Press freedom and political instability in the Arab world: An empirical investigation

The purpose of this article is to empirically test the effect of press freedom on political instability in a sample of fifteen Arab countries for the 2006–15 period. Statistical analysis offers a significant effect of press freedom on political instability. However, when democracy, GDP annual growth and GDP per capita annual growth are taken into account, a fragile mixed positive and negative effect exists. Yet, the findings emphasize a significant interaction effect of press freedom and freedom on political instability. An interesting result is that Arab Spring has not positively affected the relationship between press freedom and political instability.