2019 in review: More Arab revolutions, but how much change?

IT HAS BEEN nine years since the self-immolation of Muhammad Bouazizi, the Tunisian fruit-seller who despaired over corrupt officials and the lack of work. His act inspired the “Arab spring” uprisings that toppled the leaders of four countries. No name has been given to the that washed over the region in 2019. Yet more Arab leaders fell this year than in 2011, as millions of demonstrators loudly echoed Bouazizi’s complaints.Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the president of Algeria, was the first to go, in April in the face of unrest after 20 years of dictatorial rule. Just over a week later Omar al-Bashir, three decades in charge of Sudan, was pushed out by a combination of street protests and the intervention of the army. Protesters thought both leaders had overstayed their welcome, but have they achieved real change? Sudan’s generals signed a power-sharing agreement with leaders of the protest movement in August. But an was widely seen as an effort to entrench members of the old regime.