Erosion of the Economy and Middle Class Since 1987 when Ben Ali had assumed Presidency, there had been a much needed economic boom due to sustained growth of more than 5 percent improving living standards and increasing job opportunities. Economic stability also improved healthcare and the education system (El-Khawas, 2012). The economic policies introduced by Ben Ali were not well so even when economic growth and liberalisation took place in Tunisia, it did not lead to job creation for the educated youth. Job opportunities and exports primarily developed for low skill activities. The introduction of FDI over the last few years also did not improve the job market as the incentive for FDI was privatisation instead of new investment avenues. Reforms in the market sector attempting to support the private sector have not resulted in increased private sector investment in Tunisia (Paciello, 2011). Tunisia started experiencing an economic depression in 2008 aggravated by financial crisis in Europe that year. According to a World Bank report, the average economic growth in Tunisia fell from 6.3% in 2007 to 4.5% in the following and further to 3.3% in 2009 (World Bank, 2010). Exports decreased along with the industrial and service sectors. Along with this, the WikiLeaks cables exposed the luxurious lifestyle enjoyed by the ruling family indicating the corruption and nepotism within the government. In one of the cables, Robert Godec, the US ambassador stated ‘the opulence with which El Materi and [his wife] live and their behavior make clear why they and other members of Ben Ali’s family are disliked and even hated by some Tunisians. The excesses of the Ben Ali family are growing’ (Black, 2010). The middle class has been severely affecte... ... middle of paper ... ... African Development Bank (AfDB) Group. Paciello, M. C. (2011). Tunisia: Changes and Challenges of Political Transition. Brussels: MEDPRO. Roko, J. R. (2012). Contentious Politics in the Maghreb: A Comparative Study of Mobilisation in Tunisia and Morocco. Lambert Academic Publishing . World Bank. (2010). Global Economic Prospects 2010. Washington DC: World Bank. Zemni, S. (2013). Chapter 5: The Socio-Economic Protest to National Revolt: The Labour Origins of the Tunisian Revolution. In N. Gana (Ed.), The Making of the Tunisian Revolution (pp. 127-146). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Mahjoub, A. (2010), “Labour Markets Performance and Migration Flows in Tunisia”, in European Commission Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs, Labour Markets Performance and Migration, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria, Occasional Papers 60, Vol.2, Brussels, Belgium.
A comparative essay between the Jasmine Revolution of Tunisia and the Jasmine Revolution of China.
George Orwell’s Animal Farm is a book that displays what can occur in a society that is ruled by an oppressive government. By using farm animals, George Orwell shows how an oppressive government can prove to be disastrous and also confining. While the book was originally regarded as a book that parallels the effects of communism, in more recent times the book has also shown to parallel the happenings occurring in what is known as the Arab Spring. Currently, countries involved in the Arab Spring has begun to revolt and rebel against their governments that oppress them in hopes of gaining freedom and equality among the people. These countries include Bahrain, Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, and Syria. It is in these countries where the people have grown overly frustrated and angry at their governments that treat them unfairly. While some have become successful in overthrowing their government, there are still those that are struggling. However, Tunisia is not one of the struggling countries but in fact is one that was successful in its revolution. It is in the country of Tunisia were many similarities in its revolution are seen in George Orwell’s book. This paper will attempt to illustrate the equivalences between the events that occurred in Animal Farm but also in the Tunisian revolution.
The revolts in the Middle East began in Tunisia when Muhammad Buazizi set himself on fire on December 17th, 2010 (Lesch, Haas 230). Protests in this area began to spr...
“Egypt’s Revolution was the continuation of a ‘domino effect’ that started from suicide of a vegetable vendor, who set himself on fire. The slap’s echo on his face trembled all dictators’ castles in region. The suicide
Early 2011 uprisings swept across the Middle East and North Africa, and many rebellions are still going on today. The Arab region has seen revolts and conflict since the 1800‘s, but only recently have these revolts been redirected to the problems of Arab society (Ghannam, J. 2011 pg 4-5)The Arab Spring Uprising was first sparked in Tunisia and eventually struck Algeria, Jordan, Egypt, Yemen and then spread to other countries. Citizens throughout these countries were dissatisfied with the rule of their local governments. Issues like human rights violations, political corruption, economic decline, unemployment, extreme poverty, dictators...
In Tunisia, young people have taken control of a country that has been under the control of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali for the last 20 years. Tunisians could not get jobs without being extorted by local officials. They could not buy a house without bribing an official. Any activity involving government often required money to push the paperwork through. Tunisians who received coll...
Ibnouf, Fatma Osman. “Women And The Arab Spring.” Women & Environments International Magazine 92/93(2013): 18-21. MasterFILE Elite.Web.31 Mar. 2014.
Richard J. Braxton is a Ph.D., Director, at Innovation Center –Index Shared Services. The aim of his article is to understand the problem of youth unemployment in the Gulf Cooperation Council region and how best the government can critically address this issue. He gave several options that can be clear solution to the problem. His emphasized that the GCC countries need to adopt effective training and development programs to provide the unemployed youth with the knowledge, skills, and abilities in order for them to compete for job vacancies.. The article also gave many facts elaborating more on the issue, so that his audience gets more interested and engaged in the topic. The articles outlines so many important steps to be considered by the government, and...
Although, there has been over a fifty-year gap since the removal of dictator Fulgencio Batista in the Cuban Revolution and former president Ben Ali in the Tunisian Revolution, there must be similarities in the methods and reasons that spurred these movements initially. The Cuban Revolution's ideologies may have spurred into the Middle Eastern sphere to influence such uprisings of a mass of a people against their vicious governments. The motivational leaders in both nations in the Cuban and Tunisian Revolution achieved to mobilize masses by means of propaganda, media, and political demonstrations. Each shares several reasons to why oppressed individuals choose to rebel and ending in the overthrow of each government’s authoritarian regime. Gaining
... Arab states that faced massive protests: high unemployment among the young, corruption and political repression.
In the 1990’s the economy struggled. Inflation caused prices for goods to skyrocket while the currency value plummeted. It took bundles of cash to make the simplest transactions. The country became restless under military rule and in 1991 opposing clans ousted President Barre, but then then failed to agree on a successor. Disorder and chaos ensued with clans and warlords fighting for power in local regions. The fighting hampered agriculture and soon caused food shortages. When warlords ...
The Tunisian Revolution, for example, resulted in the successful ousting of Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and his oppressive regime, which then galvanized many Egyptians to seek independence from their own authoritarian government with deplorable characteristics of its own (Zayed par. 12). Seeing that many of the Tunisian complaints were identical to their own, residents of Suez, Egypt, grew increasingly critical of their government’s faults, such as the 10.4% unemployment rate, widespread governmental corruption, and excessive use of police torture, and refused to remain compliant to state demands (Dziadosz par. 5). This developing sense of defiance towards the government spread throughout the entire country, as many young Egyptians began affiliating themselves with one prominent Tunisian protest group in the Tunisian Revolution - April 6 Youth Movement - in hopes of commencing their own revolution. And, with the help of the group on January 25, 2011, Egyptians around their country gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square for what would be the revolution’s largest protest (Kirkpatrick 2). While many internal issues ignited the nation’s sense of revolution, the Tunisian Revolution influenced many of its neighbor’s citizens to seek the same goal of achieving true democracy and
Taking the use of social media in the unarmed insurrections in Tunisia and Egypt as cases to study, this essay aims to analysis whether the social media was the driving force that led to the movements during the Arab Spring since 2011.
On January 25, 2011, Egypt dissolved into protests--a revolution thirty years in the making. The quasi-middle class (not comparable to the American standard of a middle class) of college educated youths and the working class united based on the culmination of years of corruption and abuse and the sparks that the Tunisian Jasmine Revolution and the 2011 Alexandria New Year’s Day bombings represented. The “Five Stages of Revolution” model can be applied to Egypt’s revolution, as well as some aspects of the J. Brown Paradigm of National Development, such as the Identifiable People Group, presented themselves throughout Egypt’s conflict.
Many change and continuities occurred within the legal system and political processes in Egypt before as well as after Mohamed Morsi’s control of Egypt. These events have eventuated due to the happenings of the government and the Egyptian citizens. These changes and continuities have impacted on Egyptian society both negatively and positively.