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The Tunisian Revolution and Democratic Transition

Author: Mohammad Dawood Sofi

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-11-29

Total Pages: 211

ISBN-13: 1000483800

Drawing on the history of post-independence Tunisia, the book studies the evolution of al-Nahḍah as a political party in Tunisia and its role in a protracted struggle to shape the post-authoritarian order along democratic lines. It explores al-Nahḍah's relationship with the Tunisian state, society and beyond that resulted in shaping its fluctuating expressions of ideology and practices. State repression, political participation, or internal differentiation (among other factors) place an Islamic movement (in this case al-Nahḍah) in such a situation that demands a perpetual self re-evaluation as well as implementation of ideology, objectives, and political programmes. The study explains how the socio-political setting in Tunisia demanded various ideologically opposite currents (Islamic, liberal, or leftist) to endure cross-ideological cooperation either to contest authoritarian regimes or to engage in the political process. It more importantly analyzes the trajectory of a gradual democratization process in the country and provides evidence explaining the impact and importance of a vibrant civil society, building alliances, and sharing of power. The book provides comparative analytical attention to the primary sources on these issues to create a critical historiography. It thus adds to the body of literature on the state, society, and politics in the MENA region and particularly targets students, scholars, and social scientists interested in understanding the nature of power and politics in Tunisia and beyond.

Youth and Revolution in Tunisia

Author: Alcinda Honwana

Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.

Published: 2013-07-11

Total Pages: 278

ISBN-13: 1780324642

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The uprising in Tunisia has come to be seen as the first true revolution of the twenty-first century, one that kick-started the series of upheavals across the region now known as the Arab Spring. In this remarkable work, Alcinda Honwana goes beyond superficial accounts of what occurred to explore the defining role of the country's youth, and in particular the cyber activist. Drawing on fresh testimony from those who shaped events, the book describes in detail the experiences of young activists through the 29 days of the revolution and the challenges they encountered after the fall of the regime and the dismantling of the ruling party. Now, as old and newly established political forces are moving into the political void created by Ben Ali's departure, tensions between the older and younger generations are sharpening. An essential account of an event that has inspired the world, and its potential repercussions for the Middle East, Africa and beyond.

Trade Unions and Arab Revolutions

Author: Hèla Yousfi

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-08-07

Total Pages: 376

ISBN-13: 1315313596

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This book traces the role of the UGTT (the Tunisian General Labour Union) during Tunisia’s 2011 revolution and the transition period that ensued – Tunisia being the Arab country where trade unionism was the strongest and most influential in shaping the outcomes of the uprising. The UGTT; From its role as the cornerstone of the nationalist movement in the colonial era, has always had a key place in Tunisian politics: not so much a labour union but as an organisation that has always linked social struggles to political and national demands. Examining the role played by the UGTT in Tunisia's revolution and more generally in the restructuring of the Tunisian political arena during the three years following the popular uprising. This book asks searching questions such as; how did UGTT interact with the popular uprising that led to the departure of Ben Ali? What was the role played by the UGTT in the "political transition" leading to the adoption on January 26, 2014 of the first democratic constitution in the country’s history? How successful was the UGTT in neutralizing the risk of self- implosion caused by the different political and social crises? And what are the challenges that the UGTT faces in the new political landscape? This volume will be of key reading interest to scholars and researchers of social movements, labour movements, organizational studies, political transitions and Arab revolutions and also likely to be of interest to practitioners especially among activists, unionists and advocates within civil society.

Making of the Tunisian Revolution

Author: Gana Nouri Gana

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Published: 2013-09-07

Total Pages: 307

ISBN-13: 0748691065

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From late 2010 to the present day, the Arab world has been shot through with insurrection and revolt. As a result, Tunisia is now seen as the unlikely birth place and exemplar of the process of democratisation long overdue in the Arab world. Mixing political, historical, economic, social and cultural analyses and approaches, these essays reflect on the local, regional and transnational dynamics together with the long and short term factors that, when combined, set in motion the Tunisian revolution and the Arab uprisings. Above all, the book maps the intertwined genealogies of cultural dissent that have contributed to the mobilisation of protesters and to the sustenance of protests between 17 December 2010 and 14 January 2011, and beyond.

Tunisia

Author: Safwan M. Masri

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2017-09-05

Total Pages: 503

ISBN-13: 0231545029

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The Arab Spring began and ended with Tunisia. In a region beset by brutal repression, humanitarian disasters, and civil war, Tunisia's Jasmine Revolution alone gave way to a peaceful transition to a functioning democracy. Within four short years, Tunisians passed a progressive constitution, held fair parliamentary elections, and ushered in the country's first-ever democratically elected president. But did Tunisia simply avoid the misfortunes that befell its neighbors, or were there particular features that set the country apart and made it a special case? In Tunisia: An Arab Anomaly, Safwan M. Masri explores the factors that have shaped the country's exceptional experience. He traces Tunisia's history of reform in the realms of education, religion, and women's rights, arguing that the seeds for today's relatively liberal and democratic society were planted as far back as the middle of the nineteenth century. Masri argues that Tunisia stands out not as a model that can be replicated in other Arab countries, but rather as an anomaly, as its history of reformism set it on a separate trajectory from the rest of the region. The narrative explores notions of identity, the relationship between Islam and society, and the hegemonic role of religion in shaping educational, social, and political agendas across the Arab region. Based on interviews with dozens of experts, leaders, activists, and ordinary citizens, and a synthesis of a rich body of knowledge, Masri provides a sensitive, often personal, account that is critical for understanding not only Tunisia but also the broader Arab world.

Understanding Revolutions

Author: ʻAzmī Bishārah

Publisher:

Published: 2022

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 9781472991751

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On 17 December, 2010, in the sleepy, provincial town of Sidi Bouzid, a Tunisian street vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, set himself on fire to protest the relentless harassment he faced at the hands of state officials. This politically driven suicide sparked protests that would engulf the Tunisian state, and spread throughout the region. The Tunisian Revolution is the only revolt of the Arab Spring that is widely considered to have 'succeeded'. In this book, Azmi Bishara's grapples with the specific political make-up of Tunisia, and how it determined the development and survival of the revolution. He begins by analysing the context of the revolt (including lagging economic development, high unemployment, authoritarian rule etc.) and compares this to the revolutionary setting within other Arab states. Bishara then carefully sets out the political contours specific to Tunisia and the formation of political parties within the country on the eve of the revolution. He unravels the gradual, daily dynamism of the events which left former President Zin El Abidine Ben Ali with no alternative but to flee the country. Bishara lucidly explains a dizzying series of developments, describing the path of the Tunisian revolution. This book critically explores the issue of gradual democratic reform and the peaceful transfer of power within the Tunisian context, with implications for the wider region. Two important questions are raised: how must social movements deal with states which refuse to participate in the dialectic process of reform, and what happens when a regime leverages fissures in collective identity to threaten the breakup of not just the state, but the entire social fabric of a country? Bishara concludes that Arab democratic reformers must focus on these questions, pointing out the importance of a unified nation and the establishment of democracy based on equal citizenship for all

Revolution without Revolutionaries

Author: Asef Bayat

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 2017-08-01

Total Pages: 388

ISBN-13: 1503603075

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A study of the Arab Spring and its aftermath alongside the revolutions of the 1970s. The revolutionary wave that swept the Middle East in 2011 was marked by spectacular mobilization, spreading within and between countries with extraordinary speed. Several years on, however, it has caused limited shifts in structures of power, leaving much of the old political and social order intact. In this book, noted author Asef Bayat—whose Life as Politics anticipated the Arab Spring—uncovers why this occurred, and what made these uprisings so distinct from those that came before. Revolution without Revolutionaries is both a history of the Arab Spring and a history of revolution writ broadly. Setting the 2011 uprisings side by side with the revolutions of the 1970s, particularly the Iranian Revolution, Bayat reveals a profound global shift in the nature of protest: as acceptance of neoliberal policy has spread, radical revolutionary impulses have diminished. Protestors call for reform rather than fundamental transformation. By tracing the contours and illuminating the meaning of the 2011 uprisings, Bayat gives us the book needed to explain and understand our post–Arab Spring world. Praise for Revolution without Revolutionaries “Bayat is in the vanguard of a subtle and original theorization of social movements and social change in the Middle East. His attention to the lives of the urban poor, his extensive field work in very different countries within the region, and his ability to see over the horizon of current paradigms make his work essential reading.” —Juan Cole, University of Michigan “An astute analyst of the Middle East, Asef Bayat is one of the very few researchers equipped to historicize the region’s contemporary uprisings. In Revolution without Revolutionaries, he deftly and sympathetically employs his own observations of Iran, immediately before and after the 1979 revolution, to reflect on the epochal shifts that have re-worked the political regimes, economic structures, and revolutionary imaginaries across the region today.” —Arang Keshavarzian, New York University “Bayat provocatively questions the Arab Spring’s apparent moderation, tracing its softness to decades of neoliberalism that have undermined the national state and discarded old-fashioned forms of revolutionary violence. This groundbreaking book is not an obituary for the Arab Spring but a hopeful glimpse at its future.” —Olivier Roy, author of The Failure of Political Islam

Fear No More

Author: Emanuele Santi

Publisher: Independently Published

Published: 2021-12-17

Total Pages: 140

ISBN-13:

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On December 17, 2010, Mohamed Bouazizi, a young street vendor in a small Tunisian city, set himself on fire to protest against continued harassment from the police. It was the spark that triggered the extraordinary revolution that would shake the entire Arab World. This book chronicles the events that developed during the 30 days following Bouazizi's tragic gesture, documenting the succession of events, by giving a voice to the families of the so called 'martyrs of the revolution': lawyers, artists, bloggers, journalists and regular citizens. It is a fast-tracked chronological mix of real stories, building a revolutionary momentum, together with a selection of messages that appeared on social media - a veritable virtual arena in which protestors could join the uprising. A truly collaborative work, Fear No More was written by a young couple living with their kids two blocks away from the Presidential Palace, and blends the sensibilities and perspectives of an athropologist and an economist, into a multi-colored chronicle which bears witness to their own emotions of being at once observers and protagonists of one of the most exciting pages of world history.

Understanding Revolutions

Author: Azmi Bishara

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2021-12-30

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13: 0755644727

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Based on empirical and theoretical investigation, and original insight into how a local protest movement developed into a revolution that changed a regime, this book shows us how we can understand political revolutions. Azmi Bishara critically explores the gradual democratic reform and peaceful transfer of power in the context of Tunisia. He grapples with the specific make-up of Tunisia as a modern state and its republican political heritage and investigates how this determined the development and survival of the revolution and the democratic transition in its aftermath. For Bishara, the political culture and attitudes of the elites and their readiness to compromise, in addition to an army without political ambitions, were aspects that proved crucial for the relative success of the Tunisian experience. But he distinguishes between protest movements and mass movements that aim at regime change and discerns the social and political conditions required for the transition from the former to the latter. Bishara shows that the specific factors that correspond to mass movements and regime change are relative deprivation, awareness of injustice, dignity and indignation. He concludes, based on meticulous documentation of the events in Tunisia and theoretical investigation, that while revolutions are unpredictable with no single theory able to explain them, all revolutions across different historical and conceptual contexts be seen as popular uprisings that aim at regime change. The book is the first of a trilogy, the Understanding Revolutions series by Bishara, seeking to provide a rich, comprehensive and lucid assessment of the revolutions in three states: Tunisia, Syria, and Egypt.

Tunisian Revolutions

Author: Julia Clancy-Smith

Publisher: Georgetown University Press

Published: 2014-11-21

Total Pages: 85

ISBN-13: 1626162131

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In December 2010 an out-of-work Tunisian street vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, set himself on fire and precipitated the Arab Spring. Popular interpretations of Bouazizi's self-immolation presented economic and political oppression by the Ben Ali regimes as the root causes of widespread social despair that triggered the Tunisian revolution. Yet as Julia Clancy-Smith points out, Tunisia's long history of organized political activism and protest movements suggests a far more complicated set of processes. Proposing a conceptual framework of "coastalization" vs. "interiorization," Clancy-Smith examines Tunisia's last two centuries and demonstrates how geographical and environmental and social factors also lie behind that country's modern political history. Within this framework Clancy-Smith explores how Tunisia's coast became a Mediterranean playground for transnational elites, a mecca of tourism, while its interior agrarian regions suffered increasing neglect and marginalization. This distinction has had a profound impact on the fate of Tunisia and has manifested itself in divisive debates over politics, the state, and religion as well as women’s socio-legal status that have led to a series of mass civic actions culminating in revolution. Clancy-Smith proposes a fresh historical lens through which to view the relationship between spacial displacements, regionalization, and transnationalism. Georgetown Shorts—longer than an article, shorter than a book—deliver timely works of peer-reviewed scholarship in a fast-paced, agile environment. They present new ideas and original texts that are easily and widely available to students, scholars, libraries, and general readers.