The Semantics of ‘Civil’: The EU, Civil Society and the Building of Democracy in Tunisia

Abstract

This article examines the conceptual substance of the European Union’s (EU’s) support to civil society in the Mediterranean, a vital part of its renewed policy of democracy promotion since the so-called ‘Arab spring’. Grounded in a field study of two EU-financed projects in Tunisia, the article discusses the normative understandings of civil society and democracy-building that are being promoted by the EU. It then assesses to what extent these understandings are adhered to on the ground, by the Tunisian actors in charge of implementing the EU-policy. It appears that the EU’s enthusiasm for a ‘broad’, developmental agenda of democracy promotion is waning, as it frames the democratizing role of civil society primarily in a political vein. While the local actors abide by the EU’s liberal normativity, they challenge the political framings that condition the European model. In Tunisia, democracy-building is perceived as a bridgehead to prosperity and equitable development. As a result, the local civil society projects privilege socio-economic areas of activity, in a consensus-based and depoliticized framework – in other words, a ‘developmental’ approach to democracy-building. The article postulates that this discrepancy arises from the inadequacy of the EU’s political approach to the fragile context of a fledgling democracy.