Tunisia, a country trapped in a slogan

The skies over Tunis were cloudy even before President Saied's July 2022 constitutional referendum that would reverse the country's democratic transition. Photo: Rashmee Roshan Lall

For all too long, Tunisia has been a country trapped in a slogan — the birthplace of the Arab spring, a role model for the Arab world. But since the 2011 Jasmine Revolution, which was for bread and freedom, so for economic reasons just as much as political grievances, Tunisia has been denied the economic and governance dividends of democracy.

So, to the key question off the back of Tunisia’s July 25 referendum to change its constitution from a mixed presidential-parliamentary system to an autocratic one-man-is-all set-up: Why would Tunisians care so little about their hard won democracy?

Why would they allow their power to hire and fire the president to be taken away from them? Why do they seem so quiescent about the changes proposed by President Kais Saied? Do they really not care? Are they habituated to dic…