The Role of Decentralization in Tunisia's Transition to Democracy
Abstract
Tunisia’s first democratic local elections, held on May 6, 2018, were a seismic political event in the Arab world for two main reasons. The first is the fact that they represented the country’s fourth free, fair and peaceful elections since the 2011 revolution that removed former dictator Ben Ali from power and sparked the Arab Spring. This is a significant achievement in a region where initial hopes elsewhere for freedom, dignity and development have largely faded away in the face of civil war, authoritarian retrenchment, and foreign interference...