POLITICAL, SOCIO-ECONOMIC CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF THE “ARAB SPRING” CONFLICT IN EGYPT

This article discusses the political and socio-economic causes and consequences of the revolutionary movements (conflict) that took place in the first and second decades of the 21st century in the Middle East, particularly in Egypt, known as the 'Arab Spring.' The primary objective of the article is to provide a comparative analysis of various approaches by different experts-researchers in the study of social uprisings and protests. We have studied and analyzed the causality of social uprisings in Egypt in the context of group behavior methodology, deprivation theory, resource mobilization principles, and crowd psychology. As a result of the study, we concluded that poverty among the population, low educational standards, high unemployment rates, inflation, lack of social security mechanisms, and corruption were not the main causes that, as it is said, provided the groundwork for the revolution and uprisings in Egypt in 2010-2011. The main role in the causality of the 'Arab Spring' conflict was played by socio-psychological factors—group behavior, deprivation, resource mobilization, and the psychological characteristics and mechanisms of the crowd. Mechanisms of the influence of the aforementioned socio-psychological phenomena were used to increase the emotionality of the participating population in protests and demonstrations. To expand their influence and ensure the effectiveness of their functioning, special interventions were carried out by external forces as well.