Democratization in Northern Africa : A comparative democratization study of Egypt and Tunisia

The objective of this essay is to present both the reason behind the Egyptian democratization failure, as well as the cause of the success of the Tunisian democracy. The methodology of this essay is composed of a comparative democratization study, which includes a most similar systems-design method. The studies will try to pinpoint the key components of the result of the democratization, by using four of Larry Diamond’s nine internal and external democratization factors, which are presented in his book: ‘The Spirit of Democracy’. The results of this study indicate that Egypt had a far larger and more influential military force and also a critical economy, despite less international support for their democratization. Tunisia has a more democratic-oriented civil society and through democratic assistance from the European Union, a peaceful transition into a democratic system was possible. In this essay, a far deeper analysis of the democratization process will be highlighted, including how to prove how these essential factors caused the different outcomes of the Arabic spring protests