Searching for Revolutionary Success: A Comparative Analysis of the Color Revolutions and Arab Awakening

Upon comparing the relative degrees of success between revolutionary waves known as the Color Revolution and the Arab Awakening, four particular criteria emerge as critical to a successful revolution: non-violence, elections, a singular leader, and the regional exportation of democratic expertise. The Color Revolutions were revolutions that took place in the post Soviet space in the early 2000s. This paper specifically examines those in Georgia and Ukraine. Each of these revolutions was preceded by fraudulent elections, and after mass civil unrest the previous autocrats stepped aside. Although, in the long term ,a revisionist Russia has sought to destabilize each of these nations, the revolutions did instill democratic tendencies within each nations domestic power structure, and neither country degenerated into general lawlessness. In 2010 a revolutionary wave collectively known as the Arab Awakening, or Arab Spring, began to move through the Arab-Middle East and North Africa. This paper specifically examines the revolutions of Egypt, Libya, and Syria. Generally these revolutions lacked a clear central leader, and were spontaneous reactions to heavy-handed tactics used by regimes against initially small peaceful protests.