How do you understand the argument that Arab Uprisings are moments of transformation rather than transition? Support your answer with examples
Answer: As Ahmed Hassan says in the documentary, the revolution is about changing consciences, and once consciences are changed, can they elect a good leader. Another paraphrase from Khalid Abdalla in the documentary is that a revolution won’t change the country in two years, but it is about creating a transformation. This is what id say a transformation is because simply transitioning like with the Mubarak regime to the Military does not address the issue.
This can speak to Heydamanns explanation of transitions being fluid and not representing a sort of linear development. This change is affected by the context; Libya is different from Egypt, so the type of transformation that takes place will be different. Libya, there is a de-institutionalized past, and in Egypt, there was a system of authoritarianism that still plagued them post-uprising. The case of Egypt was that this affected the people that came into power. For example, the Military after Mubarak and in 2013, the first democratically elected president, was removed by the form of a coup.
Making these uprisings transformations because each political landscape had its past that affected what came after the rebellion. But as in the case of Tahrir Square 2011, you could see a collective conscience amongst the people.
