Tunisia după Primăvara Arabă. Exemplul reuşit al tranziţiei la democraţie

The wave of revolutions that swept North Africa and the Middle East in late 2010, early 2011 led to the fall of dictatorships, existing for decades and supported either by European powers, either by US and and their allies in the area. Researchers of the international political relations have seen in these revolutions the premises of a new wave of democratization, according to the theory of waves of S. Huntington. Although removing dictators meant the revival of Islam, seen as a religion translated into policy, and even if revolutions have several common causes - youth unemployment, poverty, violation of fundamental rights, an elite who had controled all areas of social and economic life- each country, after the Arab Spring, had an individual evolution, according to its own social-economic and historical legacy. In Syria the Arab Spring became the Islamist Winter; democracy in Egypt brought to power, firstly, the Muslim Brotherhood and in the same time the army claimed the historical role, ie that of the defender of the Egyptian people. Tunisia, where the Arab Spring started ( the Jasmine Revolution) is the only country in the region able to move towards a path of liberal democracy. The paper aims to highlight the factors that made from Tunisia the example that confirms Huntington's view on the possible democratization of the Arab-Muslim world, according to the example of Central and Eastern Europe, in the late 90s. Like other countries in the Maghreb, Tunisia was part of the Ottoman Empire for 75 years, and after that under the direct influence of the European powers (1881-1956). The first president after the abolition of the monarchy was in power until 1987, when he was ousted by Zine Abidine Ben Ali. He was in power when the Jasmine Revolution had began - Tunisia was the first country gripped by revolutionary wave. Currently, the evolution of the internal political and social phenomenon provides clues about a transition to democracy in Tunisia (Constituent Assembly election in October 2011, general elections in 2013, ratification of the Constitution and also the election of a new president in 2014).