Popular Uprising and Political Change in North Africa: A Critical Analysis of The Egyptian Revolution- 2011

Abstract

The article critically examines popular/mass uprising that has precipitated into regime change in Egypt. This uprising, which observers around the globe dubbed the "Arab Spring" obviously took the entire world by storm because of its nature and character which evidently has escalated into violent revolutions, thus, leading to the ousting of authoritarian leaders in such Arab states like Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and the continued violent struggles in Syria, Bahraine and Yemein. It is therefore the contention in this work that when there are negative increases in the socio-economic and political indicators that is, high rate of unemployment particularly among the teeming population, continued infrastructural decay, weakening economic base, poor governance, high cost of living, general discontentment and frustration among the generality of the populace thereby leading to rigorous demands for socio-economic and political reforms on the existing regime and the eventual failure of government to make the necessary reforms, there is the likelihood of the uprising reaching into a violent revolution as is currently witnessed in Egypt and many other Arab states. It is further argued that there is usually a direct relationship between poplar uprising and political change especially when there are negative increases in the coefficient indicators within the state, in this case, Egypt. Thus, the relative deprivation theory as an analytical tool for understanding and explaining the current political impasse that have bewildered the Hosni Mubarak's 30 years regime in Egypt is adopted. This work equally recommends measures to forestall popular uprising and ensure stable political environment in the emerging democracies.