Beyond Defection: Explaining the Tunisian and Egyptian militaries’ divergent roles in the Arab Spring

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article challenges conventional accounts of the Tunisian and Egyptian militaries’ role in the Arab Spring, emphasizing the very different bargaining versus containing logic through which the countries’ autocrats maintained political control of the military. Whereas traditional approaches emphasize the common outcome that neither military fired on protesters, this article highlights three areas of difference in military behavior: the militaries’ role in repression (beyond nor firing on protesters); managing the regime crises; and removing or sustaining the regime. In so doing, it also argues against interpretations of the Tunisian military that it remained loyal or passive. To the contrary, the article shows how the Tunisian military was a decidedly political actor, playing a profound role in ending the regime.