Arab Spring, dignity revolution, Jasmine revolution, History of Tunisia…
Arab Spring, dignity revolution, Jasmine revolution, History of Tunisia…
This article examines a typical dilemma that vexes hospitality private equity investors: Is the critical current situation an opportunity or a threat? To be able to resolve this conundrum, the author analyzes the stepping-stones of the private equity investment process: understanding what was behind the tourism sector crisis and the key requirements for finding suitable solutions; analyzing, at a later stage, the valuation process; and providing recommendations to undertake profitable investments in a distressed hospitality sector.
In response to the 2011 Tunisian elections and the uncertainty surrounding Tunisia’s future, we offer an empirical explanation of the election’s results using socioeconomic and demographic variables. We aggregate many political analyses to describe the main parties and give insights into their strengths and weaknesses. We also examine common misconceptions advanced during the elections. Finally, we include a proposed electoral map that could be used by politicians to plan their future political strategies.
Will the revolutionary changes of the “Arab Spring” result in more open and democratic media in the affected countries in the Middle East and North Africa? Using developments in Tunisia as a case study, the authors argue that democratically reformed media, Internet, and spectrum policies can lead to a more enabling and pluralistic environment that encourages new market entrants. Progress has been made, but ongoing challenges in structural and institutional reforms remain. The authors make a series of policy recommendations in the hope that Tunisia can be a model for its regional and global peers.
This paper explores the impact of political instability on firms in the context of Tunisia, which experienced a surge in political instability events after the 2011 Jasmine revolution. Using a new dataset, we show that political instability was a major concern for small and exporting firms as well as those that were operating in the tourism sector, those that suffered from acts of vandalism or arson, and those that were located in the interior region of Tunisia. More importantly, we find strong evidence that political instability was the most damaging constraint to firm growth in Tunisia after the Arab Spring.
In January 2014, three years after the onset of the Arab Spring, Egypt and Tunisia each adopted a new constitution. In the article, the author develops an analytical framework for assessing whether the constitutions of transitional states are legitimate, and applies that framework to the constitution-making processes in Egypt and Tunisia. The framework draws from comparative constitutional scholarship theory but offers a new way to analyze the validity of constitutions created in moments of transition and uncertainty. The framework contains three markers of constitutional legitimacy: (1) processual legitimacy through an inclusive drafting and ratification process, (2) substantive legitimacy through the incorporation of international human rights law norms, and (3) applicatory legitimacy through the inclusion of institutional mechanisms for the full and fair implementation of constitutional protections. Applying this analytical framework, the article compares and contrasts the constitution-making processes in Egypt and Tunisia and assesses the legitimacy of the Arab Spring constitutions that both nations adopted.
Tunisian Elections regulation has experienced a deep modification. Between the Electoral regulation before the regime change of January 2011 and after: the difference is huge. And between the elections regulation of 2011 and of 2014 the difference is important too. The institutions involved in rule making and/or regulation have been always in a daily interaction with all their institutional environment components. These components managed to make a huge difference and mark a fingerprint in the shaping of electoral regulation outcome. This interaction is very obvious and clear at a first glance. During all the years ranging from the first elections of 1956 until the elections of 2009, the competent regulatory authority of elections was the Ministry of interior, while the parliament was the law maker with one super party majority. Civil society was repressed and associations and political parties were harassed during their creation and function. This opened the gate for easy manipulation, fraud and a biased treatment among voters and candidates. However, during the transition (2011-2014), there was a sudden shift and elections became regulated through an independent regulatory agency called the ISIE (instance superieure independente des elections), and we witnessed an active role of a variety of participants in the regulation of this matter: civil society, courts, government, national constituent assembly, National dialogue, army, international institutions… During the same period civil society was free to establish and function; media became liberalized and no more pressure on speech and press. The “New” Tunisia promised legitimacy by promoting what was labeled “Goals of the Revolution”, as an example just in the first piece of electoral legislation during the transition and the subsequent ones, elections became not just a mere procedure of pooling, but many values were added besides of the procedures, mainly: transparency, honesty, accuracy, democracy. So how were electoral rules and principles been adopted in Tunisia? We will try to find the answer beyond the mere apparent ordinary interaction between deputies and political parties inside the parliament, assemblies and other official bodies. To answer this question, we thought about dividing our paper into two parts, where a general part deals with mapping the electoral scene, identifying the major rule, procedures, and innovations and also identifying the most important players and the roles of each one of them, and the possible points of interaction. And then in a second part we will deal with concrete examples of interactions like the adoption of “Principe de Parité” and the schedule of elections among other points.
This paper analyses the hiring and separation rates in Tunisia before and after the Arab Spring of 2011. Several models are specified to study employment decisions based on quarterly administrative firm level data over the period of 2007 to 2012. The data provides information about important firm characteristics such as industry sector, number of hiring and separation, total employment effects and composition of labour force by gender, managerial level and age cohorts. Six models are estimated to investigate hiring, separation, hiring rate, separation rate, mobility, and net-employment. The results indicate presence of continued risk factors in Tunisia’s labour market resulting from the global financial crisis in 2008 and the Arab Spring in 2011. Hiring was little changed during this time period, and the results suggest that factors that impact separation decisions remained present in Tunisia’s labour market. In addition, the paper looks at various social issues such as youth unemployment and infer on how more efficient policy actions that will further engage the private sector could result in more sustainable positive net-employment and increased labour mobility.
Without attempting to mystify such developments and their impact, and taking into account historical precedents and the differences between each of the autocracies affected, the Arab Spring and its message has brought to many a great deal of optimism in a time of political violence and despair linked to the financial crisis, lack of opportunities and pervasive corruption. This paper is an analysis of the human rights legitimacy of the Arab Spring protesters in light of Europe’s lack of earlier support to their cause.
This Article examines women’s rights in Tunisia after more than six years since a popular uprising forced longtime autocrat Ben Ali to flee the country, which allowed Tunisian democracy to begin to take hold. Further, it explores what, if any, broader implications Tunisia’s women’s rights movement has for other states in North Africa or the Middle East. Part II reconsiders the Arab Spring through a critical perspective, while also assessing how Tunisian exceptionalism and the Islamist Ennahda party situate Tunisia in this larger dynamic. Part III discusses Islamic feminism and examines how this innovative school of thought contributes to the struggle for advancing women’s rights and achieving gender equality throughout Islamic and Muslim majority states. Finally, Part IV explores women’s rights in Tunisia, both before and after the 2010–2011 revolution, and assesses how these rights relate to Tunisia’s legal tradition, historical legacy, and significant legal developments that occurred after the revolution.