Tunisia: Current Issues
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
IFES White Paper Series on Electoral Fraud
IFES Briefing Paper | January 2011 Elections in Tunisia: Key challenges for credible and competitive elections Tunisia: Briefing Paper No. 1 International Foundation for Electoral Systems 1850 K Street, NW | Fifth Floor | Washington, DC 20006 | www.IFES.org January 25, 2011 Background Elections in Tunisia: Key challenges for credible and competitive elections Despite the challenges it faces in finding a cohesive consensus, the newly appointed Tunisian government has acknowledged it must address important transitional issues for democratic reform. Politically and constitutionally, one of its primary tasks will be to prepare for elections to determine the choice of a new president. There have also been calls that parliamentary elections, scheduled for 2014, should be sooner.1 While there has been a wealth of analysis in recent weeks on the political and democratic implications of the January events in Tunisia, there has been little focus on the key issues that may emerge in relation to the conduct of these next elections. This IFES briefing paper provides a preliminary overview of those issues. Introduction Previous elections, including the 2009 presidential and parliamentary elections, were held in a repressive environment and under a legal framework that was “tailor-made”2 by the then-ruling party to ensure its political dominance had a veneer of electoral legitimacy, ensuring participation of a number of tolerated ‘opposition’ parties and candidates. Despite the changes brought about by recent events, persons opposed to the previous regime may question the credibility of any election held under the current flawed framework or run by persons associated to the previous regime. Unless Tunisian authorities make an effort to show political will for improved opportunities for credible elections, the elections are likely to fail to meet public expectations and stakeholder demands of democratic change in Tunisia. -
Download Publication
44 Germany’s Security Assistance to Tunisia: A Boost to Tunisia’s Long-Term Stability and Democracy? Anna Stahl, Jana Treffler IEMed. European Institute of the Mediterranean Consortium formed by: Board of Trustees - Business Council: Corporate Sponsors Partner Institutions Papers IE Med. Publication : European Institute of the Mediterranean Editorial Coordinator: Aleksandra Chmielewska Proof-reading: Neil Charlton Layout: Núria Esparza Print ISSN: 2565-2419 Digital ISSN: 2565-2427 Legal deposit: B 27451-2019 November 2019 This series of Papers brings together the result of research projects presented at the EuroMeSCo Annual Conference 2018. On the occasion of the EuroMeSCo Annual Conference “Changing Euro-Mediterranean Lenses”, held in Rabat on 12-13 July 2018, distinguished analysts presented indeed their research proposals related to developments in Europe and their impact on how Southern Mediterranean states perceive the EU and engage in Euro-Mediterranean cooperation mechanisms. More precisely, the papers articulated around three main tracks: how strategies and policies of external actors including the European Union impact on Southern Mediterranean countries, how the EU is perceived by the neighbouring states in the light of new European and Euro-Mediterranean dynamics, and what is the state of play of Euro-Mediterranean relations, how to revitalize Euro-Mediterranean relations and overcome spoilers. This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility -
Tunisia–The Imprisonment of Fahem Boukadous (Part One of a Series)
human rights & human welfare a forum for works in progress working paper no. 60 Tunisia–The Imprisonment of Fahem Boukadous (Part One of a series) by Rob Prince University of Denver Posted on 16 October 2010 http://www.du.edu/korbel/hrhw/working/2010/60-prince-2010.pdf © Rob Prince. All rights reserved. This paper may be freely circulated in electronic or hard copy provided it is not modified in any way, the rights of the author not infringed, and the paper is not quoted or cited without express permission of the author. The editors cannot guarantee a stable URL for any paper posted here, nor will they be responsible for notifying others if the URL is changed or the paper is taken off the site. Electronic copies of this paper may not be posted on any other website without express permission of the author. The posting of this paper on the hrhw working papers website does not constitute any position of opinion or judgment about the contents, arguments or claims made in the paper by the editors. For more information about the hrhw working papers series or website, please visit the site online at http://www.du.edu/korbel/hrhw/working Tunisia–The Imprisonment of Fahem Boukadous (Part One of a series) August 2, 2010 “The only way that the [Tunisian] state deals with social problems is with police repression” -Moktar Trifi, President of the Tunisian League of Human Rights By Rob Prince (Note: it has come to my attention that this little harmless blog is currently censored by the Tunisian government, meaning that the content is blocked by the authorities there. -
Ansar Al-Sharia in Tunisia (AST)
Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia (AST) Name: Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia (AST) Type of Organization: Insurgent non-state actor religious social services provider terrorist transnational violent Ideologies and Affiliations: ISIS–affiliated group Islamist jihadist Qutbist Salafist Sunni takfiri Place of Origin: Tunisia Year of Origin: 2011 Founder(s): Seifallah Ben Hassine Places of Operation: Tunisia Overview Also Known As: Al-Qayrawan Media Foundation1 Partisans of Sharia in Tunisia7 Ansar al-Sharia2 Shabab al-Tawhid (ST)8 Ansar al-Shari’ah3 Supporters of Islamic Law9 Ansar al-Shari’a in Tunisia (AAS-T)4 Supporters of Islamic Law in Tunisia10 Ansar al-Shari’ah in Tunisia5 Supporters of Sharia in Tunisia11 Partisans of Islamic Law in Tunisia6 Executive Summary: Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia (AST) was a Salafist group that was prominent in Tunisia from 2011 to 2013.12 AST sought to implement sharia (Islamic law) in the country and used violence in furtherance of that goal under the banner of hisbah (the duty to command moral acts and prohibit immoral ones).13 AST also actively engaged in dawa (Islamic missionary work), which took on many forms but were largely centered upon Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia (AST) the provision of public services.14 Accordingly, AST found a receptive audience among Tunisians frustrated with the political instability and dire economic conditions that followed the 2011 Tunisian Revolution.15 The group received logistical support from al-Qaeda central, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Ansar al-Sharia in Libya (ASL), and later, from ISIS.16 AST was designated as a terrorist group by the United States, the United Nations, and Tunisia, among others.17 AST was originally conceived in a Tunisian prison by 20 Islamist inmates in 2006, according to Aaron Zelin at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. -
Enhancing the Rule of Law and Guaranteeing Human Rights in the Constitution
Enhancing the Rule of Law and guaranteeing human rights in the Constitution A report on the constitutional reform process in Tunisia Composed of 60 eminent judges and lawyers from all regions of the world, the International Commission of Jurists promotes and protects human rights through the Rule of Law, by using its unique legal expertise to develop and strengthen national and international justice systems. Established in 1952 and active on the five continents, the ICJ aims to ensure the progressive development and effective implementation of international human rights and international humanitarian law; secure the realization of civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights; safeguard the separation of powers; and guarantee the independence of the judiciary and legal profession. Cover photo © Copyright Remi OCHLIK/IP3 © Copyright International Commission of Jurists The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) permits free reproduction of extracts from any of its publications provided that due acknowledgment is given and a copy of the publication carrying the extract is sent to its headquarters at the following address: International Commission Of Jurists P.O. Box 91 Rue des Bains 33 Geneva Switzerland Enhancing the Rule of Law and guaranteeing human rights in the Constitution TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND KEY RECOMMENDATIONS ................................... 2 CHRONOLOGY................................................................................................ 8 GLOSSARY .................................................................................................... -
The Tunisian Democratic Transition in Comparative Perspective
Multiple but Complementary, Not Conflictual, Leaderships: The Tunisian Democratic Transition in Comparative Perspective Alfred Stepan Downloaded from http://direct.mit.edu/daed/article-pdf/145/3/95/1830770/daed_a_00400.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 Abstract: Many classic studies of leadership focus on strong leadership in the singular. This essay focuses on effective leaderships in the plural. Some of the greatest failures of democratic transitions (Egypt, Syria, Libya) have multiple but highly conflictual leaderships. However, a key lesson in democratization theory is that successful democratic transitions often involve the formation of a powerful coalition, within the op- position, of one-time enemies. This was accomplished in Chile, Spain, and Indonesia. In greater detail, this essay examines Tunisia, the sole reasonably successful democratic transition of the Arab Spring. In all four cases, religious tensions had once figured prominently, yet were safely transcended by the actions of multiple leaders via mutual ideological and religious accommodations, negotiated socioeconomic pacts, and unprecedented political cooperation. A multiplicity of cooperating leaders, rather than a single “strong leader,” produced effective democratic leadership in Tunisia, Indonesia, Spain, and Chile. ALFRED STEPAN, a Fellow of the American Academy since 1991, is Many of the classic studies of leadership focus on the Wallace Sayre Professor of Gov- strong leadership in the singular.1 In this essay, I focus ernment Emeritus at Columbia instead on effective leaderships in the plural, partic- University. He previously taught at ularly in democratic transitions. Some of the greatest Oxford University and Yale Uni- failures of democratic transitions have multiple but versity. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1997. -
The Al Qaeda Network a New Framework for Defining the Enemy
THE AL QAEDA NETWORK A NEW FRAMEWORK FOR DEFINING THE ENEMY KATHERINE ZIMMERMAN SEPTEMBER 2013 THE AL QAEDA NETWORK A NEW FRAMEWORK FOR DEFINING THE ENEMY KATHERINE ZIMMERMAN SEPTEMBER 2013 A REPORT BY AEI’S CRITICAL THREATS PROJECT ABOUT US About the Author Katherine Zimmerman is a senior analyst and the al Qaeda and Associated Movements Team Lead for the Ameri- can Enterprise Institute’s Critical Threats Project. Her work has focused on al Qaeda’s affiliates in the Gulf of Aden region and associated movements in western and northern Africa. She specializes in the Yemen-based group, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and al Qaeda’s affiliate in Somalia, al Shabaab. Zimmerman has testified in front of Congress and briefed Members and congressional staff, as well as members of the defense community. She has written analyses of U.S. national security interests related to the threat from the al Qaeda network for the Weekly Standard, National Review Online, and the Huffington Post, among others. Acknowledgments The ideas presented in this paper have been developed and refined over the course of many conversations with the research teams at the Institute for the Study of War and the American Enterprise Institute’s Critical Threats Project. The valuable insights and understandings of regional groups provided by these teams directly contributed to the final product, and I am very grateful to them for sharing their expertise with me. I would also like to express my deep gratitude to Dr. Kimberly Kagan and Jessica Lewis for dedicating their time to helping refine my intellectual under- standing of networks and to Danielle Pletka, whose full support and effort helped shape the final product. -
1955 Charrad Ben Youssef 2001
States and Women's Rights The Making of Postcolonial Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco Mounira M. Charrad University of California Press Berkeley Los Angeles London © 2001 The Regents of the University of California Party, Islam, and Tribe: Internal Conflicts The nationalist party maintained consensus during most of the nationalist period. Internal conflicts broke out between rival factions, however, at the eve of independence from colonial rule when power in a sovereign state appeared to be a concrete possibility. The outcome of the conflicts looked quite uncertain at the time, as it was unclear which faction would take power and what kind of state would develop in independent Tunisia. Two nationalist leaders symbolized the contending tendencies: the reformist Bourguiba and the pan-Islamist Ben Youssef, his opponent who rallied enough support to pose a serious challenge. Bourguiba and Ben Youssef disagreed on the strategy to gain sovereignty, appealed to different constituencies, offered different visions of a future Tunisia, and had different outside allies. Regardless of the ideological distance separating the two men at the start of the conflict, Bourguiba's and Ben Youssef's positions hardened as each found a different source of support in the course of the nationalist struggle. Bourguiba and Ben Youssef gradually became spokesmen for different sectors of Tunisian society. In general terms, Ben Youssef appealed to those nationalist forces—tribal groups, uprooted rural migrants to cities, and the religious establishment—that perceived national sovereignty as an opportunity to restore a (partly real and partly imagined) Tunisian past, which they felt had been scoffed at by the colonial regime. -
Women's Electoral Participation in Egypt: the Implica- Tions of Gender
© Middle East Institute. This article is for personal research only and may not be copied or distributed in any form without the permission of The Middle East Journal. Women’s Electoral Participation in Egypt: The Implica- tions of Gender for Voter Recruitment and Mobilization Lisa Blaydes and Safinaz El Tarouty To what extent do gender considerations impact voter recruitment strategies in Middle Eastern elections? Based on an examination of voting behavior in Egypt, we find that clientelist voter recruitment tends to empower women economically rather than politically as elections provide an opportunity for disadvantaged women to sell their vote to local vote brokers or offer their vote to a local patron in exchange for a future payoff. In contrast, women who vote for Islamist candi- dates may be able to increase the influence of their political support by creating common knowledge about the popularity of their candidate and by reducing the effectiveness of government repression. Most studies of women’s political participation in the Middle East focus on the problem of low levels of female representation in government, and more particularly, in elected par- liaments. This line of research considers the structural and cultural conditions that make it difficult for women to be nominated as candidates and to win political office as well as the behavior of female parliamentarians once in government.1 The question of how everyday women respond to the opportunities and incentives presented by parliamentary elections has been largely ignored, however, in favor of studies of the political prospects for female elites. In particular, current studies fail to investigate the extent to which gender consider- ations impact voter recruitment strategies in competitive parliamentary elections. -
Guide to Material at the LBJ Library Pertaining to Africa
LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON L I B R A R Y & M U S E U M www.lbjlibrary.org Revised December 2009 MATERIAL AT THE JOHNSON LIBRARY PERTAINING TO AFRICA [Note: The following related guides are also available: the Middle East; and Foreign Aid, Food for Peace and Third World Economic Development -- Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The United Arab Republic is not included in this guide. Anyone interested in the U.A.R. should consult the guide on the Middle East.] INTRODUCTION This guide lists the principal files at the Johnson Library that contain material on Africa, but it is not exhaustive. While most of the collections listed in the guide have been processed and are available for research, some files may not yet be available. Researchers should consult the Library’s finding aids to locate additional material and to determine whether specific files are available for research. Some of the finding aids are on the Library’s web site, www.lbjlib.utexas.edu, and others can be sent by mail or electronically. Researchers interested in Africa should also consult the Foreign Relations of the United States. This multi-volume series published by the Office of the Historian of the Department of State presents the official documentary historical record of major foreign policy decisions and diplomatic activity of the United States government. The volumes are available online at the Department of State web site which may be accessed at the “Related Links” button, under the “Research” button on the Johnson Library web site, www.lbjlib.utexas.edu. NATIONAL SECURITY FILE This file was the working file of President Johnson's special assistants for national security affairs, McGeorge Bundy and Walt W. -
The Inside Track
THE INSIDE TRACK CONCISE INFORMATION ON THE UPCOMING SESSION OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL The Inside Track HRC40: the 40th regular session of the Human Rights Council Monday 25 February to Friday 22 March 2019 (4-week session), Room XX, Palais des Nations IN BRIEF Over 90 high-level dignitaries and officials are The High Commissioner will furthermore deliver (EMRIP) – from Africa; Central and Eastern expected to attend the three-day High-Level oral updates on the situations in Eritrea, and the Europe, the Russian Federation, Central Asia, and Segment of HRC40, including, inter alia: the Kasaï region of the Democratic Republic of Congo Transcaucasia; the Caribbean, Central and South President of Tunisia, Mr Béji Caïd Essebsi; the before and after the December elections. America; and the Pacific. Prime Minister of Fiji, Rear Admiral (ret) Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama; and the Prime Minister It will also consider High-Commissioner/UN of Yemen, Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed. So far, a Secretary-General reports on a number of thematic total of five heads or deputy heads of State, and issues, including inter alia: measures taken to 69 ministers or vice-ministers are scheduled to implement Council resolution 9/8, including address the Council. reforming the Treaty Body system; the Special Fund established by the Optional Protocol to the On 6 March, Ms Michelle Bachelet, the High Convention against Torture; UN Voluntary Fund for Commissioner for Human Rights, will give an oral Victims of Torture; missing persons; empowering update on the human rights situation around the children with disabilities; the protection of human world. This will provide the basis for an interactive rights while countering terrorism; rights of persons dialogue with the High Commissioner on 7 March. -
E Wilberforce Society Cambridge, UK 1 Www
e Wilberforce Society www.thewilberforcesociety.co.uk 1 Cambridge, UK September 2012 Proposed Constitutional Framework for the Republic of Tunisia The Wilberforce T W S TWS Society About this report Chief Drasperson: Dr. Riddhi Dasgupta Chairman: Mr. George Bangham Senior Editors: Mr. Niolas Crawford Mr. Millad Matin Editors I Ms. Wen-Zhen Low I Mr. Samuel Goodman I Mr. Maximilian Bulinski I Ms. Eliane Bejjani I Mr. Justin Kempley I Mr. Joseph Sanderson I Mr. Pragesh Sivaguru I Ms. Anisha Polson I Mr. P.J. Welsh I Mr. Luke Woodward I Ms. M.D.C. Fernandez-Fernandez I Ms. J. Youngs I Mr. Jake Richards I Mr. Alastair Wooder I Mr. C.T. Kwan I Ms. Laura Edwards I Ms. Aya Majzoub I Mr. H.J. Dadswell I Mr. Juan Zober de Francisco Rasheed I Mr. Adam Shutie I Mr. Vincent Scully I Mr. Kwan Ping Kan I Ms. Vanessa evathasan With Special anks to: Prof. George Joffé, Prof. Laurence Tribe, Lord Wilson of Dinton GCB, Mr. Raza Habib, Prof. Kevin Bampton, Mr. Alexander McLean, Ms. Anna Triponel Mr. David Baynard. © Dr. Riddhi Dasgupta and Mr. George Bangham copyright 2012. You may re-use the text of this report free of charge in any format or medium. Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to us at: [email protected] and [email protected] is publication is available for download at: http://www.thewilberforcesociety.co.uk/policy_paper/proposed- constitutional-framework-for-the-republic-of-tunisia About The Wilberforce Society e Wilberforce Society was founded in 2009 by students at the University of Cambridge.