The Tunisian Revolution
Sirina ARISS
Who knew that the suicide of a man could spark regional turmoil? On December 17, 2010, Mohamad Bouazizi a Tunisian street vendor lit himself on fire in front of the provincial government building as a result of having his merchandise confiscated by the police, thus taking away his livelihood. This act, coupled with the high unemployment rates, and poverty led to a huge response by the Tunisian citizens against the oppressive Ben Ali regime. As a result, a series of protests emerged and the citizens demanded a new constitution. These mass protests caused Ben Ali to flee the country on January 14, 2011. Given this context, the Tunisian revolution opened the door to other countries in the region to start protests. However, not all revolutions were considered successful according to James DeFronzo’s five requirements. Political scientist, James Defronzo founded the five critical factors of a successful revolution: permissive world context, dissident elite, mass frustration, unifying motivations, and political crisis. Tunisia’s Arab Spring should be considered a close to fully successful Revolution because it fulfilled mass frustration and unifying motivations, yet didn’t achieve dissident elite.
Tunisia’s Arab Spring should be considered a successful revolution according to DeFronzo’s factors because it fulfilled mass frustration. Mass frustration is the widespread discontent of a population that leads to a large proportion of society to start a protest against the authority. An article states that at the time of the revolution,“ 20% of the people who had a college degree were unemployed and youth unemployment was 30%” (Gammoh 21). This quote shows that unemployment was rampant in Tunisia at the time. This obviously could lead to frustration. According to an article by Istituto Affari Internazionali, “As a result of socioeconomic problems and a dramatic increase in unemployment numbers, particularly for the youth and the educated, a large protest movement arose in December 2010, for the first time since the establishment of Ben Ali’s regime” (Ayadi et al. 3). This portrays that the large numbers of unemployed youth and the educated led to the first large protest. Moreover, this proves that as a result of widespread frustration among a large proportion of society the protest movements rose. The Tunisian Revolution should be considered a successful revolution according to DeFronzo’s factors because it achieved mass frustration.
The Tunisian Revolution should be considered successful because it fulfilled another one of DeFronzos factors, unifying motivations. Unifying motivations is when a goal of a revolution is cut across major classes and amalgamates the majority of society. A scholarly article comparing the Egyptian and the Tunisian Revolutions states that, “the Tunisian Revolution was significantly more diverse in terms of participant class backgrounds, with workers constituting 17 percent of participants, students—19 percent, and the unemployed—21 percent”(Beissinger 24). These statistics show that the motivations of the Tunisian Revolution cut across diverse social classes which included not only the majority of the middle class yet also workers, students, and the unemployed. Furthermore, this proves that the Tunisian Revolution represented a cross-class coalition due to its diversity in social class participation. In the same article, a table portrayed the quantitative data of the Revolution’s participation by category. It showed that demonstrators from all different occupations ranging from directors of institutions to labor workers had contributed to the protest as well as all age ranges (18-65 or above), and a close to equal ratio of male to female demonstrators (Beissinger 39). This proves that the motivations of a revolution was not only cut-class, yet also cut across diverse age groups and included both genders. Therefore, according to Defrozons factors, the Tunisian Revolution should be considered successful because it fulfilled unifying motivations.
Although the Tunisian Revolution can be considered successful, however, it did not fulfill one of DeFronzo’s factors, dissident elite. Dissident elite is when elite groups in terms of possession of wealth, education, and high governance positions, go against the authority. Prioritizing one’s family in terms of opportunities has always been essential in the Arab culture. In a scholarly article, it states that “more than half of Tunisia’s commercial elites were personally related to Ben Ali through his three adult children, seven siblings, and second wife’s ten brothers and sisters. This network became known in Tunisia as the Family” (Nassar 28). This quote proves that the majority of the Tunisian elites were directly related to Ben Ali, thus making it harder for them to betray him, or go against his authority. Mainly because he was providing them with jobs and opportunities due to their blood ties. If these elite groups went against Ben Ali, they would lose status, power, and wealth. Therefore, they were not active participants in the revolution and thus proving that dissident elite was not apparent in the Tunisia Revolution. The Tunisian Revolution should not be considered fully successful because it didn’t fulfill dissident elite.
In conclusion, the Tunisian Revolution should be considered a close to fully successful revolution because it fulfilled two of DeFronzo’s factors, mass frustration, and unifying motivations, however, there was a lack of dissident elite. This is important because the majority of people assume that the Tunisian Revolution was an exemplary revolution that covered all five of DeFronzo’s factors but this essay proves otherwise. In general, the Tunisian Revolution is considered one of the most successful revolutions in the region. Furthermore, this essay is relevant because it proves that dissident elite is not an essential factor in making a revolution successful.Therefore, the question arises as to what would have been different if dissident elite was present in the Tunisian Revolution?
