GLOBAL CONTEXT

As these lines were being penned in 2011–12, the world was gripped by the series of popular challenges to authoritarian rule that has come to be known as the Arab Spring. The revolution that spread across the Arab world like a conflagration was set ablaze by the dramatic act of a Tunisian street vendor by the name of Mohammed Bouazzi, who set himself on fire after security forces overturned his vegetable cart, thereby depriving him of the right to earn his livelihood. The popular revolution that swept across the country did not stop until it got rid of the dictatorial and venal rule of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. The success of the Tunisian revolution ignited a series of popular revolts in Yemen, Egypt, Libya and Syria. After varying degrees of resistance and differing degrees of ferocity, almost all of the dictatorial regimes crumbled. Hosni Mubarak of Egypt resigned and was forced to face charges of causing the death of so many protesters. Muammar Ghadafi of Libya was finally hunted down, caught hiding in a gutter and summarily executed. Both rulers had pushed authoritarian rule to its most absurd limit by toying with the idea of dynastic succession. The wiliest of them all, Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen, made a safe exit after many twists and turns, including surviving an assassination attempt. These last three had each been in power for thirty years or more.