashar Al-Assad from power (Gelvin 16). The Syrian crisis has lasted from 2011 to date without any amicable solution being arrived at between the government and the warring sides. The modern technology that has brought social media like Facebook in the world contributed to the start of the uprising in Syria. The educated members of the society aired their dissatisfaction through Facebook and twitter calling for people to rise up against the government. Authorities tried to close the social media sites but the message of oppression had spread and people started grouping into warring groups. The educated members of the society believed the government had an obligation to offer them a job and a decent living. The old people believed their children were being oppressed by the current regime and force was the only way of helping them out of their miseries.
Q. 2 The international community was actively involved in overthrowing the government of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya but refused to take such role in Syria. The Russians are in support of the government of Bashar while other countries like Britain and United State are in support of the revolutionist (Olimat 67). The disagreement over ways to be used in Syrian case by the world powerful nations like China has barred any of them from sending military support help to Syria as was the case with Libya.
Q. 3 The main cause of the uprising in Syria was the dictator form of government led by Bashar and his family. The leadership of Syria from 1970’s was under Bashar’s father and eventually him taking over power from his father. The government has never allowed any form of democratic elections to take place in order for people to vote in a different president. Bashar’s family and friends controls the courts through bribe and appointing of judges causing the judiciary to lose its impartiality in decision making. The lack of a transparent government in Syria angered the people forcing them to join the revolution army to try and overthrow Bashar’s government leading to the revolution. The Syrian citizens experienced a high-income disparity between the standards of living of the rich and the poor. The rich members of the society were those people who had family members within the government or were involved in corrupt dealings. The corruption in awarding government tenders or jobs led to rise of anger among the middle class and the low class members of the society. The two groups of people blamed their poor living conditions on the government that was run by corrupt family members of the ruling class. The angered members of society went to the streets to demonstrate and fight for their rights by blaming Bashar’s government.
The continued supply of weapons to all groups fighting in Syria has made the war to last for a long time than has been the case in other Arab spring uprisings. The Syrian government is procuring weapons from allies like Russia and China. The revolutionist groups are getting a supply of the weapons from their sympathizers. The government is willing to get a political solution through dialogue with the warring groups but the people are adamant with their demand of Bashar leaving power and Syria. The international community has tried bringing the warring groups together by sending eminent people like former United Nation secretary general Kofi Annan to mediate on the crisis. The different vested interest of the different United Nations members’ countries in Syria led Kofi Annan to resigning from the position of a mediator. The resignation of Kofi Annan was fuelled by the Obama administration approval on use of secret CIA members in helping the rebels fight the government.
Q. 4 The earlier position of the United State of non-military intervention on Syrian crisis has changed. There have been reported deployments of American soldiers in Jordan who are believed to be headed to Syria. The change of the non-involvement policy came because of the large number of people losing their lives in Syria because of the war. The Russian and the Chinese still maintains their position that a peaceful political solution should be arrived at on the Syrian crisis (Olimat 48).
Q.5 The Syrian crisis has acted as a lesson to the world on how prolonged conflict gets harder to solve. The crises have portrayed how Bashar’s government has devalued human life by the huge number of people losing lives in the hands of government soldiers and militias. The Syrian crisis has shown the need of encouraging rise of democratic governments in countries worldwide in order to alleviate human suffering and poverty. The Syrian crisis exposed the poor living conditions that people were subjected to by their government because of lack of a channel to voice their grievances. To avoid repeat of the Syrian problem, governments should set proper mechanisms for people to air their opinions in peaceful ways.
Works Cited
Gelvin, James. The Arab uprisings : what everyone needs to know. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. Print.
Olimat, Muhamad. China and the Middle East : from Silk Road to Arab Spring. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2013. Print.
