MDC Principal Research Fellow Dr. Bruce Maddy-Weitzman analyzes the effect of the Arab Spring on the Arab League's effectiveness.
One unexpected result of the Arab upheavals has been the renewed relevance of the 22-member League of Arab States. Long denigrated as a largely toothless organization, "a cross between the forces of fiction and futility,"[1] the league became an integral part of the diplomatic maneuvering in a number of areas. It provided crucial legitimacy for the Western intervention that led to the overthrow of Mu'ammar al-Qaddafi, supported the Gulf Cooperation Council's ultimately successful effort to force Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh to relinquish power, and has been active in trying to resolve the Syrian crisis.
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