The Tunisian popular revolution, which led to the fleeing of Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to Saudi Arabia and the overthrow of his 23-year rule, represents a critical juncture and the beginning of a new historical era in the Arab world. The shockwaves of the revolution did not stop at the Tunisian borders, spreading into many Arab countries and flaring a hidden power in these populations.
This popular will was fed by common grievances, starting with corruption, despotism, one-party rule, and the concentration of the national wealth in the hands of a small group of capitalists who have amassed their wealth at the expense of the subsistence of the people and the confiscation of their freedom with the use of the military baton.
President Ben Ali ruled the country for over two decades, during which time the people showed him loyalty while simultaneously harboring hatred and resentment; the intensification of injustice and repression, however, brought the people's true feelings to the surface.
This came in the form of a vast revolution that has puzzled many researchers in political science and democracy studies; in reality, the question of Arab democracy was - and remains - on the agenda of Arab thinkers who have spent years offering propositions and predictive readings of the Arab condition.
The Tunisian revolution exhibited itself as a popular revolution by all measures, catching the attention of many historians and writers in various fields; for years to come, the revolution will be a rich topic for many works and writings that examine its various facets.
In this paper, which will be followed by a book on the same topic, the researcher attempts to expose the features of the revolution from different perspectives in order to provide a preliminary, academic, narrative of the events.
The question that poses itself here is: how was the revolution able to march "headless" to the critical juncture in Tunisia's history and cause the flight of Ben Ali?
The oft-repeated statement "the Tunisian revolution came as a matter of accident" does not reflect a scientific understanding of the nature of societal dynamics; the revolution had many of its essential ingredients available to it, which had the upper hand in its flaring.
Change in the conditions of a people is not possible without the availability of the ingredients of such change; Tunisia's renaissance, which was begun by the revolution, was the result of many factors that helped create it and instigate the change that spread to most countries of the Arab Homeland. In this regard, this paper will discuss the role of these elements in making the revolution - in its beginnings - appear headless and spontaneous.
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