I also attempted to avoid using redundant information, for I became aware that many of the articles and books I perused contained duplicate information to that which I had previously gathered from other sources. Another qualifying factor for the utilization of sources that I attempted to maintain was the date of publication in conjunction to major events in the Arab region. By this I mean that those articles I compiled from 2011, or even 2012, could be missing the broader picture that those written later could have seen, if only because more events had the time to play out, giving greater clarity to the situation, as such, these earlier articles must be viewed in that light.
Campante, Filipe R., and Davin Chor. "Why Was the Arab World Poised for Revolution? Schooling, Economic Opportunities, and the Arab Spring."Journal of Economic Perspectives 26.2 (2012): 167-88. Print.
This paper acknowledges the existence of many factors influences the Arab Spring uprisings, but makes the claim that education and its correlation to economic activity are the main tenants inspiring political change. It claims that there is a vast amount of evidence supporting this claim; notably that the more educated the society, the more political participation will inevitably be seen. It reveals the potential problems associated with an educated society in that, while some Arab countries may have been mass producing graduates, they often failed to have jobs for them, creating estrangement and volatility. For higher education was not met with sufficient economic openings for an increasingly educated youth. Education also gives rise to higher expectations for standard of living, and when that is not forthcoming, the populous is bound to react, in this case uproariously. Several graphs and figures are given and expounded upon, proving that the Arab World in general has vastly improved its education in the last decades. I believe this article will be extremely useful in my research due to its thorough nature of the writing and compelling arguments, but most of all, because of the as yet unconsidered viewpoint of the prominence of Arab education among the list of other factors.
Clark, Sir Terence "Reflection On The Arab Awakening." Asian Affairs 44.1 (2013): 44-50. Print.
Why and How Arab Spring Became Successful?