Democratic transition in Egypt and Tunisia since the Arab uprisings

Abstract

This study focuses on the democratic transition in the Arab World. It is based on two cases mainly Tunisia and Egypt. It compares the two countries and assesses the successes and failures of their transition process. Moreover, the dissertation looks specifically at the role of the EU in the democratization process. It describes the EU bilateral relations with the Tunisia and Egypt as well as indicates the incentives undertaken to help the Arab states in their transition. The main objective of the study is to see what are the future prospects for the democratic transition in the Arab world and how international actors particularly the EU can help shape this process? Subsequently, the analysis measures the current democratic development in Egypt and Tunisia and critically assesses the impact of EU policies initiated as a response to the Arab crisis. Finally, it concludes that the outcome of the political transition is very different between the two countries. Tunisia managed to be more successful since it created an alliance of different political and social groups through democratic consensus-building. On the other hand, Egypt is regarded as a failed transition due to the fact that the military still holds major executive powers. Thus, Egypt seems to reverse to the authoritarian regime. Nevertheless, it will take a long time to see any significant results in this struggle for democracy. Also, the EU needs to learn the lesson from the past and revise carefully its policies towards the Arab states. Although, it has a long-established relationship with these countries, it failed to respond to the needs of the Arab citizens.