Socio-economic and Religious factors of the evolution of the Arab Spring: the Case of Egypt and Morocco

The chain of revolutionary actions and popular uprisings in the Arab countries, that was called «the Arab Spring» completely changed the political situation in the Middle East and North Africa. In some countries political leaders were swept from the power in others leaders were forced to implement a number of reforms.The character of the uprisings has been evolving and changing in every country depending on the differences in socio-economic development, the volume of political rights and freedoms, the government's attitude to Islamist parties, that were the reasons why in Egypt the protests ended with armed conflicts and led to a complete change of the regime, while in Morocco there was balanced approach by the authorities and the country was able to avoid the negative consequences.This project aims to investigate how the character of the uprisings in the region has been developing with time. The research focuses on two patterns of the development of the Arab Spring – Egypt, as an example of stormy events, and Morocco, as a vivid example of a balanced approach by the authorities.