Sharan Grewal

Jun 5, 2024 | brookings.edu | Sharan Grewal

Last week, Tunisia’s president, Kais Saied, made his first trip to China and signed a strategic partnership with President Xi Jinping. The week prior, Saied made headlines for becoming the first Tunisian president to visit Iran since the Islamic Revolution. And before that, rumors swirled about Russian planes landing in Djerba. It is too early to tell whether any of these events mark a major, strategic realignment of Tunisia away from its traditional allies in the West.

Apr 5, 2024 | brookings.edu | Vanda Felbab-Brown |Jeffrey Feltman |Sharan Grewal |Steven Heydemann

Nearly six months after Hamas’ surprise attack on October 7 and Israel’s subsequent invasion of the Gaza Strip, Brookings scholars reflect on the conflict and humanitarian crisis.

Jan 12, 2024 | newlinesmag.com | Sharan Grewal

The story we often hear of how the Tunisian Revolution succeeded goes as follows: After weeks of protests, President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali ordered the head of the army, Gen. Rachid Ammar, to fire on the protesters. Ammar, however, refused, and without the military to defend him Ben Ali fled the country. Ammar was therefore lionized as a hero of the revolution, with the press calling him “the man who said no.”But in reality, none of this actually happened.

Nov 3, 2023 | brookings.edu | Sharan Grewal

The recent coup in Niger is but the latest reminder of the importance of militaries in processes of democratization. Historically, soldiers have been the leading cause of democratic collapse. Over 61% of the democracies that died between 1789 and 2008 did so due to a military coup. Today, coups remain a potent threat, ending democratic transitions in Egypt, Thailand, Mali, Myanmar, Guinea, Sudan, Burkina Faso, and Niger, among others.

Oct 27, 2023 | brookings.edu | Sharan Grewal

Why do some militaries support and others thwart transitions to democracy? After the Arab Spring revolutions, why did Egypt’s military stage a coup to end the transition? Conversely, why did Tunisia’s military initially support the transition, only to later facilitate the elected president’s dismantling of democracy? In Soldiers of Democracy? Military Legacies and the Arab Spring, Sharan Grewal argues that a military’s behavior under democracy is shaped by how it had been treated under autocracy.