Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Revolution’ in Tunisia
Project Report
AE215 Political Economy, Governance and Development
Submitted by
Sabeer VC
April 2018
1|Page
Political Economy of Jasmine Revolution
Jasmine revolution was a popular uprising against the autocratic government in Tunisia. Growing level
of corruption, rising unemployment, stagnation of the economy and shrinking press freedom were the
main reasons for the mobilization of the underclass section of the society countering the elite capture. The
outcome of the revolution was a transition of Tunisia from autocracy to democracy.
Introduction
Tunisia was a colony of France until 1956. Then between 1956 and 2011, Tunisia operated as a de facto
one-party state, with politics dominated by the secular Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD) under former
Presidents Habib Bourgiba and then Zine el Abidine Ben Ali. However, a national uprising in 2011 which is
termed as ‘Jasmine Revolution’ created a new history in this North African country. And this trend spread to
various Arab countries and now it is known as Arab spring. In 2011 a national uprising led to the ousting of the
President and the dismantling of the RCD, paving the way for a multi-party democracy. Following the 2011
protests and the vacation of the presidency by president Ben Ali, elections for Constituent Assembly were held
on 23 October 2011. Results were announced with the centre-right and moderately Islamist Ennahda winning the
election with 37% of the vote. Parliamentary elections were held in Tunisia on 26 October 2014 in which the
secularist Nidaa Tounes won an election with 38% of the vote. Why did this revolution take place in 2011 even
though autocratic rule had been there for more than five decades? What are the underlying structural variables
that led to the political transition in Tunisia? This paper tries to explain the political economy of the transition
which is dubbed as Jasmine revolution.
Structural changes
We could see three main factors that contributed to what some are calling the “Jasmine Revolution.”; 1.
corruption, 2. Unemployment and economic stagnation, 3. Shrinking press freedom. Whereas a substantial section
of the population had become educated and having aspiration for freedom of expression, equality before the law,
the supremacy of the constitution, and the independence of the justice system owing to the fact that the curriculum
in Tunisian schools and universities was remarkably progressive, even under the dictatorship of Ben Ali, since it
was not exploited for political purposes. Because Ben Ali's party was not a party of ideas or values but was instead
based on personal networks. The school book authors, therefore, had no need to make any particular reference to
the governing party. There was no competition of ideas taking place there and therefore, students were taught
about the above mentioned modern values. However, such an education level per se didn’t cause a revolution.
Because people were earlier satisfied in the Ben Ali's autocratic regime in which Human Development Index had
2|Page
been showing an increasing trend. However, discontent among the people originated mainly from the above
mentioned three factors and that had played a major role in mobilizing the people, predominantly educated section
of Tunisia. It has sparked off with a particular event i.e. self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi who was
a Tunisian street vendor who set himself on fire on 17 December 2010, which became a catalyst for the Tunisian
Revolution and the wider Arab Spring against autocratic regimes. His self-immolation was in response to the
harassment and humiliation inflicted on him by the bureaucrats. Thereafter a larger section of underclass people
mobilized against the elite capture without a leadership and clear-cut ideology.
1.Corruption
As it is expected, there was only a lower level of corruption under elite capture until the early 2000s.
however, since that, there could be seen an increasing level of corruption even under the same autocratic
government. WikiLeaks rightly reported that Ben Ali’s family members get many favourable deals even under
suspicious circumstances thanks to a clouded relationship between business and the government. And it is also
reported that Mohammed Bouazizi was asked for bribery by some bureaucrats. Graph 1(see in appendix) shows
The Corruption Perceptions Index that ranks countries based on how corrupt their public sector is perceived to
be. A country’s score indicates the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to
100 (very clean). The declining curve indicates an increasing trend of corruption in Tunisia.
Tunisia has long had a rigorously censored press. A report from the International Federation of Journalists
claims that from May 2009 onwards the press faced “one of its worst years since independence.” During this
period The government started to keep a tight grip on the Internet. Majority of the media were already controlled
by president’s relatives or businessmen who were close to presidents. Ben Ali’s suppression of media felt like an
unwarranted rebuke to a Tunisian public that had strongly supported the dictator earlier in his reign. Tunisian
people felt betrayed by Ben Ali turning the country into a police state. This sense of betrayal was a key influence
3|Page
on the demonstrations that led to the president’s downfall. However, Social media channels which provide multi-
way of communication had an immense role in the mobilization of a non-elite section of the society. Even though
the autocratic government tried to control those media, they failed in their attempts.
When Rulers in elite capture get signal of frustration of people they address it through either of following
two ways; Transferring more resources to public or strengthening military power to sustain their power. Unlike
to rulers of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Brunei What Ben Ali adopted was the latter approach towards an
educated people who had become enthusiastic with the various regime-changing revolutions took place in
different western countries during the Renaissance. They had killed many protesting people in the street.
However, once he understood that it was a failed approach he tried to negotiate with people. But it was too late
and people were adamant in the removal of the dictator. Thus he could flee out of the country throwing down the
long-term power despite having an alliance with the USA. And it is evident from this revolution that the promotion
of democracy wouldn’t be an interest of America unless a non-democratic regime stands against them. In the case
of Libya and Iraq America had a considerable influence in the mobilization against the dictators in those countries
who had exposed their stance against the hegemony. Anyway, external factors didn’t influence the revolution in
Tunisia.
Conclusion
We could see that between 1956 and 2011, it was a period of elite capture in Tunisia. However, different
political and economic factors led to an underclass mobilization against the elitism in 2011. An interesting fact is
that it took place without a leadership or influence of external factors or particular ideology. Even though the
dictators had suppressed Islamist forces during their reign, religion didn’t appear as the main reason to counter
the dictators, instead, people mobilized on account of corruption, unemployment, stagnant growth and shrinking
press freedom. Actually, it was an Unplanned and non-ideological popular uprising against a dictator who hadn’t
have any particular ideology. Sooner the mobilization, Tunisia turned out to be a democratic country and
witnessed the emergence of Some elements of competitive politics, mainly between Islamist Ennahda and
secularist Nidaa Tounce parties.
References
Baumann, H. (2017). A failure of governmentality: Why Transparency International underestimated corruption in Ben Ali’s
Tunisia. Third World Quarterly, 38(2), 467-482.
Chomiak, L. (2011). The making of a revolution in Tunisia. Middle East Law and Governance, 3(1-2), 68-83.
El-Khawas, M. A. (2012). Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution: causes and impact. Mediterranean Quarterly, 23(4), 1-23.
4|Page
Haouas, I., Sayre, E., & Yagoubi, M. (2012). Youth unemployment in Tunisia: Characteristics and policy responses. Topics
in Middle Eastern and North African Economies, 14.
Howard, P. N., Duffy, A., Freelon, D., Hussain, M. M., Mari, W., & Maziad, M. (2011). Opening closed regimes: what was
the role of social media during the Arab Spring?.
Khondker, H. H. (2011). Role of the new media in the Arab Spring. Globalizations, 8(5), 675-679.
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).
Santhakumar, V. (2014). The Roots of Ill-governance and Corruption. SAGE Publishing India.
Siala, M., & Ammar, N. B. (2013). Tunisia’s revolution and youth unemployment. Eurasian journal of economics and
finance, 1(2), 39-50.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Bouazizi
http://www.buildamovement.org/blog/tunisia
http://blogs.worldbank.org/arabvoices/anti-corruption-day-2015
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasmine_Revolution
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180114-tunisias-jasmine-revolution/
Appendix
Graph 1. Corruption Index, Tunisia
5|Page
Graph 2. Unemployment rate, Tunisia
6|Page
Graph 4. Domestic demand, Tunisia
7|Page