Nine months after Hosni Mubarak was forced out of power, ‘hundreds of thousands of Egyptians are back in Tahrir Square and streets across the country’ determined 'to reclaim their revolution and force the transfer of power from the military to a real civilian government,' writes Esam Al-Amin.

The Islamically-oriented Ennahdha movement won the elections in Tunisia with a commanding 42 per cent of the vote. How will Western political leaders, long prone to influence by Islamophobic voices, respond?

‘Like perfect storms, several factors have to simultaneously and collectively come together for popular uprisings or protests to turn into a revolution,’ writes Esam Al-Amin. ‘So what are the elements that distinguish the Egyptian revolution?’

With mounting protests forcing President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to flee the country, the Tunisian people's toppling of a deeply unpopular regime may well 'become a watershed date in the modern history of the Arab World', writes Esam al-Amin. Once a key regional ally of Western governments, Ben Ali's fall from grace has been precipitated by an extraordinary wave of sustained protest. Time will tell if the 'Tunisian revolution' attains lasting change and success, al-Amin concludes.