ABSTRACT

By using a range of methods and engaging with a diverse cross-section of actors in its efforts to promote political reform, the EU is also able to counter opposition to democratisation by or in one particular sector of the society in question. Lack of progress on, for example, good governance reform might be encouraged by applying greater pressure on the incumbent regime via conditionality. Similarly, reforms to a state’s civil or business societies might over time fi lter through to reform of the practices of the governing classes. By displaying an awareness of different types of processes of democratisation (élite-driven, modernisation associated, civil society-led), the EU theoretically safeguards itself against the failure of its promotion of democracy in any one particular sector in states such as Tunisia. Put simply, the EU’s democratising eggs are not all in the same basket. If one method was not achieving the desired results, then at least there were others already in operation that might achieve success in their respective sectors. This chapter assesses the effects of these different ‘eggs’ in the Tunisian context, thereby providing a comparative study of different approaches to democratisation within one context. In assessing these approaches, the chapter asks two key questions. Firstly, how successful have the different means of promoting democracy used by the EU been in Tunisia? Secondly, the chapter asks what specifi c challenges continue to hamper the progress of the EU’s democratisation efforts?