Mandeep Tiwana

Civil society holds key to future of Arab Spring states

Although the uprisings that shook regimes across the Arab region were spontaneous, reflecting a breaking point in people’s tolerance of the system, organized civil society now has a crucial role to play in ensuring that the euphoria and momentum generated by the revolutions is not lost. This was the general consensus of a plenary session at the 2011 CIVICUS World Assembly, which brought together over 800 people representing civil society, government, multilateral bodies and the media to discuss civil society’s role before and after revolutions.