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exclusively around their studies, because there were not opportunities for students to become involved in associations. Any civil society activity on campuses occurred underground. Civil Society After the Revolution Civil society in Tunisia today has been freed of nearly all of the restrictions of the Ben Ali regime, and as a result, thousands of new civil society groups have emerged throughout the country. The Law on Associations that allowed the Ben Ali regime to repress civil society was officially amended in a decree on 24 September 2011 by the interim government—the new law makes it significantly easier for citizens to form associations, and removes all criminal penalties for activities associated with establishing or running civil society organizations. 24 Now, citizens who wish to form civil society groups must only register with municipal authorities, instead of needing to obtain a visa from the Interior Ministry. An unofficial estimate by a Tunis-based scholar put the number of registered NGOs at 20,000 in the country by June 2011, compared to 8,000 in December 2010. The ease of registering new NGOs combined with the freedom with which groups can congregate has led to newfound cooperation across groups. NGOs have formed coalitions to address issues of mutual concern—one coalition formed of several different rights-based NGOs, for example, has become active in pressuring officials to abolish the death penalty in Tunisia. One university student in Tunis reported participating in “several” associations on campus, and described the feeling of participating in civic life as “finally being able to breathe.” Civil society in Tunisia has already recorded a handful of tangible successes in promoting democracy, including playing a major role in preparing for and monitoring the elections for the members of the National Constituent Assembly in October 2011. U.S. democracy groups like the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI) helped train representatives of Tunisian civil society in 24 From discussions with members or founders of groups formed after the revolution, it appears that the Ben Ali-era Law on Associations was not used to repress civil society after January 2011—new groups were formed and operated openly, even without the formal blessing of the Interior Ministry. 120
“training-of-trainers” (ToT) events, and the resulting elections were widely regarded as free and fair. In Tunis, we met with one of the main Tunisian organizations responsible for election monitoring. “I Watch” was formed shortly after the revolution by a group of students, and its membership consists primarily of students and young people. “I Watch” has been a tremendous success, implementing programs using SMS technology to conduct country-wide opinion polls, and another program that allows citizens to “text in” reports of corruption in their dealing with government officials or security services. The “I Watch” co-founder described his relationship with the American democracypromotion NGOs as a positive one. And while he said the group remained reluctant to accept funds, he described the groups like NDI and IRI as providing extremely useful training and advice (SAIS Group Meeting, 23 January 2012). The U.S. government has been eager to promote the development of civil society in Tunisia. Before January 2011, the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI)—a program formed after September 11 by the Bush Administration to strengthen U.S. partnership with the region—hardly gave out any civil society grants because of the regime’s chokehold on civil society. MEPI has since had trouble keeping up with the surge of civil society activity and has given many grants aimed at building the capacity of existing groups and in other ways promoting civic engagement. One MEPI-funded program is “E-Mediat: Electronic Media Tools, Technology & Training,” a Tunisian-run 18-month initiative to train civil society leaders on the use of social media technology. The initiative, according to MEPI, “helps grassroots organizations use digital technology to tell their stories, build membership, and connect to their community of peers around the world.” We visited E-Mediat’s computer training center in Kairouan, a simple room filled with desks, used computers, and a blackboard where several local civil society leaders were working on websites and connecting with peers through Facebook. The groups being trained in web technology ranged from the Red Crescent Society of Kairouan and the Association of Journalists in Kairouan to the Tennis Club of Kairouan and the local parent-teacher organization. The local leaders were visibly enthusiastic about their newfound freedom to organize and operate, and they had also clearly formed 121
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Johns Hopkins University School for
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Acknowledgements We are most gratef
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List of Acronyms AKP Adalet ve Kalk
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xii
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proposed goal (as in the previous e
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democracy is a continual testing pr
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What’s in a Revolution? The timin
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limited to Tunisia, these vivid dep
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political system before any of the
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discontent of so many in Tunisia wh
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eality,” signified by Tunisian pe
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mantra sparked the Kasbah sit-ins r
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in early January of 2011, you would
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independence from the Ottoman Empir
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ack to the 1970s (SAIS Group Meetin
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Two Tunisias: How A Revolution Whic
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continued to cite statistics claimi
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inequality were most severe. Combat
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in government could drop precipitou
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for bold political leadership in Tu
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History of Secularism in Tunisia In
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1) Freedom to form and to join orga
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Source: Stepan, Alfred C. “Religi
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terms of campaigning, the political
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that in practice many people who es
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Short-term • Secular parties must
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Islamism and Laïcité in the Tunis
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girl, a high-achieving student at h
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laws are either supported directly
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and she argues that he, like many s
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during exams, preventing other stud
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Constituent Assembly should keep th
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Women’s Rights in Tunisia: A “N
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dismiss the question as a non-issue
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In immediate post-revolutionary Tun
Page 81 and 82: Others express concern about the va
Page 83 and 84: something every Tunisian boy does n
Page 85 and 86: Mr. Ghannouchi is equally surprised
Page 87 and 88: Mr. Hedri showed concern over the l
Page 89: has occurred in response to politic
Page 93 and 94: The Post-Transition Constitutional
Page 95 and 96: Theoretical Literature While there
Page 97 and 98: Tunisian Case Following Ben Ali’s
Page 99 and 100: parties. With the internal arrangem
Page 101 and 102: issues of unemployment, reduced cor
Page 103 and 104: Recommendations • NCA and politic
Page 105 and 106: Political Party Development Amy Ham
Page 107 and 108: experience and expertise, will be k
Page 109 and 110: with Laryssa Chomiak, SAIS group me
Page 111 and 112: epresented a complete departure fro
Page 113 and 114: To some extent, the focus on the qu
Page 115 and 116: • Enhance the legitimacy and enfo
Page 117 and 118: Ennahdha and the Salafis Roberta Lu
Page 119 and 120: The trial against Nabil Karoui, the
Page 121 and 122: Some Possible Explanations The hesi
Page 123 and 124: the salafist movement Al-Salafiya A
Page 125 and 126: violence, to lay the bases for a ne
Page 127 and 128: Tunisian Civil Society Before and A
Page 129 and 130: Bourguiba,” Bellin points out,
Page 131: nip in the bud any challenges to pa
Page 135 and 136: The focus of civil society groups i
Page 137 and 138: economic development in Tunisia. Th
Page 139 and 140: The Tunisian Youth Fallout: A Look
Page 141 and 142: that they found voting to be the mo
Page 143 and 144: head (Dégage, 2011). It should the
Page 145 and 146: graduates are unemployed (SAIS Grou
Page 147 and 148: to participate as a citizen in a de
Page 149 and 150: are rumored to consist only of 3,00
Page 151 and 152: Medium-term • At some point, the
Page 153 and 154: Part III: Security, Justice and Eco
Page 155 and 156: The Role of the Military in Post-Be
Page 157 and 158: insufficient to prevent the demonst
Page 159 and 160: disruptions during voting, the tota
Page 161 and 162: This is in sharp contrast to the mi
Page 163 and 164: Recommendations While the military
Page 165 and 166: Internal Security and Reform in Tun
Page 167 and 168: The Implements of Repression There
Page 169 and 170: undesirable organizations, stifle d
Page 171 and 172: evolution, many police, especially
Page 173 and 174: A Way Forward: Policy Reforms At pr
Page 175 and 176: Transitional Justice and National R
Page 177 and 178: Those released therefore included p
Page 179 and 180: The current situation in many ways
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the commercial interests of the ban
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and clear limits to police behavior
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Addressing Unemployment Rebekah Cha
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The forecasting is based on the ass
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of its revolution. This has had a c
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Boosting the Tourism Sector The tou
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absorb all of the university gradua
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language and technology skills, whi
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Understanding Unemployment in Tunis
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ather than shifts from low to high
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Figure 2: Unemployment by age and e
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the Tunisian economy. Thus, creatin
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• Encourage entrepreneurship: Tra
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U.S. Assistance in Tunisia Cody Die
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cultural differences that may inhib
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the Constitutional Assembly in Tuni
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order to receive these funds over o
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and access to jobs in Libya for Tun
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Conclusion P. Terrence Hopmann The
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the domination of the salafis and o
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well educated, but under or unemplo
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persons, a huge contingent for such
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List of Interviewees Washington DC,
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• Salah Bourjini, former division
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• Ahmed Ibrahim, Secretary of the
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Bibliography Abouzeid, Rania. 21 Ja
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Cook, Steven A. 20 January 2011.
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Le Monde. 25 January 2011. “Tunis
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Silver, Vernon. 12 December 2011.
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World Bank. 2004. “Dynamique de L
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