Foreign Actors: a Double-Edged Sword Hanging Over Contentious Politics in the Middle East

Abstract

The stated goal underlying this edited volume is to study the complex role of popular agency and internal variables in the uprisings that broke out across the Arab world in 2011. This chapter takes a completely opposite perspective and, without neglecting the importance of domestic actors, it seeks to highlight the significant role foreign actors played in the protests. In order to do that, it is first necessary to distinguish between the two main phases of each uprising: its outbreak and its outcome. With regard to the outbreak phase, internal actors and dynamics were typically central. In fact, popular movements arose in a number of Arab countries that shared common calls for socioeconomic and political change eventually aimed at achieving better living standards and a greater participation by the people in their nations’ political systems. There has been general agreement among researchers that these protest movements were the result of the spontaneous mobilization of independent internal actors predominantly interested in addressing domestic grievances. As for the outcome phase, instead, this chapter will show that external actors and dynamics were often decisive. Indeed, once the protests began, the response of foreign actors had a crucial influence on the development and outcome of the uprisings. In some cases foreign action supported popular movements and facilitated change, whereas in others foreign action backed existing regimes and helped to maintain the status quo.