The Making of the Tunisian Revolution: Contexts, Architects, Prospects

From late 2010 to the present day, the Arab world has been shot through with insurrection and revolt. As a result, Tunisia is now seen as the unlikely birthplace and exemplar of the process of democratisation long overdue in the Arab world.

Mixing political, historical, economic, social and cultural analyses and approaches, these essays reflect on the local, regional and transnational dynamics together with the long and short term factors that, when combined, set in motion the Tunisian revolution and the Arab uprisings. Above all, the book maps the intertwined genealogies of cultural dissent that have contributed to the mobilisation of protesters and to the sustenance of protests between 17 December 2010 and 14 January 2011, and beyond.

Table of Contents:

Introduction

Part I: Contexts: Roots of Discontent

Under the Emperor's Neoliberal Clothes! Why the International Financial Institutions Got it Wrong in Tunisia
Emma Murphy

Playing the Islamic Card: The Use and Abuse of Religion in Tunisian Politics
Kenneth Perkins

United States Policy towards Tunisia since 1956: What New Engagement after an Expendable Friendship?
Lofti Ben Rejeb

'Friends of Tunisia': French Economic and Diplomatic Support of Tunisian Authoritarianism
Amy Aisen Kallander

Part II: Architects: Genealogies of Dissent

From Socio-Economic Protest to National Revolt: Mapping the Workers Origins of the Tunisian Revolution
Sami Zemni

The Powers of Social Media
Tarek Kahlaoui

Rethinking the Role of the Media in the Tunisian Uprising
Rikke Hostrup Haugbolle

Visions of Dissent, Voices of Discontent: Postcolonial Tunisian Film and Song
Nouri Gana

Part III: Prospects: The Postrevolutionary Moment

From Resistance to Governance: The Category of Civility in the Political Theory of Tunisian Islamists, Nadia Marzouki

Women's Rights before and after the Revolution
Monica Marks

The Rise of Salafism and the Future of Democratization
Fabio Merone and Francesco Cavatorta

The Fragile Tunisian Democracy-What Prospects for the Future
Lise Storm

Postscript: Preserving the Exemplar
Nouri Gana