Rajani Nagesh Tadimalla

Nine months after Hosni Mubarak’s regime was overthrown, unrest in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) continues. Egyptians are still waiting for that evasive democracy as protests continue in Cairo. Libya witnessed a bloody end to 42 year old Gaddafi regime. Syria is in the midst of a severe crisis as protests and government crackdowns continue. The fate of Arab League’s peace plan still hangs in balance. Will we witness an end of the dictatorship across the world or will it lead to more chaos in countries facing the revolution? Part of the problem lies with the inability of the respective regimes to foresee the crisis and their refusal to undertake reforms. Had the regimes been flexible enough to relinquish power or had the dexterity to resolve internal issues, they could have continued to enjoy public support, prevented the loss of lives of hundreds of people, avoided the present chaos and external intervention in the region. Although human rights violations and non-cooperative attitude of regimes may sometimes necessitate external intervention, the latter often fails to bring the desired results. As we have seen in Afghanistan and Iraq, while external intervention makes a good start, they often fail to achieve what they had set to achieve. Best solutions lie within a country, and require foresight by people at the helm of affairs.