Online published on 29 January, 2013.
This paper cautions about expecting the Arab uprisings to usher in wellfunctioning democratic political systems in the near future, despite the spectacular overthrow of long-ensconced dictators. The author claims that the prerequisites of genuine democracy are mostly misunderstood by Arab masses. He further asserts that Arabs need to situate reformed and non-belligerent Islam in an agreed upon political formula, and to foster an environment of humanism in order to give meaning and purpose to community formation and political action. One should expect conflict to punctuate Arab politics until the new political elites and rising social forces learn to process public transactions in a civil manner and on the basis of compromise.
