

The Heritage Foundation’s 2012 Index of Economic Freedom confirmed that the lack of economic freedom was a major factor that sparked the popular uprisings.

It is no coincidence that Tunisia and Egypt, the first two countries to experience the Arab Spring, were hampered by socialist legacies that created corrosive corruption and dysfunctional bureaucracies that were perceived to oppress rather than serve citizens. The state-dominated economic systems adopted by Tunis, Cairo, and many other Arab governments in the 1950s created structural and institutional problems that undermined economic growth and job creation.

As a result, the regional unemployment rate of the Middle East and North Africa averages more than 10 percent, one of the highest in the world. Unemployment rates are even higher for young Arabs, who formed the vanguard of the protests.


Corruption was a major issue that also helped to galvanize opposition to governments in Egypt, Libya, Syria, and Yemen.

Many of the countries destabilized by the Arab Spring need not only political reforms and the establishment of more responsive governments, but also major economic reforms.

See: America’s Global Agenda for Economic Freedom