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2. Tunisia: Youth take a stand for/against the president’s decisions and watch in limbo
- Author:
- Alessandra Bajec
- Publication Date:
- 02-2022
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
- Abstract:
- After playing a key role in the 2011 revolution, most young Tunisians have grown fed up with politicians in their country as a result of successive political, economic and social failures that marred the democratic transition. Since the mass protests on 25 July 2021 that preceded President Saied’s power grab, a popular youth movement has reawakened to demand radical change. This paper looks at some of the diverging positions held by young Tunisians on the president’s actions, their hopes and concerns in the current phase of political turbulence.
- Topic:
- Social Movement, Youth, Participation, and Mobilization
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Tunisia
3. Tunisia: A Revolution Still Without Monuments
- Author:
- Malek Lakhal
- Publication Date:
- 05-2021
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
- Abstract:
- Ten years on, Tunisia has yet to decide on how to publicly commemorate its revolution. This paper looks at the monuments of the revolution – or rather their absence – in the capital Tunis and how public spaces remain a deeply political arena torn between those who believe that the revolution was a breaking point in Tunisian national history and those who view it as no more than a small hiccup along the way.
- Topic:
- Social Movement, Popular Revolt, Revolution, and Remembrance
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Tunisia
4. The Unfinished Revolution: Police Brutality at the Heart of the 10th Anniversary of the Tunisian Revolution
- Author:
- Zied Boussen
- Publication Date:
- 07-2021
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
- Abstract:
- 14 January 2021 marked the 10 anniversary of the Tunisian revolution; it also ushered a wave of police repression against human rights activists and social movements that continues to expand. As a result, over 2000 people were arrested and several died in what many see as the greatest erosion of freedoms since Ben Ali’s ouster. This paper tracks the evolution of police powers in Tunisia over the past decade and provides recommendations for a democratic and inclusive reform.
- Topic:
- Social Movement, State Violence, Revolution, and Police Brutality
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Tunisia
5. Has Tunisia’s Democracy Failed to Convince its Youth? The Slow-Going of Democratic Socialization
- Author:
- Sarah Anne Rennick
- Publication Date:
- 08-2021
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
- Abstract:
- Tunisia’s current political crisis marks perhaps the most faltering moment in the process of democratic consolidation since 2013. This paper looks at the microcosm of Tunisian youth, and in particular those in marginalized governorates that have not benefited in socio-economic terms from the transition to democracy. It shows that political socialization over the last 10 years has so far failed to produce widespread democratic attitudes and explores the implications for the consolidation of democracy in the country.
- Topic:
- Social Movement, Democracy, Youth, and Participation
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Tunisia
6. Tunisia’s Upcoming Challenge: Fixing the Economy Before It's Too Late
- Author:
- Ishac Diwan
- Publication Date:
- 09-2019
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
- Abstract:
- During its first years of transition to a democratic order, Tunisia's efforts were predominantly focused on addressing political challenges. The performance of the country in this regard has been generally positive, as it has managed to consolidate democratic gains despite challenges related to the polarization of politics around identity and religious issues, the rise in insecurity related to attacks by extremist groups, and even the general disenchantment of voters for the existing political elites. However, the gains on the political front came at the expense of economic setbacks. One of the main challenges for the coming period will thus be largely economic. High unemployment, unfulfilled demands for social justice, the rise in corruption, and most importantly in the short term, an unsustainable macroeconomic trajectory, all threaten to upset recent political gains. If the upcoming administration does not address them, social discontent would endanger the hard-won democratic gains.
- Topic:
- Religion, Social Movement, Democracy, and Economic Policy
- Political Geography:
- Africa, North Africa, Tunisia, Mediterranean, and Tunis
7. Tunisia: Human Rights Organizations and the State
- Author:
- Hatem Chakroun
- Publication Date:
- 05-2018
- Content Type:
- Research Paper
- Institution:
- Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
- Abstract:
- This paper seeks to describe and analyse in a contextual way how the relationship between human rights organizations and the State in Tunisia has evolved since independence. The establishment and consolidation of national State institutions after independence was the main obsession of the ruling political network in Tunisia. This dictated its antagonistic position and measures against pluralism and inclusion of various political groups, all of which had been once unified in the anticolonial struggle. After independence, this common objective disappeared and differences materialized regarding which political system and policies to adopt in order to building a modern nation-state in Tunisia. The consolidated regime of President Habib Bourguiba succeeded in imposing an authoritarian single-party political system, whose “legitimacy” rested on the anticolonial struggle, that controlled the state, to which all had to show loyalty. The autocratic political system continued after 1987 with the reign of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who presented a retooled authoritarian political vision. The human rights community represented by the Tunisian League for the Defence of Human Rights came under pressure as the State attempted to coerce it into adopting a tailored vision of human rights compatible with the logic of a dictatorship. Ben Ali regime had also set up a façade of commitment to human rights as expressed in various laws, about which he boasted on all occasions and political events with total disregard for systematic violations by repressive state bodies. After the fall of Ben Ali following a popular uprising that rejected repression and authoritarianism and expressed a popular longing for freedom and dignity, a new vision began to form of the relationship between the State and the human rights community in Tunisia. The starting point was very positive with long time human rights activists playing a central role in the process of establishing a vision for the new republic based on respect for the principles of human rights. However, the political contention among various political factions and higher state echelons, fuelled by varying ideologies and interests, has affected this relationship, which oscillated between harmony and dissonance.
- Topic:
- Human Rights, Social Movement, Protests, and NGOs
- Political Geography:
- Africa, North Africa, and Tunisia
8. The Impact of the Human Rights Movement in Tunisia: Between Legislation and Practice (2010-2016)
- Author:
- Afifa Mannai
- Publication Date:
- 07-2018
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
- Abstract:
- This paper addresses the role of the human rights movement in Tunisia in influencing state legislations and practices. It also attempts to tackle a shift from largely monitoring and denouncing rights violations prior to the January 2011 revolution to participating in drafting bills and lobbying for policy reforms that could reduce these violations. The human rights movement was not isolated from what Tunisia experienced in the years following the 2011 revolution, which resulted in massive realignments of social and political structures and practices with a heightened awareness of the importance of human rights and the need to continue the struggle to demand and enjoy them. This new climate witnessed a change not only in terms of the scope of the demands put forth by the human rights movement but also regarding the means and mechanisms it used to achieve these demands, which at times succeeded but ended in failure some other times.
- Topic:
- Human Rights, United Nations, Social Movement, and Revolution
- Political Geography:
- Africa, North Africa, and Tunisia