Algeria, a rich petrol country, has the means to buy social peace. In Algiers, the government took the necessary measures, while the police has a unified command structure. But above all, the Tunisian regime lost ‘street opinion’.
Algeria’s fratricidal war has divided democrats, seriously damaged civil society and left a political vacuum in the face of the ruling parties. There is almost no opposition with a proper base that can take the demands of the people forward.
The urban, educated, upper middle class were fed up with the Ben Ali clique which they viewed as corrupt. Thus, in contrast to Syria, this section of society chose to support the 2011 revolution which started in the midst of the poor Tunisian interior, and their support was pivotal.
