Voices Of The Middle East And North Africa

Almost nine years after its Jasmine revolution, which precipitated a chain reaction of revolts in the Arab world, Tunisia is seen as the only one among the ten countries directly impacted by the Arab Spring to have succeeded in establishing a formal democracy and, as such, has been accepted into the world’s club of democratic countries. It is now poised for its third round of presidential elections since the 2010-2011 revolution. However, with a weak economy and an increasingly restive population struggling with poverty, and being surrounded by countries that are politically unstable and with the very notion of liberal democracy in serious jeopardy worldwide, how long can Tunisia maintain the trappings of a formal democracy if it does not at the same time alleviate the serious socio-economic problems that afflict its society? We pose these questions to US-based Tunisian scholar Mohammed Hammami, who spoke to us from his home in Tunis.