THE NATURE OF CONFLICT IN HEGEL AND THE ARAB SPRING

Abstract

Hegel’s positionindicatesthat  conflict  is  natural.In  this  paper,  we  wish  to  explore,  from  a simple  analytic  point  of  view Hegel’striadic movement called the ‘dialectic’.  With  this,  hedeveloped  one  of  the  enduring  achievements,  a  philosophy  of  history  based  on  change  and freedom. He asserted that human nature like everything else; changes from one historical epoch to another. Hegel’s enterprise was not purely a historical account, but a way to comprehend the entire  evolution  of  human  civilization  in  a  comprehensive  perspective,  with  an  intention  of understanding the meaning and rationality behind the evolution. This rationality of world history is  the  progress  of  consciousness  of  freedom.  For  the  past  few  years,  the  Arab  World  which according  to  Hegel  had  been  static  and  outside  the  framework  of  world  history  owing  to  the unchanging  nature  of  their  civilization  has  experienced  chains  of  conflicts.  The  region  that endured abuse and miseryfor more than a century has risen against the despots to the admirationof  the  entire  world.  We  therefore,  setout  among  other  aims  to  unravel  the  root  causes  of  the uprising. Using analytical method, we intend to establish whether or not the recent uprising is a response  to  or  awakening  of  the  consciousness  of  freedom  as  posited  by  Hegel.  It  is  our conclusion that unless despotism is uprooted, and human rights and freedom restored in the Arab world, there will be no end to conflicts in the region.