https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8599-8276
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ABSTRACT
The EU’s institutional, civic and social as well as economic norms enjoy comparably high levels of support in Tunisia. However, there are differences with regards to how individual of these three sets of norms resonate with different parts of Tunisian society and elites. This article examines their acceptance, modification and contestation by Islamists, secular conservatives and secular progressives within Tunisia. It finds that almost all EU norms are supported by some parts of Tunisian society and elites, but are also all, to some extent, contested by others. This is strongly shaped by previous domestic experiences and by ideas that evolved within Tunisia. The article thus argues that the extent to which external norms are adopted in law and practice primarily depends on local agency. Moreover, the extent to which EU norms are accepted as well as the openness to competing norms are linked to output legitimacy. Perceived inabilities of Tunisia’s post-2011 system to deliver socio-economic gains, improvements to the security situation or legislation that reflects peoples’ preferred values tend to go hand in hand with contestation of the model promoted by the EU.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Assem Dandashly and Gergana Noutcheva as well as two anonymous reviewers for commenting on previous drafts of this manuscript. I am immensely grateful to all interviewees who agreed to talk to and share their thoughts with me during my field work.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 Ashton, Füle. “Joint Statement.”
2 Hibou, Marges de Manœuvre.
3 Interviews with activists, held in Tunis in May, July and September 2015. See also Michalak, “Tunisia: Igniting Arab Democracy,” 121.
4 Füle, “Recent Events.”
5 Ashton, “Address.”
6 Council, “EU response.”
7 Interview with an official from the EU delegation, Tunis, May 2015.
8 European Commission, “Neighbourhood Policy;” European Commission and HR/VP, “Partnership;” European Commission and HR/VP, “Strengthening EU support;” and EU-Tunisia Association Council, “EU-Tunisia strategic priorities.”
9 Panchuk and Bossuyt, “Effectiveness”; Del Sarto and Schumacher, “Action Plans”; Teti, Thompson, and Noble, “EU Democracy Assistance”; Kurki, “Political Economy Perspective”; Del Biondo, “Norms or Interests”; Johansson-Nogués and Rivera Escartin, “Tunisian transition.”
10 Reynaert, “Egypt and Tunisia.”
11 Cassarino, “Channelled Policy Transfers.”
12 Powel, “Clash of Norms.”
13 Bouris and Schumacher, Revised European Neighbourhood Policy, 17.
14 Durac and Cavatorta, “Strengthening Authoritarian Rule.”
15 Dandashly, “Security–Stability Nexus.”
16 Larsen, “Missing Link”; Elgström, “Outsiders’ Perceptions”; Pace, “Perceptions”; Lucarelli, “Perceptions from the Others.”
17 Hassan, “Transatlantic Democracy Agenda.”
18 Popescu, Secrieru, “Russia’s return.”
19 Altunışık, “Turkey’s ‘Return’ to the Middle East.”
20 See also Aydın-Düzgit and Dandashly, this special issue.
21 Keck and Sikkink, Activists Beyond Borders.
22 Risse et al., Power of Human Rights.
23 Finnemore and Sikkink, “International Norm Dynamics.”
24 Zimmermann, “Same Same or Different.”
25 Jetschke and Rüland, “Rhetoric and Practice.”
26 Checkel, “International Institutions,” 804.
27 Noutcheva, “Fake, Partial and Imposed Compliance.”
28 Acharya, “How Ideas Spread”; Acharya, Whose Ideas Matter.
29 Lipset and Rokkan, Party Systems; Kitschelt et al., “Left-Right Semantics.”
30 Hamid, “Political Party Development”; Wegner and Cavatorta, “Islamist–Secular Divide.”
31 Cavatorta and Merone, “Moderation through Exclusion.”
32 Boubekeur, “Bargained Competition.”
33 Aydogan, “Ideological Cleavages.”
34 Boubekeur, “Bargained Competition.”
35 See also Cavatorta, “Tunisian Islamism.”
36 Ghannouchi, “Muslim Democracy.” See also Stepan, Democratic Transition.
37 McCarthy, Inside Tunisia’s Al-Nahda, 171ff; Wolf, Political Islam in Tunisia, 166.
38 The view that religion may set some limits to social reform is by no means exclusive to Islamists or ‘Muslim Democrats’ and can, for example, also be detected among supporters of ‘Christian Democracy’ in Europe.
39 Ottaway, “Tunisia’s Power Struggle.”
40 Netterstrøm, “Islamists’ Compromise.”
41 Wolf, Political Islam in Tunisia, 98.
42 International Republican Institute, “Public Opinion Survey.”
43 McCarthy, “Challenge of Power.”
44 Interview with a former Ennahda minister, Tunis, July 2015.
45 Several interviews with economic experts, Tunis, April 2019.
46 Tamimi, Rachid Ghannouchi, 64.
47 Marks, “Tunisia’s Ennahda.”
48 Ibrahim, Turkey Model.
49 Marks, “Tunisia’s Islamists.”
50 Cook, Ruling But Not Governing.
51 Interview with a Tunisian businessman, Tunis, April 2019.
52 Interview with a Tunisian activist, Tunis, April 2019.
53 Interviews with several human rights activists, including a Tunis-based staff member of the Organisation Mondiale Contre la Torture, Tunis, April to September 2015; Comments by a senior member of Tunisia’s security establishment in a discussion under Chatham House rules, Brussels, June 2018.
54 Interviews with members of staff of transparency and anti-corruption NGOs Al Bawsala and I-Watch, Tunis, April 2019.
55 Interviews with think tankers, Tunis, April 2019.
56 Interview with a Tunisian analyst, Tunis, April 2019.
57 Interview with a Tunis-based researcher, Tunis, April 2019.
58 Cherif, Fledgling Gulf Relations.
59 Multiple interviews and informal conversations with Tunisians between April 2015 and April 2019.
60 Interview with a Tunisian member of the public, Tunis, April 2019.
61 Stepan, Democratic Transition.
62 Interview with a Tunisian activist, Tunis, April 2019.
63 Multiple interviews with Tunisians between April 2015 and April 2019.
64 Discussion under Chatham House Rule, Brussels, December 2019.
65 Weilandt, “Divisions.”
66 Interviews with several activists of the LTDH, Tunis, May to September 2015.
67 Interviews with Tunisian activists and researchers, May 2015 and April 2019.
68 Interviews with Tunisian trade unionists, think tankers and researchers, Tunis, April to August 2015 and April 2019.
69 Several interviews with progressive activists, Tunis, April 20195 to April 2015.
70 Personal notes made during field work, Tunis, May 2015.
71 Teti, “Arab Voices.”
72 Teti et al., “Beyond Elections.”
73 International Republican Institute, “Public Opinion Survey.”
74 Interview with a young female teacher from Kairouan, via skype, July 2015.
Additional information
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Ragnar Weilandt
Ragnar Weilandt is a postdoc at KU Leuven’s Centre for European Studies and an adjunct professor at the Brussels School of Governance of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.