The Arab Spring began in Tunisia in December 2010 and the country is still leading the way in Arab transitions to democratic government. In October 2011, Tunisia held its first genuinely free and fair elections since independence in 1956 and a coalition government has since been formed which includes both Islamists and secularists, and which is preparing a new constitution that will in turn set the rules for presidential and national assembly elections within a year. This transition has been largely peaceful, reflecting a broad-based consensus on a democratic future despite the surfacing of alternative and apparently contradictory secular and religio-cultural identities amongst the population. This presentation will trace the course of Tunisia’s revolution, from the departure of Ben Ali to the formation of the post-election government, evaluating the political processes in terms of how and why Tunisia has managed a largely peaceful and thus-far successful transition, and high-lighting those aspects of historical legacy, institutional form, legal reconstruction, and political culture which arguably give it the right tools for democratic consolidation. Finally, the presentation will assess the degree to which Tunisia may be viewed as uniquely so endowed, contrasting it with less successful and more traumatic examples of the Arab Spring.
Emma C. Murphy is Professor of Political Economy in the School of Government and International Affairs at the University of Durham, UK. She has published widely on the politics and international relations of the Middle East, with particular interests in the Arab-Israeli conflict, Israeli and Palestinian political economy, economic and political reform, and most recently the political economy and political cultures of new information technologies in the region. Her publications on Tunisia include: Economic and Political Change in Tunisia: From Bourguiba to Ben Ali (Macmillan Publishers, 1999) as well as multiple journal articles and book chapters. She has visited Tunisia three times since the Arab Spring began in December 2010, most recently as an election observer with the Carter Center in October 2011 and is currently writing on the Tunisian economy and politics.
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