Tunisia-Group+B




 * Part I-A Look at the Nation**
 * ==== ** Demographics ** ====

o Citizens that are 18 years old or older can vote.
==== o Elections are held in October. Presidents are elected by popular vote for a five year term. There are no term limits. Elections are held every five years. ====

o The president before the protests was Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
([|cia.gov]) ||

([|http://news.bbc.co.uk]) ==== Tunisia gained independence from France in March, 1956, and adopted a constitution in 1959, with amendments in 1988 and 2002.(CIA.gov) President Zine El Abidin Ben Ali has been in office since 1987.(traveldocs.com) Over FIVE years? Yes. ====
 * Part II-Timeline**
 * [[image:Tunisian_timeline.png width="800" height="352"]] ||
 * Part III-Legitimacy and the Current Leader & Government**
 * ==** Longevity: **==

[[image:YES.png width="106" height="105" align="left"]]
. . . ..

Solve Conflict
====The Tunisian Republic has a judicial system, known as the Court of Cassation, which is based on French civil law system and Islamic law. (CIA.gov) ====

Protection
==== The Tunisian Constitution states that they amount to: "the most effective way of protecting the family and ensuring the citizens' right to work, health care and education." (Tunisianconstitution.pdf) ====

**Good Structure**:
Men and women over the age of 18 are allowed to vote, with the exception of government security forces, people with mental dissabilities, and people who have spent more than three months in prison.(CIA.gov) People have a say in the government functions. . . . . ..

[[image:YES.png width="107" height="111" align="left"]]
. . . ..

==Is the Tunisian Republic a legitimate government? No. To be considered legitimate, they have to pass all of the criteria. The Tunisian Government just isn't meeting enough of the Five Purposes of Government to be called 'Legitimate'.== ||


 * Part IV-Current Uprising**

There was no specific group of people that took part in the revolution. Since the problems that caused the revoltion were affecting almost every person in Tunisia, the whole public came together to overthrow the governement as a whole.
 * ==**Who Revolted?[[image:cartoon.jpg width="264" height="198" align="right"]]**==

**Why did they revolt?**
The people of Tunisia revolted because of many major problems that were present in the country: ([])
 * High unemployment rates.
 * The lack of political rights such as the freedom of speech.
 * Curroption that was happening in the government.
 * The rising prices of food/products.

· There is very little organization, aside from the rallies on Facebook and twitter.
( [|platform-online.net] )

· The president and relatives of the president fled the country
· Police shot and killed four protesters · 30 deaths reported

( [|nytimes.com] )

**How did the Government respond?**[[image:tunisia_riots.jpg width="198" height="147" align="right"]]
==== Army units and police officers dispersed protestors with the use of tear gas, bullets, and even billy clubs. Witnesses reported security forces had shot and killed several protestors. The government had set up a nighttime curfew, which was later made as early as 8 P.M. The government later tried to appease the protestors by pledging to replace the interior minister, release prisoners arrested in the demonstrations, and investigate corruption in the government. However, this did not calm the protestors. (nytimes.com) ====

Government after the revolution:
==== On January 17th, Tunisian President Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia, ending his 23 year reign in office. Ben Ali’s Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi assumed power over the government, but Tunisia’s highest constitutional body appointed Foued Mbazaa, speaker of Tunisia’s parliament, as temporary head of state. Mbazaa has taken an oath as interim President of Tunisia. (revolutionaryworkersgroup.org; africanews.com) The regime is still new, so it's hard to tell if it is going to be any better or worse that it was under Ben Ali. ==== ||