Pro-Western Arab leaders governed against prevailing popular sentiment

Evidence

There are many statesmen and even a few governments in the Arab world who believe that the long-term interests of their countries and peo­ ples require co-operation with the West, help from the West. They can, however, only pursue such policies by disregarding or suppressing popular feeling. It is the policy of rejection and insult that arouses immediate and spontaneous en­ thusiasm among the mass of the people. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1186

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Supports the sacrifice/added article theme by suggesting anti-Western defiance functioned as a costly expressive gesture of identity rather than a pragmatic alignment — connects to how symbolic acts carry political weight.
• XREF: connects to: Western media favored liberal pro-Western voices inside the uprisings; Western governments defended allied autocrats during the Egyptian uprising — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 228