In 10 years: Tunisia and its democracy nowadays

Several Arabic countries were shocked with the protests several years ago. They are Tunisia, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Egypt and Bahrain. Starting as a fight for more freedom, it gradually evolved into a universal democracy call. But Tunisia is the only one of the six countries who did a good job in introducing democracy within its borders. Egypt was ruled by the military, civil war in Libya and Syria, dictators in charge of Yemen and Bahrain. On the other hand, Tunisia is said to be a story of success, now a model country for the Middle East having huge success in democracy rankings. There is actually a clear and reasonable key to this outcome. A number of pro-democratic NGOs, constant influence by Tunisian people made a huge impact on the situation. Each one of them will be discussed further on. History of Tunisia Tunisia is a country in North Africa with a population around 11 million. It is located to the west from Algeria and to the east of Libya. Its capital, Tunisia, occupies the beach. It is both a center for its economics and political power and the stage of the said earlier democratic movements. Tunisia got independence from French influence in 1956 and created a republic on its own. However, only one political party, the Constitutional Democratic Alliance, dominated the country’s politics, making Tunisia a one-party state. At the end of 80-th, Presidentine El Abidine Ben Ali became the President of Tunisia and was in charge before the Spring occurred. The non-governmental organization Amnesty International often manages the country without proper respect for freedom of speech and human rights, criticizing Tunisia’s being aggressive and repressive. A pressure with no end Tunisia’s transition to democracy began after the economic collapse in 2008. This economic collapse caused a large number of youth having no job at all. President Ben Ali was getting weaker over a short period of time. As a famous protestant said during that period, their goal is more about employment than a democracy. However, the ongoing civil strife and the numerous alliances were created with traders and cultural groups across the country. This led to an appeal for democracy, which continued to raise influence until President Ben Ali finally gave up. Today, Tunisians are still dedicated to democratic nature of society and continue to improve the quality of Tunisian democracy. Therefore, two years ago, the anti-enrichment law was passed, aimed at dealing with never ending corruption that greatly slows economic growth of the country. Effective management of Tunisian NGOs If it wasn’t for the constant pressure of many non-governmental organizations Tunisia’s transition to democracy would not be successful. These non-governmental organizations and cultural groups used modern ways of communication to organize their movements and promote specific political proposals, leading to a successful democracy situation in the country. Like ATFD, an organization which fights for women's rights, makes everything possible to prove the fact that women are an important part of Tunisian democracy. In essence, ATFD uses the grounds of women's rights to promote Tunisian democracy and ultimately improve the lives of all Tunisians. Today, Tunisia’s number of women in politics is the biggest among all Arab countries. These non-governmental organizations also demonstrate the importance of globalization of democratic movements. During the period of protests, ATFD had close contact with several UN non-governmental organizations providing international pressure on the situation in the country and a faster process of bringing democracy. What can be learned It is a good example after the early democratic protests in 2010. Although their neighbors are suffering from inner conflicts caused by the same events, Tunisia has made a huge progress with the situation. Now democracy is clear to anyone and women have a big percentage of presentation in government. In addition some laws to fight corruption have been passed. Tunisia is yet far from being perfect. In Last year's Democracy Index, Tunisia was stated as an "incomplete democratic state" for the lack of complete independence of the judiciary and press. Still, this is a big and important step, an example to other countries on how to implement democracy within their country.