Summary for the Invisible Arb

Chapter 2 & 3
Marwan Bishara discusses the struggles in the Arab spring revolutions, in his book “The Invisible Arab”. In chapter 2, The Miracle Generation, he tries to explain the historical causes of the revolutions. The chapter begins with Marwan wondering what contributed to the wrongs that appeared in Arab leadership. First, he wonders how freedom from colonialism became negative for the Arab society and how self-declared leaders became dictators. Marwan then states his opinion that the problems facing Arabs do not have economic or religious reasons. He, then, continues claiming that the improper use of political power is what has differentiated the modern Arab society.

Mr. Bishara states that the Arab states’ governance is contrary to efforts with regard to improving the human society. He continues saying that those who try to create positive change lose power in various ways. His desire to show that the Arab leadership has been backward, since taking over from the colonialists is rather conspicuous. The autocratic administrations that existed at the beginning of the 21st century portray this quite well. The youngest dictatorship, Tunisia, had been existing for 25 years, before the revolutions started.

Despite being autocracies, Marwan states that countries like Egypt and Tunisia had well-developed societies. This was due to differentiation between the government and society. The totalitarian Arab states, on the other hand, have since then enforced uniform ideologies. Mr. Bishara says that the totalitarian regimes maintained power due to their holistic, yet deceptive ideologies. When challenged, the dictators claimed foreign powers posed a threat and, therefore, no reform should be undertaken. As a result, falling dictators took their states down with them. Consequently, such states have fallen into anarchy, ruled by several small factions. However, Bishara’s view is not correct in its entire entirety. Many of the aforementioned autocracies have...