Islam In Tunisia Research Articles

Understanding the transformation of Political Islam beyond party politics: the case of Tunisia

This article accounts for the hybrid transformations of the Tunisian Islamist movement. While most of the literature affirms the end of Political Islam in Tunisia through evidence of the Ennahda’s compromise with secular forces and the decision to keep politics separate from religion, this contribution offers a new perspective by shifting the unit of analysis from the political party to civil society actors. Findings show that, due to new opportunities and constraints that characterise the transition process, Islamist activists engaged in the associations have embarked on various trajectories that transform their relationship with the political party, and more generally with politics. This article examines three relational logics involving Islamist activists engaged in the associational field and the political party: professional empowerment, party complementarity and political challenge. The three logics trace a hybrid dynamic of reconfiguration of the Tunisian Islamist movement that challenges binary interpretations of transformation based on the dichotomy of radicalisation/moderation or on teleological narratives that foretell the end of political Islam in Tunisia.

Political Islam in Tunisia: The History of Ennahda

Political Islam in Tunisia: The History of Ennahda

Political Islam in Tunisia: the history of Ennahda

Political Islam in Tunisia: the history of Ennahda

Political Islam in Tunisia: The History of Ennahda By Anne Wolf

Political Islam in Tunisia: The History of Ennahda By Anne Wolf

The Role of Political Islam in Tunisia’s Democratization Process: Towards a New Pattern of Secularization?

The Role of Political Islam in Tunisia’s Democratization Process: Towards a New Pattern of Secularization?

Political Islam in Tunisia by Anne Wolf

Political Islam in Tunisia by Anne Wolf

Political Islamism in Tunisia

This paper argues that the growth and legalization of Political Islamism in Tunisia will naturally hinder the contemporary influence of violent extremism, leading to partnership and inclusion within a Democratic government. The basis for this claim rests on the idea that the condemnation and repression of Political Islamism in Tunisia historically backfired and led to the further underground radicalization of Tunisians, along with scores of human rights abuses by authorities. Specifically, this essay will focus on the moderate Islamist party Ennahda, the Salafist party Ansar al-Sharia, and their complex relationship to each other as well as to domestic and regional politics at large. Furthermore, this essay will examine the wide continuum of Political Islamism at present, including the Tunisian government’s most recent agenda regarding its response to violent extremism, terrorism and acts of vigilante violence. This essay advocates for the Tunisian government to continue to allow the participation of Islamist groups within the political arena while maintaining security, transparency, and accountability for the state and its citizens.

Re-emerging Islamism in Tunisia: Repositioning Religion in Politics and Society

In this article a widening divergence is observed between Islamist activism aimed at societal change and Islamist activism aimed at political influence in post-revolutionary Tunisia. Both forms of activism remain closely linked through an enduring common Islamist ideology that renders convergence in daily practice inescapable; a convergence that is most clearly observable, it is argued, through shared attempts at Islamizing specific public organizations and state administrations. These attempts are often highly contested between actors both internal and external to the Islamist project. These struggles will be central to defining the future position of public Islam versus state and politics in the country.

Who Wears Hijab with the President: Constructing a Modern Islam in Tunisia

In comparison to other Muslim states, Tunisia is often described as secular. However, the official Tunisian relation to and construction of religion is more complex. The government bans Hijab from public institutions such as schools, but on certain occasions the president publicly welcomes women wearing some forms of hijab. Underlying this seeming contradiction is a governmental attempt to develop a modern form of Islam that emphasizes the position of women in Tunisia as fully modern. The master narrative of modernization posits an inevitable triumph of modernity over tradition, making traditional forms of hijab acceptable, but contemporary forms of hijab challenge this assumed inevitable progression. The state views the status of women as modern as particularly vulnerable. While otherwise modern men may freely adopt traditional clothing styles on ritually important occasions, women have no flexibility in shifting between modernity and tradition.

Regard sur l'islamisme en Tunisie à la lumière du Manifeste du M.T.I

A consideration of islamism in Tunisia in the light of the M.T.I. manifesto. For the past fifteen years, the Muslim world — both Arab and non-Arab — has been the scene of an eruption of an islamic protest movement whose growing impetus has been a constant source of concern to the governments involved. The M.T.I. , responsible for the manifesto for the first part of which we offer a translation, cannot be separated from this vast trend. The M.T.I. , the largest Islamic group in Tunisia, has already made headline news in the political life of this country. If its origins and evolution are a part of specifically Tunisian contemporary history, it has symbolic and ideological connections with North-African and more particularly Machrekin islamism.