Psychiatric morbidity a mong victims of Arab revolutions

Abstract

On 17 December 2010, the self-immolation of Tunisian vegetable vendor Mohammed Bouazizi sparked the Arab Spring. Within a few months, a wave of protest had swept away the despots of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Since then protests have been keeping the region, which has until recently been viewed as having stable authoritarian regimesand as being largely resistant to democratization, on edge. At the beginning of 2011, protests and unrest broke out in almost every Arab country. The only countries that have thus far managed to avoid such problems are the Gulf monarchies of Qatar and, experiencing only marginal protests, the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), both of which guarantee their populations a worry-free life bankrolled by oil income. The Arab Spring did not come out of left field. In most of the region’s countries there have been The Arab Spring did not come out of left field. In most of the region’s countries there have been demonstrations and strikes Summary 211 protesting social hardships and despotism for years; since 2000, these protests have increasingly developed into transnational movements. Their demands were to remove the ruling regimes aiming to have better life through good economy, political reforms and social justice.