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ABSTRACT
Consensus between moderate Islamists and moderate secularists is usually judged as the touchstone of democracy in Tunisia. However, after a decade, the ‘Tunisian model’ is being questioned, as institutional and economic crises have become the norm in the country. The aim of the article is to look at how consensus adopted in the transition affected long-term democratic consolidation. To answer this question the article unpacks the concept of consensus, considering, on the one hand, the institutional architecture of consensus democracy and, on the other hand, the practice of consensus politics. The case study is used to identify the patterns generated by the interaction of these two dimensions of consensus through time. Two reforms prescribed in the 2014 constitution, the creation of the Constitutional Court and decentralisation, are taken as heuristic tools to examine democratic consolidation. In both reforms the mismatch between institutions and politics of consensus produced deadlock and non-consolidation. It is in this context that, in July 2021, President Saied dismissed the government and suspended the parliament with the intention to put an end to consensus democracy.
Acknowledgements
I warmly thank my PhD supervisor, Dr Elisabeth Johansson-Nogués, and my IBEI colleagues for their highly valuable comments. I also express my gratitude to the Institut de Recherche sur le Maghreb Contemporain (IRMC) for having hosted me during a research stay in Tunis. I am also grateful to the interviewees for sharing their insights on Tunisian politics with me. Finally, I am indebted to the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. This work has been realised in the context of the PhD programme in Politics, Policies and International Relations of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB).
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Funding
This work was supported by the research project ‘Visions and Practices of Geopolitics in the European Union and Its Neighborhood’ (VISIONS) [grant number CSO2017-82622-P]; Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades.
Notes
1 Interviews, civil society members, October–December 2020 (online), and April–June 2021, Tunisia.
2 Interview, Tunisian expert, June 2021, Tunis.
3 In the federal–unitary dimension, consensus democracy is characterised by federal and decentralised government, two equally strong chambers, a rigid constitution, judicial review of constitutionality and an independent central bank. These characteristics might vary depending on the characteristics of a given country. For example, small and relatively homogeneous countries tend to be more central in the unitary–federal continuum and have asymmetrical legislative chambers or one chamber, like Tunisia.
4 HIROR was composed of opposition parties, including Ennahda, academics and prominent civil society organisations such as the Ligue Tunisienne des Droits de l’Homme (LTDH), the Union Générale Tunisienne du Travail (UGTT) and the Union Tunisienne de l’Industrie, du Commerce et de l’Artisanat (UTICA).
5 Interview, former member of the HIROR, June 2021, Tunis.
6 Author’s own translation (from French) from the 2014 constitution.
7 Interview, senior member of the LTDH, October 2020, Tunis (online).
8 Interview, senior member of the Association Tunisienne des Femmes Démocrates (ATFD), May 2021, La Marsa.
9 Interviews, civil society members, April–June 2021, Tunis.
10 Interview, senior member of a LGTBI organisation, October 2020, Tunis (online).
11 Interview, senior members of feminist organisations, April–June 2021, Tunisia.
12 Interview, senior members of feminist organisations, April–June 2021, Tunisia.
13 Interviews, political activists, April–June 2021, Tunisia. See also International Crisis Group, Citation2013.
14 The quartet comprised the LTDH, the Order of Lawyers, the UGTT and the UTICA. They were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2015.
15 Interview, senior member of the UGTT, October 2020, Tunis (online).
16 Interview, member of Arab Reform Initiative, September 2020, Tunis (online).
17 Interview, senior member of Al-Bawsala, September 2020, Tunis (online).
18 Interview, senior member of the UGTT, October 2020, Tunis (online).
19 Interview, Mayor (Ennahda), April 2021, Ben Arous governorate.
20 Interview, former deputy Mayor (independent), April 2021, Tunis governorate.
21 Interview, senior member of the Fédération Nationale des Communes Tunisiennes (FNCT), May 2021, La Marsa.
22 Interviews, local politicians and senior member of the FNCT, April–June 2021, Tunisia.
23 Interviews, local politicians and senior member of the FNCT, April–June 2021, Tunisia.
24 Interviews, senior members of Avocats Sans Frontières (ASF) Tunisie, October 2020, Tunis (online).
25 Interview, senior member of the Forum Tunisien des Droits Économiques et Sociales (FTDES), September 2020, Tunis (online).
26 Interviews, local politicians and senior member of the FNCT, April–June 2021, Tunisia.
27 Interviews, local politicians and senior member of the FNCT, April–June 2021, Tunisia.
28 Interview, Mayor (Ennahda), May 2021, Ben Arous governorate.
29 Interview, former deputy Mayor (independent), April 2021, Tunis governorate.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Adrià Rivera-Escartin
Adrià Rivera Escartin is a predoctoral fellow FPU at Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals (IBEI) and PhD candidate in the programme in Politics, Policies and International Relations of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). His fields of interest are democratisation, human rights and European external action. He holds a bachelor in political science from the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) and a master of arts in human rights and humanitarian action from Sciences Po Paris.