Tunisia: Understanding Conflict 2012 - Johns Hopkins School of ...

This is in sharp contrast to the military’s vigilant and proactive attempts to ensure that
ongoing, widespread strikes throughout the country do not jeopardize the country’s
economic well-being. The army is very unlikely to ever become a guardian of Tunisian
secularism.
Civil-Military Relations after the Revolution
The future role of the military in Tunisia will be determined in large part by the capacity
of the civilian government, and its ability to exercise oversight of the army. The exact
working relationship between the current transitional government and the Tunisian
military is opaque, and the military was reluctant to allow any officers to speak with us
directly. Nonetheless, certain aspects of the relationship can be inferred from other
sources. The current Tunisian government is having great difficulty determining how to
deal with its internal security challenges. Efforts to prevent the salafists from threatening
public order have been half-hearted, and the Ministry of Interior has operated as though it
is unsure of its mandate or policies. The current Interior Minister Ali Larayedh, a senior
figure within Ennahdha, was himself tortured as a political prisoner at the hands of Ben
Ali’s Interior Ministry and has appeared reluctant to use force in politically-charged
cases. The transformation of the bloated internal security forces constructed during the
Ben Ali regime into a modern, professional domestic security force will take time, and
there is little evidence that the process is even yet underway. In addition, Ennahdha
appears to trust the military, and relations between the two appear to be generally warm.
In this situation, there is every reason to believe that the army is largely deciding on its
own when and where to end strikes, pursue militants inside Tunisia, and otherwise
enforce domestic stability. As discussed above, this is a politically dangerous situation
for the military, because without clearly established civilian oversight, it may be held
responsible for those unhappy with the decisions it does make, for example, to force
striking workers back to their factories.
That this arrangement has been workable thus far speaks to the professionalism
and good judgment of the army, but also to the institutional weakness of the current
government where military matters are concerned. The current Minister of Defense,
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