ABSTRACT
The Jasmine Revolution revealed deeply rooted inequalities between the development of coastal cities and the neglected, almost forgotten cities of the center and southern hinterland. Almost five years after Mohamed Bouazizi's self-immolation in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia, one may still wonder whether that act was the main cause or a spark for what became to be known as the Jasmine Revolution. In 2016, it is still unquestionable that the Jasmine Revolution was the first popular uprising to dethrone an authoritarian regime in the Maghreb since the 1979 Iranian Revolution. The revolution in Tunisia triggered an acute economic crisis by reversing the socioeconomic structure left by the Ben Ali regime. The General Union of Tunisian Labor (UGTT), which had been infiltrated and taken hostage by the former police state, re-emerged with the aura of its glorious past during the struggle for independence from France. It was world's perception of a stagnant "Arab exceptionalism" that made the Jasmine Revolution all the more unexpected.
