Strategic Assessment

The wave of protests, popular demonstrations, and anti-regime uprisings grouped under the rubric “Arab Spring” that spread over much of the Arab world has prompted a wave of speculations about future developments. Much of this analytical activity has focused on the presumed causes of what appears to be a sharp departure from the stability or quiescence that characterized Middle Eastern politics over the previous decades, and on the likely consequences across the region. While Israel is obviously unable to determine the outcomes of what are essentially domestic dynamics or even influence their course and direction, it can, however, take steps to mitigate their potentially threatening or dangerous ramifications.