Is democracy possible in the Middle East? Comparison between Egypt and Tunisia

Details

Supervisors

Legrand, Vincent

Faculty

Faculté des sciences économiques, sociales, politiques et de communication

Degree label

Master [120] en études européennes, à finalité spécialisée: gouvernance et sociétés européennes

Abstract

Middle East has been unstable for so long and people usually think that this unstability is related to lack of institution building and democratic principles. This study aims to compare both the historic evolution and political evolutions between two countries, Egypt and Tunisia. More specifically, it aims to find out why did Tunisia democratized and why did democracy failed in Egypt. Both countries went trough the so called "Arab Spring", where revolutions started against regimes in the region. Tunisia as the country where the revolutions started was and still is the most promising one regarding working institutions and democratic principles. In this paper, the author will evaluate the historic reforms made in 1950s and 1960s and how did they contributed to democracy in Tunisia. The political evolutions and rise of Salafi parties in both countries resulted in the fall of the governments that were led by Islamists. In Egypt, military took control and turned the country back to repression. In Tunisia, however, there have been different developments and this research aims to find out what actually happened.