A little over ten years ago, a number of Arab countries in the Middle East and North Africa felt the breeze of democracy that blew across our globe. Unlike Eastern Europe and Central America, in the Arab and Muslim regions the breeze soon gave way to scorching winds of turmoil that only consolidated existing dictatorships.
Democracy, in as much as it entails free elections, accountability, transparency, the rule of law and the protection of fundamental human rights, is a forbidden fruit. Nevertheless, almost every single occupier of a seat of power throughout the twenty two Arab ‘territorial’ entities has come under pressure to liberalise and democratise.
