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The spark which burgeoned Arab Spring in 2011 has presented the feasibility of democratization in Tunisia. Beyond the young “Tunisian street vendor” setting himself afire in protest demonstrations in 2011, one initial response of the government was to shut the Internet down (“Arab Spring Research Guide,” 2015). The influence of one relatively recent movement shortly after the first budding blossoms of Arab Spring, mass protests demanded the ousting of then-President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali (“Tunisia’s Arab Spring, Three Years on,” 2014). Three years after settling down a bit, the feasibility of democratization in Tunisia has faced a few sticky harbingers which hint to future outcomes. The same aforementioned source contends that Tunisia has encountered several obstacles, towards a more liberal stance of liberty, in the rubric of socio-economic security and all the people struggling in general with the transition.
Perhaps the question is best framed by researcher and observer Lofti Maktouf, who discusses the situation in his journal article entitled “Arab Spring Status Report: Where is Tunisia Heading?” Noting the unstructured form of the initial uprising, Maktouf (2012) argues that an Islamist agenda has nothing to do with it, and currently “Tunisia is set to choose between building an open, pluralistic and a development-driven Arab and Muslim society, or, slipping irreversibly into an Islamist, totalitarian and a backward-looking model” (p. 63). Political issues are not the only concerns as the nation attempts to discover a calming balance in the overall situation. For example, much global attention is poised upon energy consumption pertaining to renewable resources, and better ways to garner food security. In other words, enterprises both public and private have presently fixed their gaze upon a more international and uniform ideology of progress. Nevertheless, according to Maktouf (2012) the constitutional assembly of Tunisia which was controlled by perpetrators of an Islamic agenda would wish to establish a proposal that limits “the principle of gender equality,” as well as ensure a consensus “within parliament with very limited powers to the executive branch,” simultaneously introducing “intentionally vague concepts” (p. 65). Perhaps when all is said and done, the best way to assess where Tunisia is headed in a post Arab Spring environment, is to absorb and consider the opinions of the average rank-and-file citizen.
Obviously, the spirit of the Tunisian people braved a valiant fight against France in the mid-1950s, thus winning her independence. In a backward glance through history, Maktouf (2012) comments that Tunisia has geo-physical roots closely attached to Europe, but a key to remember is that their quest for independence held a strategic core of “fighting poverty, building infrastructure, educating the masses, emancipating women and entertaining peaceful, cordial, and intelligent regional and international relations” (p. 66). It seems only logical that gender repression effectively cuts any socio-political gains by half. One observer, noting the immediate outbreak of food riots in Tunisia at the dawn of Arab Spring, Ogbonnaya (2013) suggests that Tunisia has failed to achieve an acceptable transition towards democratic governance – along with Egypt and Libya (p. 16). And yet how does one begin to compare the fresh upheaval of violent takeover that occurred in Egypt, to Tunisia?
However, perhaps, having taking a closer look at the scholar’s intent, he meant that Tunisia shared a vibrant passion and strength of determination on par with Egypt, in terms of meeting and overthrowing the ruling class. Joyce and Smadhi (2014) of Aljazeera report a reflection that perhaps change is not coming quickly enough, noting “Nidhal Hlaiem, a 29-year-old activist with Amnesty International, said she was disappointed the assembly did not abolish the death penalty,” which President Marzouki agreed with (“Tunisia’s Arab Spring, Three Years on,” 2014). The report surfaced just last year in 2014, and the report also comments that Tunisia’s transitional process appears stalled at certain points – especially when compared to the Egyptian coup and “horrific civil war in Syria, and suppression in Bahrain,” which points to Tunisia as uniquely surviving the season for an opportunity for new constitutional building (“Tunisia’s Arab Spring, Three Years on,” 2014). Today, however, it is important to keep in mind that no country is an island. In other words, the global forces of unification have aggressively marched forward affecting all nations.
Former foreign minister of Tunisia, Rafik Abdessalem sat down in an interview with The European. Guckelsberger and Mensel (2014) report he said that he does feel the term ‘Arab Spring’ as representative of the correct term and that events in Tunisia will affect the “whole region,” yet adding, “there is no escape from political change” (“Tunisia Where Arab Spring Worked,” 2014). Continuing further, Guckelsberger et al. (2014) say the former foreign minister emphasizes the impossibility to return to a Mubarak-like regime in the Middle East, and that in the tides of complexity and the “messy” fallout of the religious warring in Syria, that “the exceptional case is Tunisia” (“Tunisia Where Arab Spring Worked,” 2014). Abdessalem explains, Guckelsberger et al. (2014) report, that Tunisian national security is at stake, due to the pockets of erosion in the region, particularly “affected by what happens in Libya,” but “luckily, the political elite in Tunisia” understand the need for “consensus and consolidation of the democratic process” despite the challenges (“Tunisia Where Arab Spring Worked,” 2014). Not all agree.
Differing and even opposing the term ‘Arab Spring’ one journalist of World Affairs has an alternative view. Totten (2012) denies the appropriate of the term ‘Arab Spring’ suggesting that ‘Islamist Winter’ may be a more accurate description, arguing that “in the medium term, the number of genuinely liberal democracies to emerge in the Arab world is likely to be one or zero” (p. 23). Claiming that Tunisia seems to be somewhat Westernized on the surface, Totten characterizes Tunisia as reflective of how Spain was in the 1970s, informing that most “Tunisian women in the cities eschew the headscarf and dress like Europeans” (p. 24). His opinion of course refers to the medium-term outcome of Tunisia’s near future and move towards fundamental rights. It is no secret that shortly after the enunciation of Arab Spring in Tunisia, jobless university graduates took to the streets (“Tunisia: Confronting Social,” 2015). Perhaps by now, several years later those scholars have been able to proactively engage in politically accelerated moves in government, policy, education, and ideas which help Tunisia to integrate average families to meaningfully participate in the process of solidifying the feasibility and democratization process in their country.
References
Cornell University Library. (2015). Arab Spring: A research & study guide Tunisia [Data file]. Retrieved from http://guides.library.cornell.edu/c.php?g=31688&p=200750
Guckelsberger, F., & Mensel, L. (2014, October 28). Tunisia is where the Arab Spring worked – and why. The World Post {Huffington and Berggruen Institute}. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/28/tunisia-arab-spring-abdessalem_n_6058882.html
International Crisis Group. (2015). Tunisia: Confronting social and economic challenges [Data file]. Retrieved from http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/multimedia/podcasts/2012/tunisia-lawrence-economic-challenges.aspx
Joyce, R., & Smadhi, A. (2014, January 15). Tunisia’s Arab Spring: Three years on. Aljazeera. Retrieved from http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/01/tunisia-arab-spring-three-years-20141146353728616.html
Maktouf, L. (2012). Arab Spring status report: Where is Tunisia heading? Turkish Policy Quarterly, 11(2), 63-75.
Ogbonnaya, U.M. (2013). Arab Spring in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya: A comparative analysis of causes and determinants. Alternatives: Turkish Journal of International Relations, 12(3), 4-16.
Totten, M.J. (2012). Arab Spring or Islamist Winter? World Affairs, 174(5), 23.
