In May, 2007, I watched a group of Tunisian students Texas two-step and line dance through a Roman amphitheater. This was in Jordan, where the students had been attending a conference hosted by Queen Rania. They were eager to show me their love of American country music. These Tunisian young people had mastered country line dancing–it was just about the best rendition I had ever seen.

The revolution is not over. Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has fled. But his departure is only the first baby step to meaningful democratic representation and to a better life for Tunisian people everywhere in the country, and not just for the city elites. Tunisia has experienced a hundred years of uprisings. Will this one be different? We do not know, at this point.

Will the promise of reform be merely a stalking horse for a new consolidation of control? Tunisian history for more than a century suggests that this revolution will follow a pattern of surface change but no substance to reform. Therefore, we should be holding our breath and checking reports weekly. “Reform” has been a lever by which Tunisian leaders, first Habib Bourguiba and then Ben Ali, increased consolidation of authority; therefore, the Tunisian people, particularly outside Tunis, have been skeptical. And they still are. Their new interim president, Fouad Mebazaa, has the power to make laws by decree. Whatever evolves in Tunisia could be predictive of the path of reform elsewhere in the Arab world.

Can Islam and democracy co-exist? Tunisia has been struggling with this dynamic. Tunisia has long been the laboratory, at least in western estimation, for whether or not Arab countries can combine Islam and personal enfranchisement to create some form of representational government. The jury is still out, but unlike in Egypt, Tunisia has fostered an Islamist movement that has tried to incorporate democratic norms.

What will any new Islamist party or parties in Tunisia look like? Will secular groups use fear of extremism as a path to power and to exertion of control over the populace? This is Tunisia’s past. Tunisia is as good a historical example as any of how negotiations with and fears of religious fundamentalists lead to grossly imperfect governance. The extent to which Islamic conservatives still wield majority-sized influence in Tunisia is at this time unknown. From an American perspective, this is an unfolding we want to observe.

Are Islam and human rights compatible? Can Tunisia, which has been working toward a balance here, find one? Can the country establish a non-western-style democracy that incorporates both Islam and human rights? To what extent will the French Declaration of the Rights of Man (Tunisia used to be a French colony, until 1955) influence any new Tunisian concept of “nation?”

What will the Arab Spring mean for women? The story of women’s rights in Tunisia is worth following. On the surface, women have had more western-style human rights than elsewhere in the Arab world. In 1956, a new Personal Status Code gave women new marriage rights, setting a minimum age for marriage and requiring consent. Women got the right of divorce. Polygamy was banned.
The rise in women’s status has evolved through a reinterpretation of Islam, rather than through an Attaturk-style secularization by fiat. At the same time, “women’s rights” has become a tactical bargaining chip in larger political negotiations, as well. Therefore, the ongoing story of women in Tunisia needs to be watched closely and skeptically.

Tunisian trade unions have been powerful in the past. This is unusual for the Arab world. Historically, trade unions have been a force to be reckoned with in Tunisia—but not recently. To what extent will they have a role in any new Tunisia?

Tunisia has been experiencing some of the same trends as the United States: an expansion of its middle class, while at the same time a growing gap between rich and poor. As in our own country, the rift in the mindset between city and countryside (in Tunisia, this is the South) has been widening. How will this play out?

The Constitution of 1959 guarantees freedom of the press. However, this freedom has never been fully realized. Today in Geneva, at the UN Human Rights Council meeting, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton commended Tunisia for welcoming the opening of a UN Human Rights Office in Tunis, “for opening its doors to all UN special rapporteurs.” Will Tunisia follow through on its promise? If so, Tunisian officials will experience up close and personal what freedom of the press really means.

America has several connections to Tunisia. Americans are buried there. We (our embassy) maintain a cemetery near Carthage for American soldiers killed in World War II. Our Foreign Service has an Arabic language school in Tunis. Until recently, this was the FS no. 1 Arabic language school. Jewish Americans should know that Tunisia, unlike Egypt, for example, still has a significant Jewish population. One of the major Jewish pilgrimage sites is in Tunisia.

In May, 2007, I watched a group of Tunisian students Texas two-step and line dance through a Roman amphitheater. This was in Jordan, where the students had been attending a conference hosted by Queen Rania. They were eager to show me their love of American country music. These Tunisian young people had mastered country line dancing–it was just about the best rendition I had ever seen.

Young Tunisia hungers for some of what we have in America. How they remake our institutions in their own image will be compelling to watch.

Mayhill Fowler, a native of Memphis and longtime member of Second Presbyterian Church (EPC), is a former writer for the Huffington Post who now does freelance. Her fields are American politics and foreign affairs. She is the author of Notes from a Clueless Journalist: Media, Bias and the Great Election of 2008. She is a former teacher and editor and has twice been a Knight Journalism Fellow at the University of Maryland. She currently lives in the San Francisco area. This article first appeared in her blog at http://www.mayhillfowler.com/category/nattering-on/ and is used with her permission.