Arab Spring: The State of the Democratic Reform in the Middle East

June 24, 2014

Two years after the revolutions that shook the political landscape of the Arab world, several countries in the region remain unsettled. In Egypt, the transition has been marked by extreme political polarization between the Muslim Brotherhood and its secular competitors. In Libya, militias continue to operate outside of state control. In Syria, the uprising is sliding toward a sectarian conflict. Did the Arab Spring really change that much for the better, as hopes of democracy seem to have faded, or is it still too soon to tell? And how does the tumult in the region affect the interests of the United States?

Jeffrey Martini, Senior Middle East Analyst at the RAND Corporation, addresses these questions, and also discusses the U.S., Russia, and international community's response to a nuclear Iran and Syria.