Tunisia: Understanding Conflict 2012 - Johns Hopkins School of ...

on Associations (Law 154 of 1959 as amended) limited the categories of civil society
organizations the state would allow to those of a non-political nature. 22 The law also
required all associations to obtain a visa from the Ministry of the Interior to operate. The
Interior Ministry, furthermore, could reject any application if the association’s goals were
“contrary to laws and morals or lead to disruption of public order,” and could punish with
fines and imprisonment any persons operating under an unlicensed association. Under
this law, Bourguiba and his police continually harassed civil society leaders and took
thousands of political prisoners.
The Ben Ali Years
When Ben Ali assumed power in 1987, citizens were so relieved by Bourguiba’s fall and
encouraged by a series of pro-democracy presidential speeches that they became hopeful
about the role of civil society in shaping Tunisia’s future. Among his first acts as
president, Ben Ali ordered the release of thousands of political prisoners and toned down
rhetoric against the Islamic Tendency Movement (MTI), the group that would later
become the Ennahdha party. He made it easier for civil society groups to obtain visas
from the Interior Ministry—the 1988 Law of Association, for example, specified that
non-responsiveness by the Ministry to requests would signify implicit permission to
operate—leading to a ballooning of the number of associations. 23
But it became clear by 1990 that civil society in Tunisia would be remain under
tight control of the state. Ben Ali, at a symposium on democratic transitions in November
1990, clarified his position in relation to civil society: “The state fixes the fundamental
framework, creates the climate and provides the necessities for competition and
dialogue,” he said. “Civil society should accept these and oppose any acts that go against
the national consensus” (Daoud 1990, 793). By the 1990s, Ben Ali sought to control all
associational life through the Interior Ministry and party apparatus, ensuring that it could
22 The law allowed citizens to form women’s groups, sports groups, scientific groups, cultural and
arts groups, charity and development groups, but did not allow human rights, democracy and
watchdog groups.
23 Official counts reported 3,300 registered associations in 1988 which increased to 5,100 by 1995
(Bellin 1995, 136). An unofficial estimate put that number at 8,000 in 2010.
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