On NPR's website, I was reading an article that related a bit to our reading for this week. It discussed the problems Libya faces in the coming years. It talks about how those liberators who were so important in the country's revolution, are now a problem for incoming leaders. It reminded me of the development of civil society in some ways. Just as Palestine faced problems after their civil society developed and specialized, the new leaders of Libya need to find ways to calm the intensely opinionated and mobilized groups that overtook the country less than a year ago. It seems to be a complicated balancing act that many MENA states are going to encounter. They have the formation of extremist groups that succeed in mobilizing and creating change, but once that change comes they need to focus on creating a more peaceful and typical civil society. If they cannot please the groups that brought about change, those groups will mobilize again and so on, never actually achieving a functional state. Libya's head of Congress, Mohammed el-Megarif, has been attempting to reintegrate militias by buying back their weapons and ordering their disbandment so that these groups do not begin to participate in organized crime. However, integrating these groups into the new military may mean that the military is not loyal to its leader, which could cause more problems down the line. It seems that for MENA countries, revolution is just the beginning of a long and complicated process to peace and democracy.
http://www.npr.org/2012/09/27/161827939/new-democracies-face-challenges-from-old-militias
The idea that there is still so much work to do seems to make this the perfect time to be taking this class. When I told my friends back home about the class, most of them responded that it's a shame we didn't get the chance to take it in the past two years, when the Arab Spring was in full swing. However I think you're completely right in saying there will still be a lot more problems down the road, that really justifies our taking this class. The real work is not the actual overthrow or revolution, it's what happens next, how the society is rebuilt. Also you're point about the Lybian congressman buying weapons is really interesting but it can make one wonder, where are those weapons going to go? Back to the Lybian military or maybe to a foreign market that could use some armed help in their resistance to an oppressive regime (*cough*cough* Syria).
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