The Role of Intellectual in the “Arab Spring” Revolutions, and his Relationship with the Political Authority

This study has sought to cast light on the role of the “Intellectual” in affecting change in the context of the Arab Spring revolutions. To that end, the researcher raised a question about the reasons and factors which have undermined the ability of the “Intellectual” to affect the process of democratic transition in the Arab World. The study aimes at identifying the reasons and factors behind the obstacles which have stood against the “Intellectual” and prevented her from effecting the sociopolitical change in the Arab region. The researcher suggested one basic hypothesis: The main reason behind the absence of the Arab Intellectual’s role in crystalsing nationally agreed upon values and goals, during the transitional stage in the Arab world, is attributed to the policy of containment which has been followed by the ruling political elite. This has led to division of the these political elites and decline of their influence. As a result, this has provided statesmen with an opportunity to dominate and place his hegemony over all aspects of political life. In its theoretical framework, the study focused on middle-grand theory which is a mix between the structural theory and the elite individualist theory. The researcher depended on the multiple-method approach, case study method, descriptive analytical method and elite approach. After data analysis, the researcher arrived to a number of conclusions. One conclusion is that it’s impossible to rule out the objective factors which form the Arab “Intellectual” in their context. These factors include structural divisions of the Arab societies, nature of the Arab states, complexities of their structure and their formation over historical ages. Furthermore, there is mutually historical relationship between the Arab intellectual and the political authority which has always conclusively settled any conflict in favor of the latter. This has made the Arab intellectual play the role of the employed intellectual who has no choice but to defend the political authority, or the persecuted intellectual, at the hand of the political authority, or the isolated intellectual who stays away from politics and directs most of his/her energy to cultural and critical factors. Finally, and equally important, the Arab intellectual cannot , in post Arab revolutions, quit ideological grouping which had prevailed in pre- Arab revolutions. This is attributed to many years of ideological groupings which have spanned for more than ten decades in comparison with the young Arab revolutions which began in 2011.