ABSTRACT
In studies of nonviolent regime transformation, researchers have found that security force defections can powerfully influence the outcome of so-called people power struggles. This chapter examines some of the problems associated with military defections. It also examines how new democracies are threatened if civil resisters do not reconfigure and transform the military during the uprising as well as in the post-conflict transition phase. The Arab Spring erupted in Tunisia in late 2010. Tunisians had many reasons to protest: the country suffered from an ailing economy, a corrupt regime, and lack of political freedoms. Tunisia’s police units were overwhelmed and unable to bring the situation under control. As civil resisters assert, one cannot state that the means are justified by the ends.
