The Arab spring as a line of Modernization

The article aims at studying the meaning of the events of the Arab spring of 2011 as a stage of formation of the modern Arab society within the process of catching-up modernization. The article examines the main mechanisms and stages of socio-economic transformation of the Arab society as a comprehensive process of “the reform of the system” which follows the Western model of the modern industrial society. Attention is paid to the specific characteristics of the modernization in the Arab East, which are: asynchronous nature of economic and sociopolitical processes, growing role of the nation-state, increasing differentiation of Arab countries. The author explains the explosive nature of the events of 2011 in the region by contradictions, which were provoked within the process of modernization, on the one hand, by growing fragmentation of the society with regard to their attitude to the values of the modernity and the Tradition, and on the other hand, by socioeconomic issues of the modernized or semi-modernized society whose expectation hadn’t been met by the authorities during the process of transformation. The catching-up modernization, which has ended, has had different results for the Arab states but it has drastically changed the sociopolitical balance of power in the Arab society and has complicated the process of addressing the old issues as well as led to new conflicts, particularly, the issue of the international terrorism. In the 21st century the Arab states are facing the need to form a social balance on a new basis through a development modernization

Ancient history · Modernization theory · Political science · History · Law · Regional Socio-Economic Development Trends