Revolution in the Middle East & North Africa

Since the popular unrest in Tunisia that began in January 2011, the world has witnessed a dramatic set of changes in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The Ben Ali regime in Tunisia and the Mubarak regime in Egypt fell to popular protest, and other countries soon experienced similar forms of popular mobilization. In Libya, the protests were met with a hardline authoritarian response and the subsequent intervention under the auspices of UN Security Council Resolution 1973, while in Syria, a similar hard line response has been meted out without a resulting international intervention.

Developments in other countries have seen similar patterns of social moblization and demand for greater social, economic, and political liberalisation in ways that bring more freedom and opportunity to ordinary people. The outcomes across this ring  of ‘least likely’ cases are simply unknown at this stage, but the Institute for Democracy and Conflict Resolution seeks to monitor developments in the region, while engaging in a series of activities that support moves towards greater political freedom, the development of democratic institutions and the promotion and protection of human rights.

Working in partnership with Cyberalpha, a technology company focusing on the collection and visualisation of data and information on key dimensions of governance and human rights, the IDCR has sponsored the creation of an information portal on the Middle East and North African Protests. The portal contains a series of general and country level ‘widgets’ that gather and present information feeds from a variety of different sources on developments in the region.

The portal provides a good ‘one stop shop’ for information on developments in the region that will be of interest to analysts, academics, journalists, practitioners, policy makers and others working on the region. The portal is a living site and both the IDCR and Cyberalpha welcome comments and suggestions for improving or enhancing the sources and supply of information.

For access to the portal, please CLICK HERE.

For any further queries regarding the portal, please email info@idcr.org.uk