Abstract
This contribution analyzes the post-revolutionary path of Tunisia by placing it within the historical process that led to the building of the contemporary nation-state. Social, economic and political elements are taken into account in shaping the history of the country since the French colonization to nowadays. Moreover, in the second part of this essay, the impact of the Covid 19 pandemic is used as magnifying glass to analyze current challenges and internal politics. The society’s response and the government policies implemented to counter the contagion show fragilities and socio-economic inequalities within the country. Finally, the chapter dwells on the weight of the social conflict in the current socio-political context of Tunisia.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Bibliography
Al Jazeera. (2020, June 22). Police, protesters clash in southern Tunisia over lack of jobs. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/06/police-protesters-clash-southern-tunisia-lack-jobs-200622144613022.html?fbclid=IwAR0bHRRD18epWfh6xhCoGK6rRUrGj9vA_wU_Zyam8xWKi_AinDh_Vdl8eH4. Accessed 28 June 2020.
Al-Salihi, S. (2017). Al-Isti’maar al-Dakhili wal Tanmiyah ghair al-Mutakaafi’ah: Mandhoomat al-‘Tahmish’ fi Tunis [Internal Colonization and Unequal Devel¬opment: The Archeology of ‘Marginalization’ in Tunisia]. Al-Sharikah al-Tunisyyah lil-Nashr.
Allal, A., & Geisser, V. (Eds.). (2018). Une démocratisation au-dessus de tout soupçon? CNRS Éditions.
Amayed, A. (2020, May 14). Food security in Tunisia: A need to move back to sovereignty. OSAE. https://osae-marsad.org/2020/05/14/food-security-in-tunisia-a-need-to-move-back-tosovereignty/?fbclid=IwAR2R3SEve3w6kVVQ2OcyHkdGTw5QLJ9pM_aeFdplS2cs_h1_43DGX8iYNC8. Accessed 20 May 2020.
Andrieu, K. (2016). Confronting the dictatorial past in Tunisia: Human rights and the politics of victimhood in transitional justice discourses since 2011. Human Rights Quarterly, 38(2), 261–293.
Ayeb, H., & Bush, R. (2019). Food insecurity and revolution in the Middle East and North Africa. Agrarian questions in Egypt and Tunisia. Anthem press.
Belhassine, O. (2019, July 6). Tunisie: Un An De Procès Sous Pression. Justiceinfo.net. https://www.justiceinfo.net/fr/tribunaux/tribunaux-nationaux/41610-tunisie-un-an-de-proces-sous-pression.html. Accessed 29 October 2019.
Ben Salem, M. (2020, May). God loves the rich. The economic policy of Ennahda: Liberalism in the service of social solidarity in politics and religion. Politics and religion. pp. 1–24. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/politics-and-religion/article/god-loves-the-rich-the-economic-policy-of-ennahda-liberalism-in-the-service-of-social-solidarity/2DF08A6647AC7D7F3B083012CBAF56ED/share/9c636a821ce3cfabcb1fb4fd757faedcd75499ff. Accessed 13 June 2020.
Blaise, L. (2017, May 28). À El Kamour, la résistance continuera pendant le Ramadan. Middle East Eye. https://www.middleeasteye.net/reportages/el-kamour-la-r-sistance-continuera-pendant-le-ramadan-322384578. Accessed 22 June 2020.
Brésillion, T. (2020a, May 29). Les procès de la dictature en Tunisie: une si longue impatience. Middle East Eye. https://www.middleeasteye.net/fr/decryptages/tunisie-justice-transitionnelle-ivd-verite-dignite-torture-dictature. Accessed 1 June 2020.
Brésillion, T. (2020b, June 25). Jihed Haj Salem: En Tunisie, les formes de mobilisation des jeunes restent totalement invisibles aux yeux des partis. Middle East Eye. https://www.middleeasteye.net/fr/entretiens/tunisie-tataouine-revolution-justice-sociale?fbclid=IwAR08U1p74OxBjTIjI954G9mA45v4ji8BW1L4g_cgzVCvIDsE-Z9J_PYLnyY. Accessed 1 July 2020.
Camau, M. (2018). L’exception tunisienne. Variations sur un mythe. Karthala-Irmc Tunisi.
Chouikha, L., & Gobe, É. (2015). Histoire de la Tunisie depuis l’indépendance. La Découverte.
Chouika, L., & Geisser, V. (2010). A reading of the revolt in the Gafsa Mining. L'Année du Maghreb, VI, 415–426.
Cimini, G. (2020, April 29). COVID-19 and Tunisian democracy: High risks ahead. IAI commentaries. https://www.iai.it/en/pubblicazioni/covid-19-and-tunisian-democracy-high-risks-ahead?fbclid=IwAR3t3TfHT3ecqbQlDPjnjyPLa4fXWIq0miJLEeUZDGhje_zdHObZ9yVtcZ4. Accessed 16 June 2020.
Finzi, S., & Kazdaghli, H. (2000). Mémoires italiennes de Tunisie. Finzi.
FTDES (Forum tunisien des droits économiques et sociaux). (2020). Rapport du mois de march 2020 des mouvements sociaux, suicides et violence, Avril. https://ftdes.net/ost-rapport-mars-2020-des-mouvements-sociaux-suicides-et-violences/. Accessed 2 May 2020.
Gobe, E. (Ed.). (2019). Justice et réconciliation dans le Maghreb post-révoltes arabes. Karthala-IRMC.
Guazzone, L. (2016). Storia contemporanea del mondo arabo. I paesi arabi dall’impero ottomano ad oggi (pp. 149–170). Mondadori.
Hibou, B. (1999). Les marges de manoeuvre d’un ‘bon élève’ économique : La Tunisie de Ben Ali (pp. 1–33). CERI, Centre de recherches internationales de Sciences Po.
el Houssi, L. (2013). Dalla transculturalità all’islamicità? Il caso della Tunisia. Memoria e Ricerca, XXI(43).
International Monetary Fund. (2020, April 10). IMF executive board approves a US$745 million disbursement to Tunisia to address the COVID-19 Pandemic. Press Release No. 20/144. https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2020/04/10/pr20144-tunisia-imf-executive-board-approves-a-us-745m-disbursement-address-covid19-pandemic. Accessed 12 June 2020.
Inkyfada. (2020, June 14). The COVID-19 epidemic in Tunisia, in numbers. https://inkyfada.com/en/2020/06/14/dashboard-covid-19/. Accessed 28 June 2020.
Lamloum, O. (2020, April 29). Tunisie. Une gestion sécuritaire du Covid-19 au détriment du droit à la santé. Orient XXI. https://orientxxi.info/magazine/en-tunisie-les-fragilites-sociales-et-sanitaires-assombrissent-l-horizon,3839?fbclid=IwAR0Eg9qtzU-xmWojlDlPte3H60gbTh_fQNnX5VTlE8xF7BD6crHQ1rcO1NU. Accessed 15 May 2020.
Mahjoub, A. (2020). Pandémie Covid 19 en Tunisie: les inégalités, les vulnérabilités à la pauvreté et au chômage. Forum Tunisien pour les Droits Economiques et Sociaux. https://ftdes.net/pandemie-covid-19-en-tunisie-les-inegalites-les-vulnerabilites-a-la-pauvrete-et-au-chomage/. Accessed 25 May 2020.
Meddeb, H. (2020). Tunisia’s geography of anger: Regional inequalities and the rise of populism. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. https://carnegie-mec.org/2020/02/19/tunisia-s-geography-of-anger-regional-inequalities-and-rise-of-populism-pub-81086. Accessed 7 April 2020.
Paciello, M. C. (2013). Delivering the revolution? Post-uprising socio-economics in Tunisia and Egypt. The International Spectator Italian Journal of International Affairs, 48(4), 7–29.
Pepicelli, R. (2018). From «hero» to «zero»: Re-thinking youth in post-revolutionary Tunisia. A focus on family, state and public discourse. In L. Queirolo Palmas & L. Stagi (Eds.), Winou el shabab. Images of transformations between the two shores of the Mediterranean (pp. 56–80). GUP.
Sadiki, L. (2020, July 8). For Tunisian protesters, democracy is not enough. Open Democracy. https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/north-africa-west-asia/tunisian-protesters-democracy-not-enough/. Accessed: 2 July 2020.
Santini Hanau, R. (2018). Limited statehood in post-revolutionary Tunisia. Citizenship, economy and security. Palgrave.
Torelli, S. (2018). Focus paese: Tunisia. Mediterraneo Allargato. Osservatorio di politica internazionale, n°8—settembre (pp. 62–62). ISPI Istituto per gli studi di politica internazionale.
Torelli, S. (2015). La Tunisia contemporanea. il Mulino.
Yerkes, S. (Ed.) (2020). Coronavirus threatens freedom in North Africa. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. https://carnegieendowment.org/2020/04/24/coronavirus-threatens-freedom-in-north-africa-pub-81625?fbclid=IwAR3YDW_TZf__tf3CEBq08cenvP9PwoOe7ZaEzIq_zPAcw37G1YjYBC7kKAQ. Accessed 15 June 2020.
Yerkes, S., & Youssef, M. (2020, June 22). Coronavirus reveals Tunisia’s revolutionary gains for women only exist on paper. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. https://carnegieendowment.org/2020/06/22/coronavirus-reveals-tunisia-s-revolutionary-gains-for-women-only-exist-on-paper-pub-82151?fbclid=IwAR0gRhByWKbnWf6gNipLd9osJ-OxKq-ZCH3FwYSQcm0FyiVBgMv4s3csOYc. Accessed 2 July 2020.
Walles, J. (2020, February 3). The risk to democracy. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. https://carnegie-mec.org/diwan/80942?fbclid=IwAR1Ghmxt-yzFI7XKFJrd2us4Znli0bSw3YpiDNo6A4MEimM9adqFHdva1wg. Accessed 11 June 2020.
Wirtz, M. (2020, May 13). Il était une fois... Tunis confinée. Le point Afrique. https://www.lepoint.fr/afrique/il-etait-une-fois-tunis-confinee-13-05-2020-2375407_3826.php. Accessed: 31 May 2020.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Pepicelli, R. (2021). The Unfinished Transition. The Post-revolutionary Path of Tunisia and the Test of Covid19. A Historical and Socio-Economic Perspective. In: Corrao, F.M., Redaelli, R. (eds) States, Actors and Geopolitical Drivers in the Mediterranean. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69000-7_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69000-7_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-68999-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-69000-7
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)