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

a global market may lie in the present and near-term future. Cody Dietrich, in his
chapter, argues that the United States ought to play an especially prominent role in
promoting these changes and in assisting the Tunisian economy to respond to its
economic development challenges. The United States needs to stop regarding Tunisia as
a risky place to visit or do business, while also assisting especially in the development of
infrastructure that may be necessary to bring development to the interior regions in order
to overcome the vast regional divide that threatens the unity of the country and the
disillusionment of many rural citizens whose early actions were largely responsible for
the “Jasmine Revolution.” This can be accomplished through direct assistance, training
for civil society (especially in the rural centers), and by indirect support through
institutions such as the World Bank and the African Development Bank.
This analysis also points to the need for reforming security institutions to provide
a stable and democratic political order in the aftermath of the revolution. Security is
often especially problematic in post-revolutionary societies, as typically the security
institutions have served as the primary instruments of repression under the previous
regime. Fortunately, this issue is less serious in Tunisia than in many other cases,
although there are important issues that need to be addressed. Perhaps of greatest
significance in the peaceful transition in Tunisia, especially compared to some of its
neighbors undergoing similar transitions, is the role of the army. As Bryan Frederick
shows in his chapter, the Tunisian Army was relatively small, professional and welltrained,
and with a long tradition of being subordinated to civilian authority. For these
reasons among others it largely stood aside throughout the insurgency, and it has emerged
as the most trusted institution in Tunisia in public opinion polls taken after January 2011.
It has focused mostly on territorial defense, especially during the insurrection in
neighboring Libya, and on participation in international peacekeeping operations, thereby
largely staying out of the political conflicts in Tunisia
Of greater concern have been the internal security forces, all responsible to the
Ministry of Internal Affairs. Colin Machado analyzes the role of these security forces in
his chapter, emphasizing that the political police were the main instrument of repression
under the Ben Ali regime, consisting of somewhere between 150,000 and 250,000
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