An inquisitive look on «the Arab Spring»: between caution and hope

Abstract

Western public opinion welcomed with joy and satisfaction the citizen mobilizations that during the first months of winter 2011 ousted the dictators of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen from power. There are eighteen still standing, despite the civil war that is being waged in Syria. It seems odd that more than 300 million people have to live in poverty and without the slightest human rights in potentially rich but very poorly managed and governed countries.