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ABSTRACT
Five years on from the Tunisian revolution, Tunisia stands as the sole success story of the Arab Spring. The country since then has managed to adopt a pluralist and democratic constitution, and held three free and fair elections. Accordingly, in the eyes of several observers, Tunisia is now in the process of consolidating its new democracy. However, the reality on the ground seems much gloomier, as most recent opinion surveys suggest that there is a significant degree of dissatisfaction, not only with political parties and Parliament but also with the very institution of democracy. Nevertheless, what accounts for this change? After the collapse of the long-lasting and oppressive Ben Ali regime, how, just in five years, has Tunisians’ confidence in the democratic process changed? This article accounts for this state of affairs from a party politics view, arguing that political parties, which are the main protagonists of the consolidation process, fail to fulfill their role of acquiring legitimacy for the new regime. While party–state relations seem to be stabilized due to the inclusiveness of the constitution-making process, both inter-party relationships and the relationship between parties and society suffer from numerous flaws which, in turn, hamper the democratic consolidation process.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. Stepan, “Tunisia’s Transition and the Twin Tolerations”; see also Linz and Stepan, Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation.
2. Ibid., 90.
3. See Stepan, “Multiple but Complementary, not Conflictual, Leaderships”.
4. See Brumberg, “Could Tunisia’s National Dialogue Model Ever Be Replicated?”; Marks, “What did Tunisia’s Nobel Laureates Actually Achieve?”
5. Dworkin, Tunisia’s Elections and the Consolidation of Democracy.
6. For example Pew Research Center, “Tunisian Confidence in Democracy Wanes”; Benstead et al., “Tunisian Elections Bring Hope in Uncertain Times”.
7. Robbins, Tunisia Five Years after the Revolution.
8. Yahya, Great Expectations in Tunisia.
9. In the literature on the Middle East and North Africa, the concept of regime mostly implies autocracy or authoritarianism. However, in this article, unless specified as “old” or “Ben Ali” regime, the term denotes the current political system.
10. Capoccia and Ziblatt, “The Historical Turn in Democratisation Studies”, 941.
11. Mainwaring and Scully, Building Democratic Institutions, 3.
12. The article is mostly based on secondary resources such as research articles, think-tank reports, newspaper articles and opinion pieces. These sources are supported by interview results based on two fieldwork research studies carried out in Tunis in May 2015 and in November 2016. We conducted 13 in-depth semi-structured interviews lasting from 45 minutes to two hours with leading figures as well as rank and file members of political parties. The interview questions were related to party organization, party-society relations, a party’s linkage with civil society organizations, recruitment processes and a party’s role in the government.
13. Linz and Stepan, “Towards Consolidated Democracies”, 15.
14. Ibid, 15.
15. Linz and Stepan, “Towards Consolidated Democracies”, 15–16.
16. Birch, Electoral Systems and Political Transformation. Clapham, “Democratisation in Africa”; Diamond, “Introduction: Persistence, Erosion”; Mainwaring and Scully, Building Democratic Institutions.
17. Pridham, “Political Parties, Parliaments and Democratic Consolidation in Southern Europe”, 237–238. For recent accounts of Pridham on political parties and democratization see Pridham, “Comparative Perspectives on Transnational Party-Building in New Democracies”; Pridham, “Post-Communist Democratizations”.
18. Pridham, “Southern European Democracies on the Road to Consolidation”.
19. Ibid, 30.
20. See Murphy, “The Tunisian Elections of October 2011: A Democratic Consensus”.
21. Allani, “The Post-Revolution Tunisian Constituent Assembly”.
22. See Pickard, “Challenges to Legitimate Governance in Post-Revolution Tunisia”.
23. Murphy, “From Democratic Consensus to a Struggle for Power”.
24. Allani, “The Post-revolution Tunisian Constituent Assembly”, 135.
25. Lesch, “Troubled Political Transitions”, 70; see also Angrist, “Understanding the Success of Mass Civic Protest in Tunisia”.
26. Salamey, “Post-Arab Spring: Changes and Challenges”.
27. M'rad, National Dialogue in Tunisia: Nobel Peace Prize 2015. See also Ben Salem, “The National Dialogue, Collusive Transactions and Government Legitimacy in Tunisia”.
28. The Carter Center, Legislative and Presidential Elections in Tunisia.
29. Pickard, “Prospects for Implementing Democracy in Tunisia”.
30. The Carter Center, Legislative and Presidential Elections in Tunisia.
31. For an analysis of Ennahda see Cavatorta and Merone, “Moderation through Exclusion? The Journey of the Tunisian Ennahda”; Guazzone, “Ennahda Islamists and the Test of Government in Tunisia”.
32. Interview: Rachid Ghannouchi, Ennahda, Tunis, May 6, 2015.
33. Wolf, “An Islamist ‘Renaissance’? Religion and Politics in Post-Revolutionary Tunisia”.
34. See Merone, “Enduring Class Struggle in Tunisia: The Fight for Identity Beyond Political Islam”.
35. Pridham, “Southern European Democracies on the Road to Consolidation”, 115.
36. See also Laurence, “Tunisia, The Courage of Compromise”.
37. Bielasiak, “Party Competition in Emerging Democracies”.
38. Haggard and Kaufman, “The Political Economy of Democratic Transitions”.
39. Adly and Meddeb, Why Painful Economic Reforms Are Less Risky in Tunisia Than Egypt.
40. Saleh, “Tunisia after the Revolution”.
41. There occurred more than 5000 demonstrations across the country from January 2015 to May 2016. See Yahya, Great Expectations in Tunisia.
42. Amara, “New Tunisian Premier Tries to Break Economic Reform Curse”.
43. Interview: Meherzia Labidi Maïza, Ennahda, Tunis, November 14, 2016.
44. Stratfor, Tunisia’s Slow but Persistent Path to Reform.
45. Adly and Meddeb, Why Painful Economic Reforms Are Less Risky in Tunisia Than Egypt.
46. Ibid.
47. Interview: Meherzia Labidi Maïza, Ennahda, Tunis, May 5, 2015.
48. Robbins, Tunisia Five Years after the Revolution.
49. International Republican Institute, Public opinion survey of Tunisia.
50. Samti, “In Tunisia a New Reconciliation Law Stokes Protest and Conflict İnstead”.
51. Green, “On the Rocks: Tunisia’s Transitional Justice Process”.
52. El Malki, “Tunisia’s Partisan Path to Transitional Justice”.
53. Almajdoub, “Addressing Inequality in Tunisia”.
54. Samti, “In Tunisia a New Reconciliation Law Stokes Protest and Conflict İnstead”.
55. Stratfor, Tunisia’s Slow But Persistent Path to Reform.
56. Guellali, “A Threat to Tunisia’s Transition”.
57. Almajdoub, “Addressing Inequality in Tunisia”.
58. For a similar argument see Boubekeur, “Islamists, Secularists and Old Regime Elites in Tunisia”.
59. Interview: Hichem Laaridh, Ennahda, November 14, 2016.
60. Pridham, “Southern European Democracies on the Road to Consolidation,” 115; see also Randall and Svåsand, “Political Parties and Democratic Consolidation”.
61. Ibid.
62. Mair, Party System Change: Approaches and Interpretations.
63. Pridham, “Southern European Democracies on the Road to Consolidation”, 27.
64. Storm, Party Politics and Prospects for Democracy in North Africa.
65. Ibid.; see also Hostrup Haugbølle and Cavatorta, “Will the Real Tunisian Opposition Please Stand Up?”
66. Storm, Party Politics and Prospects for Democracy in North Africa.
67. Interview: Abdelhamid Jelassi, Ennahda, May8, 2015.
68. Interview: Osama Al Saghir, Ennahda, Tunis, May 5, 2015.
69. Interview: Ennahda, Tunis, November 14, 2016.
70. Interview: Rachid Ghannouchi, Ennahda, Tunis, May 6, 2015.
71. See Berman and Nugent, “Defining Political Choices”.
72. See Burgeja, “Tunisia’s Endangered Exception”.
73. Cherif, “The Leadership Crisis of Nidaa Tounes”.
74. Interview: Olfa Soukri Cherif, Nidaa Tounes, Tunis, May 5, 2015.
75. Gall and Samti, “Revolt in Governing Party Shakes Tunisian Politics”.
76. Tavana and Russell, Tunisia’s Parliamentary and Presidential Elections.
77. Parker, “Aridha Chaabia, ‘Popular Petition,’ Shocks Tunisian Politics”.
78. Interview: Naoufel Jammali, Ennahda, November 15, 2016.
79. Strickland, “Tunisia’s Small Parties Eye Potential Power”.
80. Arabbarometer 2011, 2013, 2016. Data indicate percentage of those who have some or a lot of trust in the government.
81. Randall and Svåsand, “Political Parties and Democratic Consolidation“.
82. Ibid, 12.
83. Somer, “Conquering Versus Democratizing the State”.
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Şebnem Yardımcı-Geyikçi
Şebnem Yardımcı-Geyikçi is Assistant Professor of Politics at the Department of Political Science and International Relations at TED University, Ankara, Turkey. Her primary area of research is comparative politics with a special focus on parties and party systems in new democracies. Previously, her works on aspects of party politics, contentious politics and democratization in Turkey and beyond appeared in Party Politics, Government and Opposition and the Political Quarterly.
Özlem Tür
Özlem Tür is Professor of International Relations at Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey. Her main expertise includes Turkey’s relations with the Middle East (especially Syria, Israel and Lebanon) and the Arab–Israeli conflict. Her publications include Turkey–Syria Relations – Between Enmity and Amity (London: Ashgate, 2013, co-edited with Raymond Hinnebusch); “Turkey and Israel in the 2000s” (Israel Studies, 2012); “Political Economy of Turkey’s Relations with the Middle East” (Turkish Studies, 2011).