Democracy 11

Tunisie : Ce n’est plus de la langue de bois, c’est du sabotage de régime

En passant ce matin sur le site de la Presse de Tunisie pour découvrir les dernières perles du «journalisme tunisien», je tombe sur cet article ci-bas. Lequel article, et nul n’est obligé de me croire, m’a fait éprouvé, pour la première fois de la peine pour Ben Ali. Oui, oui, je l’avoue, sans la moindre torture, ni pression : Aujourd’hui j’ai éprouvé de la peine pour Ben Ali tant sa presse est devenue pathétique. […]

6 ans de recherche et quelques 50 000 interviews, l’état des opinions publiques arabes

6 ans de recherche et quelques 50 000 interviews. Il s’agit d’un travail publié par D. Mogahed et J L. Esposito sur l’Etat des opinions publiques arabes. Et parmi les éléments pertinents, les auteurs ont essayé de mettre en parallèle la dichotomie entre, d’une part, la réprobation morale du terrorisme en général et, d’autre part, la « rage [sic]» éprouvée à l’égard […]

Tunisian democracy: To hope or despair?

The release of 21 Tunisian political prisoners at the end of July, on the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Tunisian Republic, provoked satisfaction among local and international human rights groups. However, no one ventured to describe the conditional liberations as a sign of softening on the part of President Zein al-Abedin ben Ali’s police s […].

A Good Place to Have Aided Democracy

“If you wanted to support democracy in the Arab world, why did you begin with your enemies instead of your friends? Why Iraq and Iran? Why not us?” It’s an excellent question, and when it was posed to me a few days ago by Mokhtar Trifi, president of the Tunisian League for the Defense of Human Rights, I at first found it hard to answer. Trifi, whose dark […].

Maghreb Regime Scenarios

Western interest in seeing at least the beginning of a process of political evolution in Tunisia may eventually bear some fruit in the coming years. However, with the Tunisian secular opposition as emasculated as the Islamists, there is neither no one individual, nor any issue, that appears capable of galvanizing a process of genuine democratic reform. Non […].

Politics in Tunisia

The case of Tunisia brings to mind the long-standing question of what people value more : stability or freedom. For now, most Tunisians appear to back the political bargain here, and for that reason, some thinkers see little movement toward reform on the horizon. […].