The American University in Cairo School of Global Affairs and Public Policy CONSTITUTION-MAKING IN TRANSITION: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE 2012 EGYPTIAN AND 2014 TUNISIAN CONSTITUTIONS A Master's Project Submitted to the Public Policy and Administration Department in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Global Affairs By Mona Ahmed Saleh Fall14 The American University in Cairo School of Global Affairs and Public Policy Department of Public Policy and Administration CONSTITUTION-MAKING IN TRANSITION: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE 2012 EGYPTIAN AND 2014 TUNISIAN CONSTITUTIONS Mona Ahmed Saleh Supervised by Professor Ibrahim Awad ABSTRACT This project examines constitution-making in transition by analyzing both the 2012 Egyptian and the 2014 Tunisian constitutions as case studies. The processes of the two constitutions took place in quite similar post-uprising contexts in which Islamists were the majority and yet resulted in different outcomes. The project aims to identify and analyze the variables that influenced constitution-making processes in both countries and hence the outcomes as indicated in the analysis of a selected number of civil and political rights in both constitutions. The project answers three questions: Why did Islamists in Egypt gain a qualified majority at the constituent assembly, while Ennahda Islamists in Tunisia gained only a simple majority? How did these majorities impact the constitution-making process in each country, and how did the process shape the constitutional outcome? The conceptual framework of the project sets a number of factors (independent variables) that were at stake during transition and influenced the constitution-making process (intermediate variable), which, in turn, shaped the outcome (dependent variable). The project concludes that the selected articles of civil and political rights in the Tunisian constitution come closer to the international norms of the ICCPR as an attempt at reaching a compromise with the vision of the non-Islamist groups, whereas the articles in the 2012 Egyptian constitution drifted from the ICCPR, and the vision/agenda of the Islamist majority was predominant in the constitutional text. The project presents conclusions and lessons learned that could provide directions for future research on constitution- making. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... vii INTRODUCTION TO THE PROJECT ..............................................................................1 Background ....................................................................................................................1 Problem Statement and Research Questions..................................................................3 Research Objectives .......................................................................................................4 Importance of the Research and Client Description ......................................................5 Methodology and Case Selection...................................................................................6 Methodology ............................................................................................................6 Method ...............................................................................................................6 Data Collection ..................................................................................................6 Case Selection ..........................................................................................................6 Organizational Structure ................................................................................................7 CHAPTER 1: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK .......................................................................................................9 Transition from Authoritarian Rule and Importance of Constitution- Making ...............................................................................................................9 Definition and Development of Transition ..............................................................9 Ineffectiveness of Traditional Transition Paradigm ..............................................12 Constitution-Making Process ...................................................................................... 13 Constitution and Constitutionalism........................................................................13 Constitution-Making Scholarship ..........................................................................15 Landau's "Risk-Averse" Model ........................................................................20 Conceptual Framework and Hypothesis ......................................................................24 CHAPTER 2: SETTING THE AGENDA PHASE ..........................................................28 Introduction ..................................................................................................................28 Background Factors .....................................................................................................28 Social Change in Tunisa Since 1956 .....................................................................29 Political Milieu.......................................................................................................30 iii The Islamist Movement in Tunisia ........................................................................31 Political and Social Transformation: From Nasser to Mubarak ............................35 The Islamist Movement .........................................................................................39 Rules and Mechanisms of Constitution-Making..........................................................42 Establishing National Constituent Assembly in Tunisia .......................................43 NCA Electoral Law................................................................................................46 Early Phase of the Transition in Egypt ..................................................................50 Establishing Constituent Assemblies .....................................................................54 The 2012 Constituent Assembly ............................................................................56 CHAPTER 3: THE CONSTITUTION-MAKING PROCESS .........................................60 Introduction ..................................................................................................................60 The Constitution-Making Process in Tunisia ..............................................................60 The National Constituent Assembly (NCA) Bylaws ............................................ 61 Political and Social Actors at the NCA................................................................. 63 The Troika Governing Coalition ..................................................................... 63 The Opposition Coalition ................................................................................ 66 The Salafists .................................................................................................... 67 The Quartet ..................................................................................................... 68 Challenges, Mediation And Breakthrough ........................................................... 70 The Constitution-Making Process in Egypt .................................................................77 Political and Social Actors at the Constituent Assembly...................................... 78 The SCAF ....................................................................................................... 78 The Islamists ................................................................................................... 78 Non-Islamist Political Parties ......................................................................... 79 Points of Divergence and Failed Consensus ......................................................... 82 CHAPTER 4: CONSTITUTIONAL OUTCOMES: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................90 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 90 Freedom of Thought, Conscience, and Religion .........................................................91 The 2014 Tunisian Constitution and Freedom of Conscience and Religion ..................................................................................................... 93 iv The 2012 Egyptian Constitution and Freedom of Conscience and Religion ..................................................................................................... 94 Freedoms of Opinion and Expression ..........................................................................95 ICCPR Article 19: Freedoms of Opinion and Expression .................................... 95 The 2014 Tunisian Constitution and Freedoms of Opinion and Expression ................................................................................................. 97 The 2012 Egyptian and Freedoms of Opinion and Expression ...................................98 The Right to Non-Discrimination ................................................................................99 The 2014 Tunisian Constitution and the Right to Non-Discrimination .............. 101 The 2012 Egyptian Constitution