Social Constructivism explains the Arab Spring

Social Constructivism explains the Arab Spring

 

The Arab Spring is a term generally used to describe the current and on-going changes occurring in the Middle East since the 2010 outbreak of protests originally occurring in Tunisia following Mohammed Bouazizi’s self-immolation after being awfully treated by police-force and local officials. However, this tragic incident had unconsciously brought light to the corruption and lack of human rights afforded to those not only in Tunisia but also throughout the Middle East. This event consequently sparked the Arab Spring revolution creating uprisings throughout the Arab region. These protests and uprisings had spread across the Middle Eastern regions like wildfire as a result of “Facebook campaigns” and online activities together with the prolific use of mobile phones to acquire internet information.

The Arab Spring - Facebook. Photo credited to Google Image

 In order to develop a greater understanding of the Arab Spring incident, it is imperative to take into account the influences of ideas, norms and rules on identity and interests of particular states. Social constructivism places an emphasis on structures constituting the identities of states rather than constraining them, as seen in the case of the Arab Spring.

Middle East - Protesters. Photo credit to Google Image

The key to understanding and explaining the Arab Spring in through a constructivist approach as it recognizes that ideas, values and cultural norms are the fundamental elements in domestic and international political decision-making.

Many theories of International Relations fail to clarify and foresee events in the international realm including the Arab Spring; this is because they assume that states have a certain level of generality. However, Social Constructivism places greater value on norms, rules, identities and other social dimensions. Social Constructivism therefore teaches that the international realm is a continuous course of construction and interaction, where structures are influenced by state identity as well as identities being influenced by structures; these processes cannot be explained by the application of generalizations.

Constructivism cultural norms. Google Image

Social Constructivism vies the world as being under ongoing construction, it is continually transforming according to ideas, values and cultural norms. It is particularly the states elites and leaders that possess the capacity to fully transform and build national identity this can explain the relationship and interaction of nations with one another and the consideration of enemies and friends. In turn, constructivists believe that states are susceptible to regular change, and that the nation’s values and norms can be socially reconstructed provided that these changes are in harmony with their cultural values and norms.

Social Constructivism provides an effective explanation of the Arab Spring as the propagation of Western norms within the Middle East through globalization, the utilization of social networking and media tools causing transformations and change. Social interaction is believed to be the driving force in the occurrence of the Arab Spring as this level of interaction constituted divergences.

Middle East meets West. Photo credited to Google Image

So the Middle East became submerged with Western concepts of human rights, freedom and social equality which posed a great threat to their current structure and identity which had been established over centuries. This is explained through the constructivist teaching of the changeability of social structures and identity and their interdependence.  

Because states in the Middle East felt at ease about the solidity of their allegedly secure identity and structure, the proliferation of Western norms and ideas through the course of globalization was not initially considered dangerous. But the wave of globalization was particularly influential through media on particularly the youth of the Middle East. More and more individuals became willing to rebuild their collective identities as a result of regular social interactions. The Arab Spring revolution was centred on the idea of individual and political rights. This awareness and desire for the recognition of their rights was the most influential instrument for structural transformation which led the people of the Middle East to construct new pathways from the original structures that once guarded their previous lives.

Arab Spring Revolution. Photo credited to Google Image

However, the Arab Spring revolution is far from achieving a Western sense of freedom but it seems that the Arab regions are regressing to a more culturally accepted form of control and governance which can be more effectively explained under a constructivist theory as the decisions of the state are based on their identity and cultural norms and any changes to these norms or identities will result in a shift in social structure.

 


References:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqOdG9RygNw

http://www.e-ir.info/2013/06/19/can-constructivism-explain-the-arab-spring/