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

ack to the 1970s (SAIS Group Meeting, 25 January 2012). The new government must
take care to avoid this perception or actuality, and uphold the social contract.
The youth are the cure. The youth were represented “virtually” in the movement
but not in reality during elections and the proceeding events, as explained by Dr.
Hafaiedh, in part because they feel marginalized (SAIS Group Meeting, 23 January
2012). A meeting with youth representatives of the Ennahdha party revealed that politics
is not a place for the youth, so they’ve been told (SAIS Group meeting, 27 January 2012),
and the lack of confidence in them fuels their distrust for the government. It has been
argued that the youth are inexperienced, but a good way to express confidence in the
future leaders of Tunisia while also employing them productively is to give them civic
education and other training such as lobbying or grant-writing skills. According to a
Middle East Peace Initiative (MEPI) representative from the U.S. State Department, this
is already occurring, as the number of grant proposals for civic education and voter
participation have increased over the last year (SAIS Group Meeting, 27 January 2012).
Another danger is ignoring key groups of society, namely women and the middle
class. As was mentioned earlier in our meeting with Hatem Bourial, the middle class
played a role in the movement as well as the poor, but no one is really speaking on their
behalf, despite the fact that a significant amount of economic stimulation will come from
their pockets as major consumers (SAIS Group Meeting, 25 January 2012). Women’s
issues are being shelved because most feel that they were already addressed under
Bourguiba’s presidency, and that no new government would dare take them away. While
this is valid, Arfaoui expresses concerns regarding issues like inheritance rights that have
yet to be addressed (SAIS Group Meeting, 23 January 2012). Additionally, taking
women for granted can drive regression and result in women feeling unrepresented in this
new Tunisia.
The future of Tunisian democracy relies on its ability to come out of this
transition economically stable. One problem, according to Ambassador Gray, is that
people equate democracy with jobs, which is both inaccurate and also somewhat
dangerous (SAIS Group Meeting, 27 January 2012). If people try democracy and it
doesn’t yield results, it may boost support for the minority of religious extremists added
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