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

Abdelkrim Zbidi, was a medical doctor before being elevated to his current position
under the previous interim government. That he was asked to stay on following the
elections of October 2011 suggests that he has a good working relationship with General
Ammar. However, there is little evidence of previous experience with security or
military matters in his background, reinforcing the likelihood that he does not provide a
significant institutional check on the decisions of the military.
The leaders of Ennahdha, for their part, do seem to be aware of the importance of
ensuring civilian control over the military. In negotiations over the rules that were to
govern the country while a formal constitution is being drafted, Ennahdha initially
proposed that the Prime Minister be placed in charge of the armed forces directly. This
would have both placed the military under Ennahdha’s control, and fulfilled its long-term
goal of weakening the office of the President in favor of the Prime Minister. However,
objections from virtually all other political parties forced Ennahdha to agree that the
President would remain the titular commander of the armed forces (Ghali 2011). While
neither the current President nor the current Prime Minister is likely to disagree with the
army over major matters in the near term, the fact that Ennahdha made this an issue
suggests that they are sensitive to the future possibility of the military operating
autonomously from the elected government, and interested in ensuring meaningful
civilian oversight of the military.
This concern bodes well for the future of civil-military relations in Tunisia. A
common refrain we heard while in Tunis was that the country desperately needs strong
institutions than can balance one another. One example of this is the desire for an
opposition political party that would be strong enough to hold the present Ennahdha-led
government accountable, and provide a clear alternative. Similarly, while the Tunisian
army’s behavior has overall been exemplary, over the long term Tunisia will need robust
civilian control of the military to ensure that the military continues to play a positive role,
particularly if in the future the army were to come under less enlightened leadership.
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