Ḥizb al-Nahḍah: from revolution to government and to a second referendum

Abstract

The year 2011 witnessed watershed events in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), resulting in long-awaited political and social transformation, with Tunisia acting as catalyst and modus operandi for the other countries of the region. Although the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ now seems to be gripped in a stalemate in Egypt, where vagueness still prevails, and in Syria and Libya, where the security situation continues to be extremely precarious and unstable, there seems to be a wind of change in the political context in Tunisia, where on 26 October 2014 the population witnessed the second post-revolution elections. The political party Ḥizb al-Nahḍah (Renaissance Party), officially founded in 1981, has been having a considerable impact on the political milieu of the region since its political career has experienced a renewed boost. Furthermore, Salafism has emerged as a legitimate force in the country demanding al-Nahḍah to redefine its role and strategy. While in power al-Nahḍah faced multifarious political, social and economic challenges that compelled it to devise new strategies and policies to suit the changing socio-political climate. In addition to exploring post-revolution transitions and transformations in Tunisia, this paper focuses on Ḥizb al-Nahḍah, the issues and challenges it encountered while in power, and those that lie ahead.

Keywords:

• Tunisia
• Arab Spring
• Ḥizb al-Nahḍah
• Salafism
• governance
• elections

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. While naming these popular uprisings, a difference is observed among the various experts about the term that best describes the 2011 episodes in the MENA region. The terms used range from ‘Arab Spring’; ‘Arab awakening’ ‘Arab uprising’ and ‘Arab revolution’. The choice of term and their related definition and interpretation varies according to the perception and optimism of the analyst. Rami Khouri, for example, argues that the term ‘Arab spring’ underestimates the demands of the demonstrators. He prefers to use the term ‘Arab revolution’ for the reason that ‘revolution’ (Thawrah) is the term used by the demonstrators themselves. For more information see, Rami Khouri, “Spring or Revolution,” Agence Global, 17 August 2011. This paper uses the term ‘Arab Spring’ to refer to the uprisings in the MENA region.

2. Born in November 1954 in Cairo, ‘Abd al-Fataḥ al-Sīsī ousted the elected President Muḥammad Mursī from office. After a period of almost one year, al-Sīsī, by winning 96.9% of the vote in the presidential elections, was declared Egypt's President on 3 June 2014. For more details see, Bradley and Ismail (2014).

3. For more detailed information about the economic situation in post-revolution Tunisia, see World Bank (2014).

4. This is a quotation from an interview with Hardin Lang et al. on December 15, 2013, as quoted in Lang (2014, 9).