The theme of this study will be the Arab Spring and democratization. The impact of the Arab Spring has, in one form or another, extended to almost all countries of the Arab region in the MENA. However, this paper will be limited to compare two countries, in particular, Tunisia and Egypt by analyzing their democratization and examining how two similar states achieved widely differing outcomes in the aftermath of the Arab Spring. Tunisia and Egypt are both predominantly Muslim-majority, Arabic-speaking countries, and both of them were subject to authoritarian regimes (Ben Ali in Tunisia, Mubarak in Egypt) before the outbreak of the Arab Spring. After the first wave of uprisings, Tunisia made remarkable progress in the transition to democracy, but in Egypt, the situation altered when the army overthrew a democratically elected president, and then the country underwent a counter-revolution, bringing it back to square one (i.e. the yoke of tyranny). The four variables that this research will revolve around as an explanation and possible analysis of the secret of this difference in outcomes between these two countries are the role of the international and regional community, the position of the military and armed forces in the state, the role of religious political parties, and the effectiveness of civil society organizations across the country. After reviewing all four variables, the final result of the paper suggests that the military, religious, international, and civil society variables are the strongest indicators of the reason for the great difference in the democratic progress in both countries. This paper facilitates an understanding of democratization by identifying the critical factors in determining whether a nation's transition from dictatorship to democracy will be successful or not. Key Words: the Middle East and North Africa, Arab Spring, Democratization, Egypt, Tunisia.

This essay aims to examine how the democratization of Tunisia has taken place since the Arabic spring. It will also analyze how well the country qualifies as a consolidated democracy and what conflicts that have been the driving force of the democratization process. The essay is a qualitive case study and explores the years of 1987 to 2018. Moreover, it is supported by the democratization theory of Dankward A Rustow. The Arabic spring was a consequence of the high unemployment numbers, the poverty in the country and the discontent of the president’s approach of ruling. The road to the democracy has suffered from many difficulties due to influences of the previous authoritarian rule. The situation in Tunisia after the Arabic spring has been unstable and demonstrations in smaller scales has taken place. Today the country has free and fair elections regularly and 2014 a new constitution was introduced. However, people have not gained a better lifestyle from the democratization even though the democracy has flourished. Lastly, the Tunisian democracy is not yet consolidated and still needs to the implemented into the country’s laws and population.

La gestion durable de la demande d’eau résidentielle par la tarification incitative représente actuellement la seule alternative non technique permettant de retarder le recours à la mobilisation des ressources non conventionnelles qui se caractérisent par un coût très élevé. Dans cette thèse, nous utilisons des données tunisiennes mesurant la consommation par régions et par trimestre sur longue période 1980-2007. Deux blocs de consommation, un bloc inférieur et un bloc supérieur sont analysés, afin d’évaluer le succès et le rôle incitatif de la tarification progressive dans la gestion de la demande. La thèse propose ainsi deux essais en termes de cointégration et de modèles à correction d’erreurs pour étudier les déterminants de la demande à court et à long terme. Nous utilisons d’abord des données chronologiques saisonnières relatives à la Tunisie pour estimer la fonction de la demande d’eau. Nos résultats suggèrent des pistes de réforme du système de prix en vigueur actuellement de manière uniforme à l’échelle du pays. L’alternance des saisons sèches et pluvieuses affecte le comportement des ménages et augmente l’élasticité prix de la consommation d’eau. Les consommateurs du bloc inférieur sont les plus touchés par la progressivité de tarif. Par conséquent, Nous proposons d’élargir la tranche inférieure de consommation en été pour permettre à l’ensemble des familles pauvres de se voir appliquer le tarif le plus bas sur l’ensemble de la consommation. Par ailleurs, nous préconisons une tarification saisonnière de l’eau propre aux périodes sèches et chaudes pour les consommateurs du bloc supérieur. Dans la deuxième partie de la thèse, l’étude régionale de comportements des ménages sur des données de panel à l’échelle de 6 régions Tunisiennes, montre que l’élasticité prix de long terme du bloc inférieur, formé essentiellement de petits consommateurs ayant des revenus plutôt modestes, est supérieure à celle du bloc supérieur. De plus, la demande d’eau résidentielle en Tunisie est relativement sensible au prix pour les consommateurs des plus hautes tranches situés dans les régions caractérisées par un certain dynamisme économique. Nous préconisions d’axer la gestion de la demande d’eau en Tunisie sur un système tarifaire / If Tunisia, as well as all the other similar countries, wants to avoid, or at least to postpone the mobilization of non conventional water (desalinization, virtual water, etc.) with sensibly higher costs, the only alternative is to rely on appropriate water demand management. Water pricing must be considered seriously as a useful tool, with certainly the other non price instruments, such as awareness, education, water conservation and participatory management, to keep under control the demand evolution. In this thesis, we use Tunisian data and a decomposition into two water consumption blocks to estimate residential water demand function. Firstly, seasonal investigations show that Tunisian water pricing policy was not perfect. The lower block’s consumers are most affected by water tariff progressivity than upper block’s consumers. The seasonal fluctuations and the alternation of rainy and dry seasons affect only lower block’s consumers. We then advocate increasing the lower block’s length in summer to keep poorest family well being unchanged and reaching social equity. For the upper block’s consumers, we recommend applying seasonal water price to keep under control their water use evolution. Second, in the regional study, we find that the long run water price elasticity is more important in the lower block than the upper one. Moreover, water demand is sensible to price in regions characterized by economic dynamism. We think that a decentralized water pricing system can perfectly control water use especially by upper block’s consumers.

La micro-finance vise à favoriser l'accès aux services financiers pour les personnes vulnérables exclues du système bancaire traditionnel. Elle apparaît en cela comme un outil de réduction des inégalités, notamment de genre, vis-à-vis de l'accès au crédit. Toutefois, en s'appuyant sur le cas de la principale institution de micro-finance tunisienne, ce travail de recherche montre que lorsque les conditions de crédit octroyées sont examinées, l'objectif de réduction des inégalités ne semble pas pleinement atteint. En effet, si l'institution favorise effectivement les femmes en ce qui concerne l'accès au microcrédit, et malgré le moindre risque qui représentent les femmes pour l'institution, celles-ci reçoivent malgré tout des montants de crédit inférieurs aux hommes, et ce tout au long de leur historique de crédit. En particulier, les femmes les plus ambitieuses sont les plus rationnées. La mise en perspective des analyses sur micro-données, données expérimentales et sur l'impact d'une formation sur les agents de crédit laisse penser que les inégalités hommes-femmes existantes en Tunisie et chez les clients participent de la construction de stéréotypes de genre chez les agents de crédit. Dans la mesure où une certaine place est laissée à la subjectivité dans les procédures d'octroi actuelles, certaines inégalités se reproduisent plus qu'elles ne se réduisent. / Microfinance aims at facilitating access to financial services for vulnerable people excluded from the traditional banking system. In that regard, it appears as a key tool to reduce inequalities, especially between men and women, to access credit. However, on the basis of a case study about the main Tunisian microfinance institution, this research work shows that when considering the loan conditions granted, the objective of inequality reduction is not fully achieved. If the institution indeed favors women in terms of access to credit, and despite the lesser risk female clients represent for the institution, women still receive lower loan amounts than men all along their credit history. The most ambitious women are in particular the most rationed ones. Putting the analyses on microdata, experimental data and impact assessment of a training on loan officers into perspective suggests that gender inequalities existing in Tunisia and among clients contribute to create gender-based stereotypes among loan officers. Since current granting procedures leave some room for subjectivity, some inequalities are reproduced instead of reduced.

The Arab Spring put several revolutions in motion in the Middle East and North Africa. However, Tunisia was the only country that succeeded with a democratization process, making the country a fairly new democracy. Simultaneously, independent research networks and organizations whose main focus is democracy and democratic values such as Freedom House, V-Demand the Arab Barometer are presenting worrying information about democracy around the world. Democracy is in crises - evident by the remarkable decline or erosion in democratic norms and practices. While scholars have already begun investigating the causes of democratic deconsolidation or backsliding in the context of western democracies, notably those of western Europe and the US, still little is known with regards to new democracies from other parts of the globe. To fill this research gap, this qualitative case study focuses on Tunisia, with the core objective to investigate whether or not Tunisia is experiencing democratic deconsolidation. By using the three criteria described by the political scientist Yascha Mounk in his deconsolidation theory, the result suggests that while democratic values are still quite strong amongst the Tunisian citizens, it is evident that a majority of the Tunisian citizens are experiencing institutional dissatisfaction and low institutional trust.

Notre étude a porté sur le diagnostic de la présence des perturbateurs endocriniens dans le golfe de Gabès (Tunisie), leurs effets sur la reproduction d’une espèce bioindicatrice de pollution, la palourde R. decussatus ainsi que leurs mécanismes d’action. Pour atteindre ces objectifs, nous avons fait appel à plusieurs outils méthodologiques, des expositions in vivo (effluents urbains, effluents industriels, 17β-œstradiol) et des prélèvements in situ afin d’évaluer le risque encouru par l’écosystème du golfe de Gabès tout entier en utilisant une approche multiparamétrique basée sur différents niveaux de l’organisation biologique (allant du niveau biochimique jusqu’au niveau populationnel). Nous avons mis en évidence la présence des composés reprotoxiques tout au long de la côte Sud-Est de la Tunisie. Les résultats obtenus ont révélé une corrélation entre la contamination chimique (cadmium, activités œstrogéniques et androgéniques au niveau du sédiment) et certains paramètres biologiques liés à la reproduction (diamètre ovocytaire, vitellogénine, glycogène) et un site très divergent de tous les autres sites (El hofra). Cette station d’El hofra semble être touchée par une perturbation endocrinienne liée probablement à une synergie entre la contamination par le Cd et la présence des composés à activité œstrogénique et androgénique dans le milieu. En parallèle à cette étude in situ, trois expérimentations au laboratoire ont été réalisées. Les résultats ont montré que les effluents de la station d’épuration de Sfax (cocktail de contaminants) sont capables d’affecter la reproduction de la palourde en induisant la synthèse de la vitellogénine et stimulant la reproduction chez les deux sexes. L’exposition des palourdes à un contaminant pur, le 17β-œstradiol, a révélé qu’il peut contribuer à expliquer les perturbations du cycle reproducteur observées dans l’expérience précédente. Cette hormone naturelle a un effet et sans doute un rôle dans la physiologie de la palourde. Dans le but d’étudier son mécanisme d’action via le récepteur aux œstrogènes (RE), nous avons cloné une partie de l’ADNc codant pour les RE. Cependant, l’analyse de la réponse transcriptionnelle n’a pas montré de changement significatif dans l'expression du gène aussi bien chez les mâles que chez les femelles suite à une exposition aux œstrogènes (17β-œstradiol, effluents urbains et industriels). / Our study aimed to assess the presence of endocrine disrupting compounds in the Gulf of Gabes area (Tunisia), their effects on the reproductive potential of the marine bivalve, Ruditapes decussatus as well as elucidating their mechanisms of action. To achieve these goals, several methodologies have been deployed, such as laboratory in vivo exposures (to urban or industrial effluents, estradiol), and in situ sampling to assess the risk of such substances on this ecosystem by using a multiparametric approach based on different levels of biological organization in clams (from biochemical level to the population level). We have demonstrated the presence of reprotoxic compounds along the south-eastern coast of Tunisia. The results revealed, a strong correlation between chemical contamination (cadmium, estrogenic and androgenic activities in sediment) and some reproductive parameters (oocyte diameter, vitellogénine and glycogen levels) and, a particular site (El hofra) that differs from all the other studied sites in this polluted context. Clams from this station seem to suffer from endocrine disruption probably resulting from a synergistic effect between both cadmium contamination and the presence of chemicals acting as estrogens and androgens in the environment. In parallel to this in situ study, three laboratory experiments were performed. The results showed that exposure to a mixture of chemical compounds released by the Sfax wastewater treatment plant had an adverse impact on the reproductive potential of R. decussatus, by inducing vitellogenin synthesis and stimulating reproduction in both sexes. Results of the exposure of organisms to 17β-estradiol alone, revealed that the estrogenic compound could contribute to the observed effects on the reproductive cycle of the test animals in the previous experiment. This natural hormone has induced deleterious effects and may play a role in the physiology of the clam. To study its mechanism of action via estrogen receptors, a partial cDNA of the gene was isolated and characterized from the clam R. decussatus. However, analysis of the transcriptional response did not show a significant change in the gene expression in males as well as in females following exposure to estrogens (17β-estradiol, urban and industrial effluents).

The purpose of this thesis is to try to understand the moderation process of the Tunisian Islamic political party Ennahda between the years of 2011-2016. This case is studied within the context of the democratisation process that took place in Tunisia, in the five years after the Arab spring and the idea that political Islam might provide a path to democracy in the Middle East and North Africa. The theoretical framework chosen for understanding this process was in form of a theory about under which circumstances religious political parties politically moderate. The method used was a qualitative content analysis. The analysis was conducted by dividing the chapters into thematic topics that emerged out of the material with the framework then being applied to those themes. The research found that the theory provided theoretical understanding for why the Ennahda Movement became more moderate, especially when looking at factors regarding political entrepreneurship. However, other factors such as a dedication to democratic values, non-violence, and a willingness to change throughout its history, also proved important in the case of moderation within the Ennahda Movement.

Diploma thesis focuses on the role of the Civil Society in the processes of transition to democracy as a part of the possible democratization wave in the Middle East also know as the Arab Spring. For the purposes of the thesis the author examines three case studies of countries with successful revolutions - Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia. Using the method of process-tracing with focus on the path-dependency it traces the changes in the dynamics of the Civil Society in the pre-revolutionary period, concretely during Mubarak's regime in Tunisia, Qaddafi's rule in Libya, and Ben Ali's regime in Tunisia, through the revolutions to the post-revolutionary period. Moreover, the main assumption is that the initial non- democratic regimes have been significantly influencing the transformation process of all three countries and this also applies to the Civil Society as such. The Civil Society, in this thesis, is based on two paradigms. The first is based on the liberal modernization framework and the second is connected with stagnation and socio-economic deprivation. This unique combination contributed to the transformation of Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia. The dynamics of the Civil Society is then determined by several factors, which are: Civil Society organizations, social media and networks, youth education, economic...

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This masters thesis discusses Tunisian civil society’s advocacy for decentralization and local elections throughout 2018 on Facebook, while considering age and gender dynamics. Existing studies provide an overview of the decentralization reform process in Tunisia and other countries in the Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) region. This research sheds new light on these issues by addressing decentralization from a Communication for Development (C4D) perspective. The subject of this masters thesis is situated in a threefold context: First, in the context of broader debates on the evolution of decentralization approaches in the decentralization field, second, in the Tunisian context of the decentralization reform process, and finally, in the context of youth participation in public debate and elections in Tunisia. The case study focuses on Mourakiboun (The Observers), considered among the most active Civil society organizations advocating for decentralization and local elections. This research draws on existing research related to social media as a public sphere, social media for development, as well as the concepts of advocacy and civic engagement. This paper analyses Mourakiboun’s advocacy for decentralization and local elections throughout 2018 based on quantitative content analysis of its Facebook page statistics, with a focus on five specific periods. Qualitative surveys for Facebook users, as well as in-depth interviews with Mourakiboun’s representatives, complement the first research method by understanding opinion on this advocacy from involved stakeholders. The main findings of this paper show a gap between active interaction of Facebook users on Mourakiboun’s page, especially 18-34 years old, on Facebook posts related to decentralization and local elections and their participation on May 6th, 2018 local elections. They also show a weak interest of 13-17-year-olds in posts related to decentralization and local elections, and that male users are more engaged with the page than their female counterparts. Additionally, the analysis of Facebook stats highlights the active engagement of users with posts promoting Mourakiboun’s smartphone Apps. Finally, the research findings are also detailed for each of the five periods.