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A Critical Analysis of Political Islam in Tunisia: the Ennahdha Movement 2011-2015

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A Critical Analysis of Political Islam in Tunisia: the Ennahdha Movement 2011-2015 A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF POLITICAL ISLAM IN TUNISIA: THE ENNAHDHA MOVEMENT 2011-2015 by GRAEME BRADLEY Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS In the subject INTERNATIONAL POLITICS at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA SUPERVISOR: PROF. EVERISTO BENYERA January 2019 Declaration I, Graeme Bradley, student number 57648859, declare that ‘A Critical Analysis of Political Islam in Tunisia: The Ennahdha Movement 2011-2015’ is my own work and that all the sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references. Signature: Date: _________________ _________________ i Table of Contents Declaration ________________________________________________________________ i Table of Contents ___________________________________________________________ ii Acknowledgements _________________________________________________________ iv Abbreviations and Acronyms __________________________________________________ v Abstract __________________________________________________________________ vi CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ____________________________________________ 1 1.1 General Introduction _______________________________________________________ 1 1.2 Background to the research _________________________________________________ 4 1.3 Problem Statement ________________________________________________________ 7 1.4 Objectives _______________________________________________________________ 7 1.5 Key Concepts _____________________________________________________________ 8 1.5.1 Political Islam __________________________________________________________ 8 1.5.2 Democracy (or non-authoritarian governance) and its application in Tunisia _________ 8 1.6 Study Rationale __________________________________________________________ 10 1.7 Literature review _________________________________________________________ 10 1.8 Methodology ____________________________________________________________ 16 1.9 Limitations and delimitations _______________________________________________ 17 1.10 Chapter Outline __________________________________________________________ 18 1.10.1 Chapter One: Introduction _______________________________________________ 18 1.10.2 Chapter Two: Mapping (theoretically) political Islam and democracy ______________ 18 1.10.3 Chapter Three: Historicising the Ennahdha Movement _________________________ 18 1.10.4 Chapter Four: Is the Ennahdha Movement practising political Islam: Analysis using the 2010-2011 Tunisian Elections _____________________________________________________ 19 1.10.5 Chapter Five: Ennahdha Movement reinventing itself? Analysis using the 2014 Tunisian Elections 19 1.10.6 Chapter Six: Conclusion – political Islam a viable approach? _____________________ 19 CHAPTER TWO: MAPPING THEORETICALLY POLITICAL ISLAM AND DEMOCRACY ____________________________________________________________ 20 2.1 Introduction ____________________________________________________________ 20 2.2 Conceptualising political Islam ______________________________________________ 22 2.3 Democracy and political Islam nexus _________________________________________ 26 2.4 The Muslim Brotherhood and Turkey – models of political Islam? __________________ 28 2.4.1 The development of political Islam in Egypt; the Muslim Brotherhood _____________ 28 2.4.2 The development of political Islam in Turkey _________________________________ 31 2.5 The symbiotic relationship between political Islam and democracy _________________ 32 2.6 Political Islam: Tunisia’s salvation or a threat to democracy? ______________________ 35 2.7 Conclusion ______________________________________________________________ 38 ii CHAPTER THREE: HISTORICISING THE ENNAHDHA MOVEMENT _____________ 41 3.1 Introduction ____________________________________________________________ 41 3.2 Ennahdha in Exile and Underground _________________________________________ 41 3.3 The 18 October Movement _________________________________________________ 46 3.4 Rached Ghannouchi in exile: from Islamist to Muslim Democrat ___________________ 48 3.5 Ennahdha’s return to a liberated Tunisia ______________________________________ 50 3.6 Conclusion ______________________________________________________________ 51 CHAPTER FOUR: IS THE ENNAHDHA MOVEMENT PRACTISING POLITICAL ISLAM: ANALYSIS USING THE 2010-2011 TUNISIAN ELECTIONS ______________ 54 4.1 Introduction ____________________________________________________________ 54 4.2 Operating in the shadow of Ben Ali: Tunisia’s interim governments _________________ 55 4.3 Electoral manifesto _______________________________________________________ 57 4.4 The electoral campaign and selling the manifesto _______________________________ 60 4.5 The 2011 elections, Ennahdha rises to power __________________________________ 64 4.6 Ennahdha in government __________________________________________________ 66 4.7 Political assassinations and terrorism _________________________________________ 71 4.8 Conclusion ______________________________________________________________ 72 CHAPTER FIVE: ENNAHDHA MOVEMENT REINVENTING ITSELF? ANALYSIS USING THE 2014 TUNISIAN ELECTIONS ____________________________________ 74 5.1 Introduction ____________________________________________________________ 74 5.2 Democracy through the streets _____________________________________________ 74 5.3 The Quartet sets the course ________________________________________________ 85 5.4 Ennahdha regroups and focuses on the 2014 elections ___________________________ 89 5.5 Conclusion ______________________________________________________________ 93 CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION – POLITICAL ISLAM A VIABLE APPROACH? _____ 95 BIBLIOGRAPHY __________________________________________________________ 99 iii Acknowledgements When starting on this journey I was convinced that it would be a straightforward process. I was convinced that my personal experiences in Tunisia as a diplomat from 2012-2016 would write themselves. However the journey has been long, and along the way I have learnt that the academic world is filled with theories which very rarely actually correspond to the real world experiences of people who are on the ground and living experiences which cannot be theorised and which do not consider whether there is a gap in research or not, what the research question may be or how they are going to reference the work of others. I am grateful to the guidance provided by my supervisor to turn this into an academic paper. I am however most grateful to my wife Annalize and my son James, without whom I would not have gotten to the end of this journey. Their support, patience and motivation are deserving of degrees on their own. iv Abbreviations and Acronyms AKP Justice and Development Party ARP Assembly of Representatives of the People CPR Congress for the Republic FJP Freedom and Justice Party FSN National Salvation Front IS Islamic State ISIE Higher Independent Electoral Commission LTDH Tunisian Human Rights League MDGs Millennium Development Goals MENA Middle East North Africa MTI Mouvement de la Tendence Islamique NCA National Constituent Assembly NGOs Non-governmental organisations RCD Rassemblement du Courant Democratique UAE United Arab Emirates UGTT Union Générale Tunisienne du Travail UK United Kingdom USA United States of America UTICA Union Tunisienne de l’Industrie, du Commerce et de l’Artisanat v Abstract This study delves into the post-Arab Spring period when political Islam was at the forefront of the drive for democratisation in the MENA region. The theories of political Islam and liberal democracy are used as the theoretical framework for the study. A qualitative approach was undertaken with a focused textual analysis of a variety of academic papers and opinion pieces on the theory of political Islam in order to discuss the compatibility of political Islam and democracy. The study makes use of Tunisia and the Ennahdha Movement as a case study to assess the practical application of political Islam. The research is limited to the 2011-2015 period in Tunisia in order to specifically make use of the electoral periods to determine the political Islam credentials of the Ennahdha Movement. What the study has determined is that there is sufficient evidence of the symbiotic relationship between political Islam and liberal democracy, making political Islam a viable approach for political movements in Muslim majority countries. This study contributes to the literature on political Islam as well as analysis of the post-Arab Spring developments in Tunisia. It provides a more in-depth focus on what makes Ennahdha a political Islam movement and uncovers its liberal democratic character. Keywords: Political Islam, liberal democracy, Ennahdha Movement, Tunisia, Arab Spring, elections, Rached Ghannouchi vi CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1 General Introduction Political Islam, broadly defined by (Fuller, 2002, p. 48) as, "the belief that the Koran and the Hadith have something important to say about the way society and governance are organised", emerged as the viable political path following years of authoritarianism in the countries of the Arab Spring in 2011. As a political theory, political Islam developed over several centuries through the political experiences of Islamist leaders starting with the Prophet Muhammed and his successors. According to Campbell (2008, p. 436) the Prophet Muhammed did not view politics as a part of the divine, but rather as a human creation built through deliberation and utility. As Islam developed its worldview of politics, majority Muslim
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