Why Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali Matters:
On Nov. 7, 1987, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali became only the second president of Tunisia since the country gained independence from France in 1956. He’s been ruling the country since, seemingly legitimizing his leadership through five elections that have been neither free nor fair, the last one on Oct. 25, 2009, when he was reelected with an improbable 90% of the vote. Ben Ali was one of North Africa’s strongmen—undemocratic, brutal against dissenters, a fitful steward of the economy but a friend of Western governments because of his hard line against Islamists. He was overthrown in a popular revolution in February 2011.
Ben Ali’s Origins and Family:
Ben Ali was born on Sept. 3, 1936 in Hammam-Sousse, a small Mediterranean city in Tunisia. The country at the time was a French protectorate. Ben Ali joined the anti-French independence Neo-Destour movement in his teens, which led to his expulsion and black-listing from French-administered schools. His role with Neo-Destrour ironically won him a scholarship to military school in France after independence and a brief stint at Fort Bliss, Texas. He married twice and fathered six children. His current wife, Leila Trabelsi, is a shopaholic who indulges her pleasures with the presidential plane at lavish taxpayer expense.
Ben Ali’s Rise to Power:
Returning from military school, Ben Ali headed Tunisia’s military security from 1964 to 1974, rising through the ranks. He was military attaché to Morocco then head of national security at the interior ministry, a post where he learned Tunisia’s police-state tools—ruthlessly enacting those tools against political protesters. Made general in 1979, Ben Ali briefly serves as an ambassador to Poland then becomes minister of national security, then minister of the interior. Weeks after 84-year-old President Habib Bourguiba appoints him prime minister, Ben Ali has Bourguiba declared senile and ousts him in a coup.
Law and Order Authoritarian:
Ben Ali made his name as a law-and-order enforcer, particularly in the mid-1980s against Islamist fundamentalists he accused of plotting to overthrow the government. But he was also the government’s iron fist of choice when unrest and riots broke out over unemployment or the rise in the price of bread and over poor relations with Libya in the 1980s. “Ben Ali will be sort of an autocrat,” Ali Bahaijoub, a London-based writer on North African affairs, predicted when Ben Ali took power. “He won’t have to waffle about before he acts.” He hasn’t.
Ben Ali and the Constitutional Democratic Rally Party:
Ben Ali controls Tunisian politics through the Constitutional Democratic Rally party, which itself controls parliament as well as all key posts in state and local government. Ben Ali’s presidency was to be term-limited after two terms, but he enacted constitutional changes that may, in effect, turn him into a president for life. The government allows a few parties to oppose him, but under strict rules designed to minimize the threat to Ben Ali’s power. His party in 2009 controlled 152 of the 189 seats in the lower house of parliament.
Ben Ali and Terrorism:
Just as in North Africa’s other “soft” dictatorships—Morocco, Algeria, Egypt and Libya—repression has bred a persistent strain of underground Islamist opposition in Tunisia, particularly from a group called Hizb An-Nahdah, or Renaissance Party. The group is led by Rashid Ghannouchi, who is in exile. In 2002, the U.S. State Deparrtment designated the Tunisian Combatant Group a terrorist organization intent on establishing an Islamist state in Tunisia. Ben Ali pushed a sweeping anti-terrorism law through parliament in 2003, leading to hundreds of arbitrary arrests and cases of torture.
Ben Ali’s Repression of the Media:
Reports Without Borders notes that Ben Ali’s regime “is obsessive in its control of news and information. Journalists and human rights activists are the target of bureaucratic harassment, police violence and constant surveillance by the intelligence services. Control of the Internet has been stepped up in the past year. And visiting foreign journalists are constantly accompanied by an official from the Tunisian Agency for External Communication. As an ally of the west in its fight against terrorism, Ben Ali is nonetheless treated very leniently by international organizations.”
Human Rights Under Ben Ali:
In June 2008, an Amnesty International report, “In the Name of Security: Routine Abuses in Tunisia, reported “serious human rights violations being committed in connection with the government’s security and counterterrorism policies.” When the U.S. Congress approved $12 million in aid for Tunisia, it noted “restrictions on political freedom, the use of torture, imprisonment of dissidents, and persecution of journalists and human rights defenders are of concern and progress on these issues is necessary for the partnership between the United States and Tunisia to further strengthen.”
Ben Ali’s Successes:
Ben Ali’s rule has been more progressive regarding women’s rights and girls’ education, which have made strides since the 1980s. Economically, Tunisia, once a socialist economy, is now more of a free-market economy, at least within the bounds of state-orchestrated corruption and nepotism. The economy “is open to Western business, liberal on trade and has attracted a lot of foreign investors,” according to the Economist (in late 2009). “Exports, especially of textiles and motor components, three-quarters of them to Europe, now account for 47% of GDP. Tourism is booming, too.”
Ben Ali's Fall:
Nevertheless, Tunisia’s poor human rights record did not slowed American aid or cooperation. The United States and Tunisian military hold regular joint exercises, and Tunisia is part of the U.S. State Department’s Middle East Partnership Initiative, which includes Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Lebanon.
In February 2011, Ben Ali became the first Arab dictator to be overthrown in a popular revolution in half a century. He escaped to Saudi Arabia.