Have Tunisian Civil Society Organisations Exhibited the Civil Political Culture Required to FulL a Democratic Function Through the Post-2011 Transition?
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Durham E-Theses Have Tunisian civil society organisations exhibited the civil political culture required to full a democratic function through the post-2011 transition? MARTIN, ALEXANDER,PETER How to cite: MARTIN, ALEXANDER,PETER (2016) Have Tunisian civil society organisations exhibited the civil political culture required to full a democratic function through the post-2011 transition?, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/11923/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 “HAVE TUNISIAN CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS EXHIBITED THE CIVIL POLITICAL CULTURE REQUIRED TO FULFIL A DEMOCRATIC FUNCTION THROUGH THE POST-2011 TRANSITION?” Alexander Peter Martin A thesis submitted to Durham University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Government and International Affairs Durham University 2016 1 Abstract This thesis asks whether the post-2011 transition has allowed Tunisian civil society to fulfil the democratic functions attributed to it by civil society and democratisation theorists. It uses an understanding of civil society as playing a democratising function through Oppositional-Resistance and Liberal-Associative roles, both of which rely on the existence of a civil political culture. The thesis examines the existence of a civil political culture, identified through the presence of the six criteria of Freedom, Equality, Pluralism, Tolerance, Trust, and Transparency. This thesis uses Welch’s theory of political culture, which recognises that political culture manifests as both discourse and practice. In order to understand civil society’s discourse and practice, Welch’s theory is developed into a methodology of three research methods, drawn from both positivist and interpretivist approaches of social science research. The role of civil society in the Tunisian transition is assessed in relation to its counterpart - the state. A triangulation of methods - a quantitative attitude survey, structured interviews, and ethnographic participant observation – examines inter-CSO relations, how CSOs interact with the state, and the internal CSO dynamics in addition to CSO institutional culture. This approach enables the assessment of the discourse and practice of civil society organisation (CSO) members’ political culture. The Tunisian case demonstrates the validity of the argument that the state must allow civil society sufficient public space to accomplish a democratic function. Simultaneously, civil society, in both Oppositional-Resistance and Liberal-Associative understandings, must exhibit civil political culture in order to fulfil a democratic function. It further demonstrates that only through a multifaceted research approach that addresses discourse and practice can political culture accurately be assessed. This thesis concludes that civility is developing in Tunisian civil society as CSO relationships with the state, other CSOs and its own members evolve, which has enabled CSOs to fulfil a democratic function. 2 List of Abbreviations ATFD: Tunisian Association of Democratic Women CPC: Civil political culture CSO: Civil Society Organisation JID: Young Tunisian Democrats LTDH: Tunisian League for Human Rights LPR: The Leagues for the Protection of the Revolution MEPI: The U.S. Middle East Partnership Initiative NCA: National Constitute Assembly NDP: Neo-Destour Party ONAT: Tunisian Lawyers Association RCD: Constitutional Democratic Rally UGTT: General Union of Tunisian Workers UTICA: Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts 3 Statement of Copyright The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without the author's prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. 4 Acknowledgements My fantastic and brilliant supervisors Emma Murphy and Stephen Welch. My parents Geoff and Marilyn for their constant support. Hanèn Keskes for her invaluable help and encouragement. Myriam Ben Ghazi for her vital role in the data collection process. Zied Boussen and everyone in JID for letting me join the team. Everyone who allowed me to interview them and gave up their time to answer my survey. The numerous people who have helped me throughout the process: Gilbert Achcar, Dorra Agrebi, Minako Asakura, Mustafa Çoban, Adel Abdel Ghafar, Alies Rijper, Pierre-Olivier Beddard, Stephen Dunne, Ozghan Goksel, Kate Hampshire, Sabina Henneberg, Mumtoz Kamolzoda, Shiler Khedri, Gustavo Müller, Huda Mzioudet, Mona Oraby, Joel Rozen, Larbi Sadiki, Dima Smyra, Fabian Stroetges, Margaux Vaughi, Nick Vivyan, Krystel Wanneau, Edward Walker, Michael Willis, Ruth Wittlinger, and Hamza Zaghdoud. 5 Dedication This thesis is dedicated to all the Tunisians who participated in the revolution and those who are contributing to the country’s new beginning. 6 Table of Contents INTRODUCTION 11 PART I: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK CHAPTER ONE: CIVIL SOCIETY, DEMOCRACY, CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS, TRANSITIONS TO DEMOCRACY, THE ROLE OF POLITICAL CIVILITY IN SUSTAINING DEMOCRACY 15 1. Introduction 15 2. Civil Society 16 2.1. Definition of civil society 16 2.2. Function of civil society: i-x 18 2.3. Civil society organisations (CSOs) 24 2.4. The relationship between civil society and democracy 26 2.5. The role of civil society in democratic transition 31 3. Civil society in the MENA region 36 3.1. Culturalist Vs Structuralist debate 39 3.2. MENA civil society Vs the MENA state 41 4. The political culture of civil society required to maintain democracy 44 4.1. Political Culture 44 4.2. Political Civility: the six criteria of civil political culture 46 4.3. Role of civility in sustaining democracy 51 5. Chapter Conclusions 52 CHAPTER TWO: POLITICAL CULTURE THEORY & METHODOLOGY 54 1. Introduction 54 2. The difficulties of measuring political culture and deficiencies of other political culture studies 54 2.1. Orientalism and Culturalism 56 2.2. The disadvantage of a singular method or approach 58 2.3. The Hudson and Anderson debate: political culture studies in MENA 61 3. Triangulation and Welch’s understanding of political culture 64 4. Institutional culture 66 5. The Research Question 69 6. Chapter Conclusion 70 CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODS 72 1. Introduction 72 2. Quantitative Survey Questionnaire 73 2.1. Opinion Surveys in Middle East Context 75 2.1.1. Problems of Opinion Surveys in Middle East Context 77 3. Structured Qualitative Interview 78 3.1. Advantages and Disadvantages of Structured Interviews 81 3.1.1. Intrusive and Reactive research issues 83 4. Participant observation ethnography 84 5. General Research Issues 87 6. How the research project is shaped by my approach 89 7. Chapter Conclusion 90 7 PART II: HISTORICAL CONTEXT CHAPTER FOUR: HISTORY OF TUNISIAN CIVIL SOCIETY 92 1. Introduction 92 2. Tunisian civil society from 1574-2010 92 2.1. Phase 1: Ottoman Semi-Autonomous rule 93 2.2. Phase 2: French Colonialism 94 2.2.1. Rise of Neo-Destour under colonialism 97 2.3. Phase 3: New Nationalist Regimes in the Post-Independence era 98 2.4. Phase 4: False Liberalisation 102 2.4.1. National Pact and destruction of Islamists 105 2.4.2. Human Rights and Western Support 108 3. Civil society before the Revolution 110 4. Chapter Conclusion 111 CHAPTER FIVE: CIVIL SOCIETY ACTIVITY IN THE REVOLUTION AND TRANSITION PERIOD 115 1. Introduction 115 2. Bloody roots 115 3. La Révolution 117 4. Dégage 122 5. October 2011 National Constituent Assembly elections 126 6. The vital role of state institutions in the early stages of transition 128 7. Interim government, the constitution drafting process and the 2011-2014 interregnum period 129 7.1. Religious-secular polarisation of Tunisian society 131 7.2. Assassinations and political deadlock in 2013 138 7.3. National dialogue and Ennahda’s step down 138 7.4. New Constitution ratified and technocratic government 140 8. October 2014 Parliamentary and Presidential Elections to February 2015 coalition government 142 9. Conclusion 143 PART III: FIELDWORK RESEARCH RESULTS CHAPTER SIX: QUANTITATIVE ATTITUDE SURVEY 147 1. Introduction 147 2. Hypotheses 148 3. Design Process 150 3.1. Question Rational 151 3.2. Design Considerations 151 3.3. Piloting Process 155 3.4. Overcoming disadvantages, sampling methods, and boosting response rate 157 3.5. Criticisms of the survey 162 4. Survey Results 164 4.1. Data analysis process 164 4.2. Results 167 4.2.1. Inconclusive results 173 4.3. Reflections on the survey process 177 5. Chapter Conclusion 177 8 CHAPTER SEVEN: STRUCTURED QUALITATIVE INTERVIEWS 182 1. Introduction 182 2. Sampling 182 3. Interview Methodology 184 4. Interview Process 185 5. Data interpreting Process 186 6. Interviews with Non-CSO members 187 7. Results and findings 188 7.1. Tolerance through Trust and Transparency 188 7.2. Legally established Freedom 197 7.3. Equality and Pluralism identified in the democratic practices, learning processes, and institutional culture 199 7.4. Women and racism: the limitations of equality 204 7.5. Independence and effectiveness: the limitations of Pluralism 207 8. Reflections 213 9. Conclusions 214 CHAPTER EIGHT - ETHNOGRAPHIC PARTICIPANT-OBSERVATION TO ASSESS THE DEMOCRATIC POLITICAL CULTURE OF A TUNISIAN CSO 216 1. Introduction 217 2. Theoretical considerations for ethnographic research 217 2.1. Ethics 219 2.2. Insider/Outsider Dynamics 219 3. Case selection: Jeunes Indépendants Démocrates (JID) 221 4. Methods 225 4.1. Observation and Participation 225 4.2. One-to-One interviews with JID members 226 5. Results and Findings 228 5.1.