Democratization of Tunisia

This assignment analyzes the case of Tunisian revolution of 2011 to understand the way the country was democratized and the reasons for its democratization.

Running head: DEMOCRATIZATION OF TUNISIA
DEMOCRATIZATION OF TUNISIA
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Introduction
The aim of this assignment is to analyze the case of Tunisian revolution of 2011 to
understand the way the country was democratized and the reasons for its democratization.
Democratization means the introduction of democratic system and principles in a country that
has been devoid of it (Gill, 2017). The assignment will first explain the meaning of
democratization and its significance in the contemporary era. Then, the assignment will discuss
the revolution in Tunisia that took place in 2011 and that resulted in the democratization of the
country in the true sense.
Discussion
Democratization, as has been explained in the introductory section, is the transition of a
non-democratic country into a democratic regime including significant political transformations
shifting in a democratic track. The transition could be either from an authoritarian state into a
complete democracy, to a semi-democracy from an authoritarian system of politics, or from a
semi-authoritarian system into democratic system (Geddes, Wright & Frantz, 2014).
In Tunisia, the democratization process began in the year 2011 when the common
citizens started a mass movement against the autocratic regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali
(Breuer, Landman & Farquhar, 2015). The movement started from an incident that took place in
a small place of Tunisia and spread across the country owing to the social media and other
information and communication technology. The events led to the creation of the Arab Spring
where other Arab nations followed Tunisia’s example and started revolution against the
autocratic regime. The events also demonstrated the way democratization of a country needs
more than just digitally motivated protests. First, it is important to understand the reasons for the

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democratization of Tunisia. The regime of Ben Ali was anything but democratic. He was the
ruler of the country from 1987 with hardly any opposition (Aljazeera.com, 2019). Ben Ali was
responsible for undertaking developmental projects that focused on foreign investment and
suppression of any sort of political opposition. He was favored by powerful countries like France
and the United States due to his favorable foreign investment. The country also hardly ever made
news headlines for riots or any mishap because the government used to repress successfully the
riots or any kind of opposition. Ben Ali muzzled the opposition and the media had no free air to
breathe, as he would control the media and even the armed forces. He then began to suppress
even the minutest of opposition. Added to that was the anger about the high rate of
unemployment in the country with some areas below 30 percent when it came to employment.
This was fueled further by the Ben Ali family’s blatant corruption (Aljazeera.com, 2019).
The people under Ben Ali’s regime were already feeling suffocated and feared when the
incident at Sidi Bouzid took place. Mohammad Bouzizi, a 26-year old fruit vendor burned
himself alive outside the provincial headquarters (Ayeb & Bush, 2014). The police officers beat
Bouzizi for not producing a license for his produce and when Bouzizi went to the headquarters
for complaining, he was sent unheard. The incident spread like wildfire and with the help of the
internet, it soon reached Tunis, the capital city where there was hardly any opposition for the
government. The incident happened on 17 December 2010 and the protests reached Tunis and
other cities in January 2011 (Vanderhill, 2018). The antigovernment general strike by the
Tunisian Bar Association on 6 January 2011 further strengthened the protests. The movement
gained momentum even further with the killings of dozens of protestors in Kasserine and Thala
(Vanderhill, 2018). The Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT) also joined in the protests and

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went on general strike on 11 to 14 January. Within a month, the protests led to the fall of Ben
Ali’s 23-year old regime.
The success in toppling down the dictatorial regime of Ben Ali was not complete because
now the country had the complex task of transitioning into a democracy. The authoritarian
regime breakdown is not equivalent to the development of a democratic government.
Democratization took place after the overthrowing of Ben Ali due to the “apolitical nature of the
military and the existence of pluralistic civil society organization (Vanderhill, 2018). Out of the
several movements taking place during the Arab Spring, Tunisia is the only accomplished
example of democratization being developed. The Tunisian military also had a huge role to play
in the democratization of the country. The Tunisian military had no say in the political and
economic matters of the country, Ben Ali made no personal connections with the military, and
did not provide sufficient fund as well. These factors culminated into the military not using any
violence against the protestors during the January 2011 protests. After Ben Ali flew to exile, the
transition process began although there were many crises that the country had to face.
The country elected the National Constituent Assembly (NCA) as the new representative
whose first task was to prepare a constitution. This was not easy as within two years, the work
writing the new constitution stalled due to the assassination of an opposition leader, Mohammad
Brahmi in July 2013. The Tunisians then protested using the social media against the dominant
party and for the moderate Islamist party Ennahda. In response to this, Mustafa ben Jaafar, the
NCA head suspended the NCA in the face of an ensuing civil war. However, Ennahda and other
anti-government protestors continued their protests and began to post fake news on the social
media to worsen the already worse tensions. Islamist Facebook pages made false claims about a
terrorist attack to instigate the anti-government protestors. With such a national crisis, the UGTT,

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the Tunisian Bar Association, the UTICA – an employer’s association and the Tunisian Human
Rights League created the National Dialogue Quartet. The National Dialogue Quartet made all
the major political parties including the new coalition of Nidaa Tounes to agree to a roadmap that
asked the NCA to approve the new constitution. Ultimately, in January 2014, three years after
the authoritarian regime was thrown out, Tunisia’s new constitution was passed. The
democratization process of Tunisia was complete.
Conclusion
To conclude, it could be stated that although the process of democratization was lengthy
and difficult, Tunisia finally became the most successful democratized country in the Arab. In
this essay, the Tunisian revolution of 2011 was chosen as the case study for understanding how
and why a country is democratized.

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References:
Aljazeera.com. (2019). Tunisian Revolution. Retrieved from
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2015/12/tunisian-revolution-
151215102459580.html
Ayeb, H., & Bush, R. (2014). Small farmer uprisings and rural neglect in Egypt and Tunisia.
Middle East Report, 272, 2-11.
Breuer, A., Landman, T., & Farquhar, D. (2015). Social media and protest mobilization:
Evidence from the Tunisian revolution. Democratization, 22(4), 764-792.
Geddes, B., Wright, J., & Frantz, E. (2014). Autocratic breakdown and regime transitions: A new
data set. Perspectives on Politics, 12(2), 313-331.
Gill, G. J. (2017). Dynamics of Democratization: Elites, Civil Society and the Transition
Process. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Vanderhill, R. (2018). The Internet, Regime Breakdown, and Democratization: Lessons from
Tunisia. Retrieved from https://jia.sipa.columbia.edu/online-articles/internet-regime-
breakdown-and-democratization-lessons-tunisia