Tunisia-The Second Battle

TUNISIA

The Second Battle

The Arab Spring of 2011 saw entrenched authoritarian regimes across North Africa buckle under the pressure of popular uprisings.

Six years later, only in Tunisia, where the Arab Spring began, is there a functioning representative democracy after decades of dictatorship, Stratfor comments.

But reforms are still needed to usher this developing nation over the finish line.

Tunisia is the Maghreb region’s most secular state and most ardent proponent of women’s rights, writes the BBC. Both were ideologies spearheaded by the nation’s founding father, Habib Bourguiba.

But progressive social politics come with a brutal authoritarian streak in Tunisia, writes Al-Fanar. Bourguiba often jailed and tortured political opponents, a tactic continued by his successor, President Zine El Abdine Ben Ali, a perceived-reformer turned corrupt autocrat.

Ben Ali was forced to resign in 2011 during the nation’s bloodless Jasmine Revolution, and political elites set about piecing together a democracy where none had existed before.

Political Islam became – and remains – a delicate and divisive issue. Tunisia’s arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, Ennahda, banned under prior regimes, drew support from fringes of society and grew in prominence. The party quickly secured a plurality in the nation’s first free elections.

But in secular Tunisia, the party and its hardline Islamic platform soon faced public condemnation, writes Haaretz.

Rather than digging in its feet and holding on to power, Ennahda learned from the mistakes of other failed Islamic uprisings: It split its religious and political wings. Ennahda now declares itself a party of Muslim Democrats and shares power with secularists, the Economist writes.

Such concessions serve as an example for other Arab states going through democratic transitions. But democratic political parties alone don’t make a successful state.

Tunisia’s economy was left in tatters after the uprising, and the government, preoccupied by constitutional reforms, has been slow to act. Official unemployment rates hover around 15 percent, but analysts say the real amount is far higher. In rural areas, where citizens frequently demand better representation and more opportunity from the nation’s energy companies, unemployment is double the national average, writes Stratfor.

In need of outside loans to stay afloat, Tunis recently pushedthrough a package of austerity measures at the demand of the International Monetary Fund. It will prove to be a tough battle given Tunisia’s strong unions and social welfare state, as well as mass protests against benefit cuts.

After establishing democracy, now the real battle will begin to keep it running.

“This government would be like a war cabinet, in a war against the corruption, against rampant unemployment and a war to save the economy,” said Prime Minister Youssef Chahed recently.

Like the beacon that inspired millions across the region to take to the streets six years ago, many hope Tunisia will be a trailblazer once again and win this war. Observers say at the very least the nation has a fighting chance.