The Arab world after a year of popular revolts/El mundo arabe a un ano de las revueltas populares/Le monde arabe, un an apres les revoltes populaires

In this paper the author makes a preliminary assessment of the course so far taken by the so called Arab Spring and the many obstacles and challenges it has faced. Despite the high expectations that these social protest movements have generated, especially for their transformative potential, she argues that real or meaningful reforms have not been achieved so far, despite the fall of several dictators and the persistent social protests. The author stresses in particular the conditions in each of the countries in this region and the increasing external interference in the affairs of this region that allow foreign powers to exploit domestic situations to their advantage, a phenomenon not new, dating from the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire and the formation of modern nation-states in the Arab world. She proposes to analyze these movements in the light of a broader historical perspective to help us understand the full extent and complexity of the processes that are taking place in this strategic region, as these social protest movements have been present throughout the years, with periods of progress and setbacks, within a complex and long process marked by internal quarrels, regional rivalries, and strong external interference. Keywords: Arab Spring, Arab world, authoritarianism, political and democratic transition, popular mobilization, Western powers En este trabajo, la autora hace un balance preliminar sobre el curso que hasta ahora ha tomado la llamada "primavera arabe" y los multiples obstaculos y desafios que esta ya esta enfrentando. Sostiene que, a pesar de las grandes expectativas que estos movimientos de protesta social han generado, sobre todo por su potencial transformador, no se han logrado hasta ahora reformas reales o significativas, a pesar de la caida de varios dictadores y la persistencia de las protestas sociales. Destaca en particular las condiciones existentes en cada uno de los paises de la region y la creciente interferencia externa en los asuntos de la region que permite a las potencias extranjeras aprovechar las situaciones internas en su propio beneficio, un fenomeno nada nuevo, que data de la desintegracion del Imperio Otomano y la conformacion de los modernos Estados nacionales del mundo arabe. Propone, asimismo, analizar dichos movimientos a la luz de una perspectiva historica mas amplia, que nos ayude a comprender en toda su magnitud y complejidad los procesos que se estan desarrollando en esta estrategica region, ya que es