During the great democratic wave of the 1990’s, which brought down dictatorships in Eastern Europe, Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia, nothing similar happened in Arab North Africa and the Middle East. Now, however, the region’s political inertia has been disrupted.
在1990年代的民主浪潮期间，东欧，拉美，撒哈拉以南非洲和东南亚地区都相继有独裁政权被推翻，但北非和中东却置身事外。如今这两大区域的政治惰性已被打破，位于开罗的解放广场也成为了希望以及“人民力量”的象征。