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.

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.

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

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.

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.

This “lucidly written” account of the 2011 wave of revolutions “includes a wealth of astute analysis on the politics of the region, from Morocco to Oman” (Paul Hockenos, The National). Sparked by the protest of a single vegetable seller in Tunisia, the flame of revolutionary passion swept across the Arab world in what has come to be called the Arab Spring of 2011. Millions took to the streets in revolt. The governments of Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya fell, other regimes remain embattled, and no corner of the region has escaped unchanged. Here, Middle East experts Lin Noueihed and Alex Warren explain the economic and political roots of the Arab Spring and assess the road ahead. Through research, interviews, and a wealth of firsthand experience, the authors explain the unique obstacles each country faces in maintaining stability. They analyze the challenges many Arab nations face in building democratic institutions, finding consensus on political Islam, overcoming tribal divides, and satisfying an insatiable demand for jobs. In an era of change and uncertainty, this insightful guide provides the first clear glimpse of the post-revolutionary future the Arab Spring set in motion.