Essays on the Revolution in Tunisia Kasper Ly Netterstrøm Thesis submitted for assessment with a view to obtaining the degree of Doctor of Political and Social Sciences of the European University Institute Florence, July 10 European University Institute Department of Political and Social Sciences Essays on the Revolution in Tunisia Kasper Ly Netterstrøm Thesis submitted for assessment with a view to obtaining the degree of Doctor of Political and Social Sciences of the European University Institute Examining Board Professor Olivier Roy, European University Institute (supervisor) Professor Hanspeter Kriesi, European University Institute Professor Malika Zeghal, Harvard University Associate professor Nadia Marzouki, EHESS © netterstrøm2017 No part of this thesis may be copied, reproduced or transmitted without prior permission of the author Researcher declaration to accompany the submission of written work Department of Political and Social Sciences ­ Doctoral Programme I Kasper Ly Netterstrøm certify that I am the author of the work “Essays on the Revolution in Tunisia” I have presented for examination for the Ph.D. at the European University Institute. I also certify that this is solely my own original work, other than where I have clearly indicated, in this declaration and in the thesis, that it is the work of others. I warrant that I have obtained all the permissions required for using any material from other copyrighted publications. I certify that this work complies with the Code of Ethics in Academic Research issued by the European University Institute (IUE 332/2/10 (CA 297). The copyright of this work rests with its author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This work may not be reproduced without my prior written consent. This authorization does not, to the best of my knowledge, infringe the rights of any third party. I declare that this work consists of 51.220 words. Statement of inclusion of previous work: I confirm that chapter four was jointly co‐authored with Mr. Teije Hidde Donker and I contributed 50% of the work. The chapter has been published in Middle East Critique February 2017. I confirm that chapter two draws upon an earlier article I published in Journal of Democracy in October 2015. I confirm that chapter three draws upon an earlier article I published in The Middle East Journal in the summer 2016. Signature and date: June 14 2017 4 5 Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor, Olivier Roy who has guided me throughout the entire process. I still remember the first time I came to Olivier’s office to talk about what kind of thesis I should write. As an answer to my questions, he handed me a copy of the book version of Patrick Haenni’s thesis “L’ordre des caïds” a micro sociological study of a neighbourhood in Cairo written in a very French academic style, stuffed with Arabic words in italics, of which I understood exactly nothing. However, after some time, petit à petit, I began to understand Oliver’s approach to social science. Especially after I began doing interviews for my thesis, I started to really enjoy our conversations and discussions about my research. I always left his office full of ideas and with the feeling of being on to something new and exciting. Olivier is not the kind of supervisor who will notice a spelling mistake on page 6, but he engages with your ideas, criticise them and help you improve them. I cannot think of a better intellectual mentor than him. Besides the professional relationship, I would also like to thank Olivier as well as his lovely family for the many amusing dinners in their house in Le Cure. Furthermore, I am thankful to the jury for their comments and constructive critique. It has been extremely useful. A special thanks to Nadia Marzouki for joining the jury on a short notice after Luiz Martinez had to resign for personal reasons. I am very grateful to have you in my jury. My co-author on the third article, Teije Hidde Donker, also deserves thanks for his help and cooperation. I also have to thank the many people who helped me during my numerous field trips to Tunisia; Thameur Mekki for his many contacts, latest news on Tunisian politics, and great discussions. Ridha Tlili for his advice on everything which had to do with UGTT’s history. I also have to thank Sofie Okkels Birk at the LO/FTF Council’s local office in Tunis for putting me in contact with key people within UGTT. My friends Mohamed Bessa and Mouna Bel Haj Zekri. Thanks also to Ahlem Cheffi and Cyril for letting me stay in their apartment at Place d’Afrique, for our coffees at “La Caleche” and much more. A special thanks also to what I over the years have termed “my Tunisian family”; Badia Benjebara, Abdelaziz Doghri, Rym Doghri and the entire Benjebara family in Manouba, where I lived during my first stay in Tunis 2003-04. To all my friends from the EUI, I also want to express my thankfulness; Lela Chakhaia, Koen Geven, Liliya and Thomas Leopold, Jotte Mulder, Noëlle Richardson, Phillip 6 Rathgeb, Davide Morisi, Jenny Holmes, Jon Krog Pedersen, Cynthia Salloum, Tine Gade, Lotta-Liina Mustonen, Milan Obaidi, Anaïs Angelo and Michal Matlak. As well as my Copenhagen based friends Rune Sorvad Rydik, Mathias Ehrenberg, Helen Jessen, Daniel Vestergaard, Julie Søndergaard, Jeppe Albers, Frederik Hjorth, Michael Branner Jespersen, Johan Elkjær, Peter Bendtsen and Winnie Bjerregaard. Also a thanks to the people I have encountered at Danish Institute of International Studies; Fabrizio Tassinari, Rasmus Alenius Boserup, Helle Malmvig, Christine Nissen, Jessica Larsen, Asmae Badr, Troels Jensen and many others. I would also like to thank my family. My father Lars Ly and Anne Melillo, my three amazing brothers Kristian Ly Serena, Sebastian Ly Serena and Benjamin Ly Serena, my stepmother Karen Serena and Kenneth Marcher, the best aunt in the world Bodil Bjerk, my stepfather David Nowodworski as well as Ida and Leonora Simony. Thanks for being there for me. My mother Ingeborg Netterstrøm did not live long enough to see me graduating, but she was always with me in spirit and her love, care and positivity will always live with me. Last but not least, I would like to thank my girlfriend Gül Ertekin for the love, help and support throughout these tumultuous years. It has not always been easy being close to me throughout out this process and we have had our ups and downs. But to my great surprise you always kept loving me, believing in me and seeing the best sides of me. Also when I had lost faith in myself and my work. You are truly the light of my life, hayatımın ışığı. Teşekküler, bitanem. 7 Abstract The Tunisian Revolution and constitutional process constitute the first successful indigenous democratization process in the Arab World. In this article based thesis the historic event is analysed and discussed in relation to the established theories of democratization. The thesis contains four different articles. The first focuses on why the Tunisian Islamists accepted the country’s new constitution despite the fact that it contained principles that were in opposition to some of their previous Islamist beliefs. The second centres on the role of the Tunisian General Labor Union. It seeks to explain why the union could play such a crucial role in the revolution and constitutional process despite the fact that its leadership had close connections to the previous regime. The third article looks into how the Tunisian religious sphere changed as a result of the revolution. The fourth article tries to answer why the revolution came to be understood as a conflict between “Islamists” and “secularists” through an analysis of the conflict between the Islamists and the Tunisian General Labor Union. Finally, in the last chapter the state of comparative politics is discussed in relation to the conclusions of the different articles. 8 1 INTRODUCTION TO THE TUNISIAN REVOLUTION .......................... 12 1.1 ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE REVOLUTION ................................................. 13 1.1.1 The Erosion of Ben Ali’s Regime ................................................................................ 14 1.1.2 The Revolution Breaks Out .......................................................................................... 15 1.1.3 The Constitutional Process ........................................................................................... 18 1.2 THE REVOLUTION AND DEMOCRATIZATION THEORY ............................................... 20 1.2.1 Modernization Theory ................................................................................................... 20 1.2.2 Samuel Huntington’s view on Democratization........................................................ 22 1.2.3 Marxist and Class based explanations ......................................................................... 23 1.2.4 Transitology .................................................................................................................... 24 1.2.5 Islamism, Secularism and Democracy ......................................................................... 26 1.3 INTERVIEWING IN A REVOLUTIONARY PROCESS ......................................................... 28 1.3.1 Documents ...................................................................................................................... 32 1.3.2 Concepts and Language ................................................................................................ 33 2 THE ISLAMISTS’ COMPROMISE