Six years after its inception, the Arab spring has not been able to remove dictatorships in a number of Arab countries. Entrenched regimes fought back pushing conflicts into a state of brutal civil wars with no end in sight. A prolonged stalemate with no obvious winners has led revolutionary and counter-revolution forces to contemplate arrangements for reconciliation within the existing authoritative frameworks. That is, reform, reconciliation, and other forms of de-escalatory arrangements would be instituted all under the terms of the dictatorships; regime structures remain intact while changes would be absorbed within the existing frameworks of authority. This paper argues that reconciliation under authoritarianism is the wrong approach to peace and development and will only lead to entrenchment of dictatorships. The problem is not in the type of political gains sought or the form of conflict settlement but with the structure and end goals of the dictatorship itself. For security and stability to replace chaos in the Arab world, authoritarian regimes must be transformed and power relations must be changed first. To achieve this, Arab revolutions should continue to challenge repressive regimes in a resilient non-violent movement demanding new social contracts that allows for accountability, transparency, good governance as a starting point. The international community, particularly the West, should refrain from supporting tyrannical regimes thinking they could help them achieve their security objectives. Such support will only lead to exacerbating the causes of instability that threaten the interest of everyone.
Arab spring, authoritarianism, revolution, reconciliation, transition.