Tunisia

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Revised classroom version Some observers imply that in 1861, most people in the world believed in slavery and so you can’t blame the American South for retaining it. This premise is not true. For one thing, a majority of American states had abolished slavery. Ohio did […]

Feminism

Tunisia: A Gender Equality Manifesto

contributors

Tunisia is considering new legislation crucial to women’s rights in that country

Feminism

Tunisia: Landmark Step to Shield Women from Violence

contributors

Human Rights Watch | – – New Law Offers Protection, but Needs Funding (Tunis) – The law on violence against women, including domestic violence, approved by the Tunisian parliament on July 26, 2017, is a landmark step for women’s rights, Human Rights Watch said today. Tunisian authorities should ensure that there is adequate funding and […]

censorship

Revolution Over? Draft Law Could Return Tunisia to a Police State

contributors

By Amna Guellali | ( Human Rights Watch) | – – Parliament Should Reject Abusive Security Bill Since the fall of the government of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, Tunisia’s nascent democracy has made great strides. These include the adoption of a new constitution, greater media freedom, and free and democratic elections. These […]

Arab Spring

The Biggest threat to the Mideast isn’t ISIL, it’s bad, Corrupt Governance

contributors

By Marwan Muasher | (Project Syndicate) | – – WASHINGTON, DC – A recent survey of 100 Arab thought leaders conducted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace revealed a sweeping consensus about what underlies many of the region’s problems: a lack of good governance. Indeed, those polled emphasized domestic problems resulting from that failure […]

Arab Spring

Five years on, Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution continues from the ground up

contributors

By Adnan Saif | (The Conversation) | – – Tunisians are marking five years since the culmination of their “Jasmine Revolution”. Since its longtime authoritarian leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was forced out of office in January 2011, Tunisia has been embarking on a long transition to constitutional democracy – a transation that, although […]

Featured

Tunisian Nobel Recognizes role of Labor Unions, the Left in Democratic Transition

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – How many American news reports about the Nobel Peace Prize given to the Tunisian Quartet that pushed the country toward democracy and compromise will mention that two of the four organizations so honored are national labor unions of workers? A third was an attorneys’ guild. The […]

Authoritarianism

The 3000: Why have some Tunisians joined ISIL/Daesh in Syria?

contributors

by Youssef Cherif | (Middle East Center Blog, LSE Political Science) | – – Tunisia, regarded as the Arab ‘beacon of hope’ and the cliché of Arab secularism and liberalism, raises a lot of expectations. Hence the most pressing point when Tunisia is discussed rotates around the 3000 Tunisian fighters who joined the ranks of […]

Economy

It’s the Economy, Stupid!: Tunisia’s fight against Terrorism requires a jobs program for its Youth

contributors

By Alexander Martin | (The Conversation) | – – To anyone who has followed Tunisia’s journey since it became a democracy, the horrific events in Sousse were shocking, but not surprising. This is a country still struggling to keep itself safe and address its internal destabilising forces. The 100 days since the Bardo museum attacks […]