• عربي
  • Fr
  • Es
No Result
View All Result
European Eye on Radicalization
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Who We Are
      • Editorial board and staff
      • Contributors
    • Vision
  • Analysis
  • Opinion Pieces
    • EER Editorials
    • Contributors’ Opinions
  • Reports
  • Reading Radicalization
  • Events
    • EER Events
    • Events EER attends
  • Interviews
  • Videos
  • Contact
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Who We Are
      • Editorial board and staff
      • Contributors
    • Vision
  • Analysis
  • Opinion Pieces
    • EER Editorials
    • Contributors’ Opinions
  • Reports
  • Reading Radicalization
  • Events
    • EER Events
    • Events EER attends
  • Interviews
  • Videos
  • Contact
No Result
View All Result
European Eye on Radicalization
No Result
View All Result
Home Opinion Pieces EER Editorials

Tunisia Approaches Consensus on the Way Forward

6 August 2021
in EER Editorials, Opinion Pieces
Tunisia Approaches Consensus on the Way Forward
475
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

European Eye on Radicalization

It is just under two weeks since Tunisia’s President Kais Saied broke through the deadlock in that country by invoking Article 80 of the constitution and using the executive powers it gives him to dismiss the Prime Minister, Hichem Mechichi, whose government was underwritten by the Ennahda Party, the local version of the Muslim Brotherhood.

President Saied’s decision was cautiously welcomed by many of the democracy activists who made the original revolution in Tunisia in 2011, by many journalists, who had been feeling the pressure as Islamist rule solidified in the country. Despite accusations from Ennahda and its supporters that Saied was engaged in a “coup,” the sacking of what had been a chronically dysfunctional, corrupt, and increasingly brutal government was welcomed by an overwhelming majority of Tunisians—a full 87% of them, according to one poll.

President Saied has briefly frozen parliament while he tries to reset a political system that had spun out of control. One action Saied has taken is to sack the director-general of special [intelligence] services at the Interior Ministry, Lazhar Loungo, and replace him with Muhammad Cherif. The Ennahda-dominated security forces had engaged in attacks on civilian protesters during the months-long effort, beginning in January, to bring the government to some kind of account. Loungo is now under house arrest. Firm measures have been taken against others trying to derail this transition process.

One reason that the claims of illegality by Saied have rung so hollow—other than the fact that as of now, only the domestic Islamists and autocratic Turkey abroad is making them—is that, as Amine Ben Naceur, who studies democratic transitions, explained, “The arbiter of [Article 80’s] legality—as well as the body responsible for its termination—is the constitutional court. This court does not yet exist.” The attempt to create a post-revolutionary legal regime has been underway since at least 2014, and in all that time Ennahda has had a dominant role over the state. In short, the claims of illegality from the Islamists are undone by their own hand, and only draw attention to the failures of their rule that brought Tunisia to this point.

As Naceur pointed out, those who jumped to the analogy with Egypt in 2013 erred rather badly: Tunisia’s military stays out of politics, and the consensus about this new path forward cuts across Tunisia’s most powerful institutions—from the army to the trades unions—meaning that any effort to instigate bloodshed as the Brotherhood did after its fall in Cairo will likely not succeed. Further undermining the possibility of turmoil, this consensus now appears so strong that it includes the Islamists themselves.

Rashid Ghannouchi, the Ennahda leader, sent out a message on 4 August telling his supporters that they should not fight to overturn Saied’s decision; rather, they should view it as “a stage of the democratic transition”. This is an opportunity for reform, said Ghannouchi. And Turkey, whose Islamist president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, had stopped short of calling Saied’s decree a “coup”—Erdogan’s spokesman said Ankara was worried about “the suspension of the democratic process”—seems to have reconciled itself to the course set by Saied, removing the biggest threat of instability from outside.

After the sound and fury of the first few days, it appears that the most mature democratic experiment of the Arab spring has once again risen to the occasion: Tunisia’s mainstream was able to consolidate quickly enough to marginalize extremist voices, and the opportunity now exists to start a new chapter, having learned from prior mistakes.

Related Posts

The Muslim Brotherhood: Divided and Struggling for Survival
EER Editorials

The Muslim Brotherhood: Divided and Struggling for Survival

24 June 2022
The Rise of Jihadism in Africa: Revisiting the Poverty-Terrorism Nexus
Contributors’ Opinions

The Rise of Jihadism in Africa: Revisiting the Poverty-Terrorism Nexus

21 June 2022
The “Salafist” Construction and the Danger to Democratic Rights of French Muslims
Contributors’ Opinions

The “Salafist” Construction and the Danger to Democratic Rights of French Muslims

16 June 2022
What the Ongoing Diplomatic Row Tells Us About Right-Wing Extremism in India
Contributors’ Opinions

What the Ongoing Diplomatic Row Tells Us About Right-Wing Extremism in India

13 June 2022
The Case for Repatriation: Bring Dutch Women and Children Back from the Syrian Camps
Contributors’ Opinions

The Case for Repatriation: Bring Dutch Women and Children Back from the Syrian Camps

10 June 2022
Germany’s Evolving Counter-Extremism Policy Towards the Muslim Brotherhood
EER Editorials

Germany’s Evolving Counter-Extremism Policy Towards the Muslim Brotherhood

3 June 2022

Latest from Twitter

Popular

Islamist Extremism and Jihadism in Latin America: A Longstanding and Underestimated Phenomenon

Islamist Extremism and Jihadism in Latin America: A Longstanding and Underestimated Phenomenon

14 April 2022

Muslim Brotherhood and Khomeinism in Italy: The Told and the Untold

6 May 2022
Becoming Ansar Allah: How the Islamic Revolution Conquered Yemen

Becoming Ansar Allah: How the Islamic Revolution Conquered Yemen

24 March 2021
The History and Structure of Islamic Organizations in the United States

The History and Structure of Islamic Organizations in the United States

30 October 2020
Islamist Extremism and Jihadism in Latin America: A Longstanding and Underestimated Phenomenon (Part 2)

Islamist Extremism and Jihadism in Latin America: A Longstanding and Underestimated Phenomenon (Part 2)

17 June 2022
Radicalization in the Service of the Revolution: Iran, Hezbollah, and the Shi’ite population in Europe

Radicalization in the Service of the Revolution: Iran, Hezbollah, and the Shi’ite population in Europe

7 June 2022

© 2018 EER - Copyright © European Eye on Radicalization.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Who We Are
      • Editorial board and staff
      • Contributors
    • Vision
  • Analysis
  • Opinion Pieces
    • EER Editorials
    • Contributors’ Opinions
  • Reports
  • Reading Radicalization
  • Events
    • EER Events
    • Events EER attends
  • Interviews
  • Videos
  • Contact
  • عربي
  • Fr
  • Es

© 2018 EER - Copyright © European Eye on Radicalization.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.