Arab Spring and nonviolent actions: Comparative analysis of Tunisia and Egypt

In this study, the political change that occurred after the Arab uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt will be analyzed from a comparative perspective. While both countries experienced a political change in which the dictators were overthrown with the uprisings, Tunisia showed a democratic development after this process, and Egypt returned to authoritarianism. In January 2014, Tunisia signed and approved a constitution in accordance with the democratic system, considering the importance of Islam. Tunisians managed to negotiate to reach a compromised solution and were able to prepare a constitution, taking into account many different expectations of the people living in the country. Similar to Tunisia, Egypt succeeded in overthrowing the powerful regime of Hosni Mubarak, who remained in power for 23 years. As a result of the free elections held in Egypt following the overthrow of Mubarak, Mohammed Morsi, the candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood, became the winner of the presidential election race. However, the hope that emerged as a result of this successful election was short because the army overthrew Morsi with a coup a year later. The aim of this study, which analyzes how different results have emerged regarding the success of democratic processes in Egypt and Tunisia, is to examine how the behavior of political actors, the structure of civil society and armies affect the democratization processes. This thesis consists of six chapters. The first section, which covers non-violent actions, discusses the techniques, theoretical arguments and criticisms of these actions. In the second part, after examining different approaches to the concept of sovereignty, the differences between pluralist and majoritarian democracy concepts, which hold an important place in the discussions of modern democracy, are discussed. Later, under the headings "functionalist school" and "genetic approach", different democratization approaches such as modernization, structuralist and "actor-oriented" are examined. Finally, the link between civil society / socioeconomic inequality and democracy / democratization is evaluated. In the third part of the study, the political and socioeconomic factors that formed the background of the Arab uprisings in late 2010 are examined historically and the long-term and spontaneous factors that lead to social movements in this process are explained through Tunisia and Egypt examples. In the fourth, fifth and sixth sections of the study, the variables "military/army, civil society and political party/leadership", which have the ability to explain Tunisia's transition to a democratic system and Egypt's return to authoritarianism, are evaluated by conducting comparative analysis of both countries. In this framework, in the fourth part, how the army and bureaucracy structured in Tunisia and Egypt from their independence until the end of 2010 and the size of the armies and their effects on other fields such as economy and politics are discussed in a wide perspective with historical references. In the fifth part of the study, civil society mechanisms, which are another decisive factor in the emergence of different democratic outcomes in Tunisia and Egypt, are examined. In this context, the role of civil society in Tunisia and Egypt in the post-independence process, its relationship with government and its impact on decision-making processes in the ruling mechanism are examined. In the sixth part of the study, political party and leadership variables are discussed in Tunisia and Egypt in terms of their capacity to influence the democratic process. In this context, the development processes of the Ennahda and the Muslim Brotherhood movements and their relations with the government and the changes in their basic discourse until 2011 are examined. Subsequently, the roles of these parties during and after the social movements in both countries were discussed in terms of determining the country's politics. The comparative method is thought to be a useful approach for this thesis when examining the two cases in depth and investigating a macro-structural phenomenon. The method chosen for this thesis is based on a comparative policy method known as the "most similar systems" design. In this study, primary sources such as the statements of leaders, non-governmental organizations and other actors directing their country's transitions, as well as secondary sources such as articles, books and reports about countries, are used to a great extent.