CONSEQUENCES OF THE ARAB SPRING EVENTS IN THE CONTEXT OF REGIONAL AND GLOBAL SECURITY

Abstract

The Arab Spring has become the main driver of changes in political processes in the Middle East and North Africa. At the regional level, the Arab Spring has led to a change in the balance of power in the Middle East and North Africa. This has led to a significant weakening or even cessation of Egypt and Libya’s independent regional policy, as well as to the regrouping of the major states of the Arab world by their inclination to support the movements generated by the Arab Spring (Qatar) or to oppose them (Saudi Arabia). On the global level, however, this series of revolutions has led to a migration crisis in the EU and strengthened Islamist tendencies, due to the weakening of border controls, particularly in the Sinai Peninsula, the Mediterranean basin or the Suez Canal, and has contributed to the acceleration of uranium production for a nuclear bomb by Iran. The revolutionary events of the Arab Spring undermined the traditional security architecture in the Middle East and North Africa that had been in place during the 1970s and 1990s. The only positive thing that can be taken away is that the Arab Spring has destroyed the regional order that has existed for 30–40 years in the Middle East and created new opportunities for several countries that could take advantage of the situation and increase their influence, such as Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia or the UAE. This article examines the problems of the migration crisis, in particular, the importance of assessing and influencing the large-scale population movements in the security sphere of the European Union, the impact on international relations in the global dimension, and the ways to overcome this crisis caused, in particular, by the events of the Arab Spring. The purpose of the study is to analyze the consequences of the Arab Spring events in the context of regional and global security. The objectives of the article are to determine the preconditions and causes of the Arab Spring movement; to consider the phenomenon of the Arab Spring in the conceptual context of modern research; to define the concept of ‘migration crisis’ in the EU processes; to analyze the impact of the Arab Spring on the migration crisis and the policies of the European Union; to analyze the geopolitical consequences of the Arab Spring.