Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Search

Refine search

Refine search

Access:
Content type:
Publication date:
Apply   From and To filters
Subject: Show more
Journals Show more
Publishers: Show more
Societies Show more
Series: Show more
Collections: Show more

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

1 results

  • 5 - How Coup-Proofing Structured Military Response to Protest in Tunisia and Libya

  • Hicham Bou Nassif, Claremont McKenna College, California
  • Book:
    Endgames
    Published online:
    15 September 2020
    Print publication:
    01 October 2020, pp 213-248

  • Summary

    This chapter is meant for comparative purposes to test my hypotheses outside Egypt and Syria, my two major case studies. Tunisian autocrats Habib Bourguiba and Zein al-ʿAbidin Ben ʿAli strengthened the police and the ruling party as a counterweight to the armed forces – in other words, they centered their coup-proofing strategy on counterbalancing. In Libya, Muʿammar al-Qaddhafi crafted a complex coup-proofing system mixing divide-and-rule tactics with counterbalancing and ethnic stacking. I study the evolution of coup-proofing in both countries and show that divergent military behavior in 2011 – i.e., splintering of the armed forces in Libya vs cohesiveness in Tunisia; defection in Tunis vs loyalty in Tripoli – reflects the institutional legacies previously established by various coup-proofing tactics. Just as I did for Egypt and Syria, I put several other hypotheses previously posited to the test in this chapter.