Rached Ghannouchi and his Political Discourses between Tunisian and Global Islamism

Abstract

Abstract Rached Ghannouchi and his Islamic movement Ennahda had received a popular mandate to write a post-revolution constitution for Tunisia. However, Ghannouchi preferred national consensus over using his party’s political strength. Ennahda relinquished power in 2014 and announced to abandon religious activism in 2016. The paper explains Ghannouchi’s politics of Islam, which he now calls, “Muslim Democracy (Ghannouchi, 2016),” and his thoughts on key modern political concepts. Ghannouchi, instead of a Sharia state, advanced the agenda of Dawla Madniya or Civilian State (Zidan, 2014). Ghannouchi, in his pre-uprising writings, has widely discussed ‘state,’ ‘secularism,’ ‘democracy,’ ‘civilization,’ and fundamental human rights. Ghannouchi sought national consensus by sharing a common viewpoint for Tunisia’s transition from dictatorship to a civilian state. The article analyses Ghannouchi’s writings and his opinion on key Islamic issues on which he differs from contemporary Islamic groups of Egypt, Pakistan, Iran, or elsewhere.