Tunisia is the first Arab country where a revolution took place at the beginning of last year. That Tunisia was special in many ways. It was the first, lasted less than a month, took place without many casualties and was not as violent as other revolutionary attempts in the region. The Jasmine Revolution rid the country of one of the world's most repressive dictators, who ruled the country for 23 years and effectively curtailed most civil liberties. Achieving a similar change and ousting dictators from the head of the country was also achieved in Egypt, Yemen and Libya. The nature of the Tunisian revolution is nowhere near as bloody as that of Libya or violence-torn Syria. Among the mentioned countries, Tunisia has maintained the status of a pioneer in building democracy since the outbreak of the first revolution. Tunisians are aware of this and it motivates them to strive for change more.
Tunisia successfully held its first democratic elections and assembled a parliament, elected a president, a prime minister, a speaker of parliament, and slowly began to form a constitution. So slowly that now, almost seven months after the elections, it is obvious that the Tunisian government will not have time to fulfill its primary task. New elections will be announced after approval of the constitution, which in the original plans was supposed to be ready within one year of the first elections. Tunisians are slowly getting used to the fact that the changes they expected right after the revolutions will take longer than they originally thought. However, civil society is developing very quickly in Tunisia. Much faster than here in the post-revolutionary period period. In the last fifteen months, more than 4,000 non-governmental organizations have been established in Tunisia. Most of them operate on a volunteer basis, and some of them are already able to finance their operation and activities. The process of democratization is nevertheless slow and is marked by a disastrous economic situation, high unemployment, a corrupt state apparatus and other damages left behind by the previous regime. The economic situation is the most serious factor that can threaten the democratization process, because it can result in another wave of riots - similar to what happened at the beginning of the revolution in December 2010. Tunisians were not pushed to revolt by democratic demands, but by the desire for a dignified life and an end to the triad - the police state, corruption and unemployment.
Fragile Success
So, Tunisia needs two things above all - improvement of the economic situation and education in the field of building democracy. A strong civil society can significantly contribute to the democratization process in the future. With the fall of the dictatorship and the sudden development of the civil sector, both the public and non-governmental sectors find themselves in conditions that are completely new. The government and civil society do not trust each other and do not see each other as partners for cooperation. Tunisia also needs to develop and build its capacities, especially in areas such as justice, protection of human rights, dialogue between the public and civil spheres, civil participation, empowerment of women in society. Slovakia has a relatively fresh transformation experience that it can pass on to Tunisia. Although Tunisia has so far been the most successful among the countries of the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa), despite the efforts of civil society and the relatively responsible approach of the new Tunisian government, this success is fragile.
Samuel Arbe The author is a PDCS project manager
The article was published in the Development Aid - Spring 2012 newsletter. It is published by Platforma mimovládnych rozvojových organizácií (MVRO), which is an association of legal entities - an umbrella organization of 31 (23 regular members and 8 observers) Slovak non-governmental organizations that deal mainly with foreign development and humanitarian aid. http://www.mvro.sk