The post-2011 uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa have been the awakening of the Arab population who have lived under the rule of dictators for more than four decades. These rulers systematically degraded and censored their people, who eventually stood up in the face of tyranny since December 17, 2010. Crucially, these are popular revolutions in Arab world, that some observers have called it as the third Arab Awakening. The First Arab Awakening reflected an outbreak of nationalist sentiment in the Ottoman Empire's Arabic-speaking provinces. The second wave of Arab Awakening rose against Arab governments that were doing the bidding of colonial powers. The period of conflict began following the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 and lasted until 1970. The differentiating factor was between Arab nationalist republics, usually quasi-socialist and Pan-Arabist in orientation, while the traditional monarchies, with a quasi-feudal or rentierist economic structure. Now, there are numerous signs that a revolutionary upsurge may soon be on the agenda in the Persian Gulf Sheikhdoms, entitled "the Fourth Arab Awakening".