At a Glance:

The ‘good student’ of the Arab Spring is facing serious issues that are severely hampering its democratization process. Disengagement from public affairs is increasing as living conditions are worsening and political representatives fail to offer viable solutions. As old authoritarian practices persist, figures of Ben Ali’s era have resurfaced and are quickly gaining legitimacy on the political scene. In the light of the upcoming legislative and presidential elections, Tunisia is at a crucial turning point of its history.

This paper outlines the entangled impediments to the Tunisian democratization process, arguing there can be no true democracy without a durable solution to the economic crisis, political stability, a thorough implementation of local governance, an efficient and transparent Constitutional Court, and a justice system reform that would entrench accountability, particularly for human rights violations.

This paper’s argument essentially relies on primary data gathered through interviews with Tunisian experts and civil society activists working on the aforementioned issues. A brief description of each interviewee is presented below. The aim of this paper is to assess the current reality of the Tunisian democratization process, and delineate the deficiencies that could deviate its evolution towards a return to an authoritarian regime.

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