Transition In Tunisia Research Articles

Analysis of the Role of the Union Generale Tunisienne du Travail (UTT) in the Democratization Transition in Tunisia

This research aims to analyze the position of the Union Generale Tunisienne du Travail (UGTT) which is a combination of trade unions and labor unions in Tunisia in influencing the country's political stability during the time of the Arab revolution or what is known as the Arab Spring. This research analysis uses the concept of civil society to see the role of trade unions in Tunisia in building their political power. This research uses a qualitative method with library research (library research) which is classified and grouped based on several collections of written materials from various sources of books, scientific articles, and the internet. The results of the study show that the UGTT has two roles in achieving the goals of Tunisia's democratization, firstly as a power intermediary, where the UGTT functions in uniting the population and the government by chairing dialogue and guiding decision making during an unstable period. Second, the UGTT also plays a role as a key mediator in the democratization transition process by participating in the policy-making process, namely working with members of parliament in drafting a new constitution.

The Crisis of Democratisation in Tunisia: Causes, Indicators, Lessons Learned

The democratic transition in Tunisia was unique in the Arab region before it veered off course. The current political crisis is the most precarious, disruptive moment yet seen in the country. This study aims to highlight the reasons for the failure of the Tunisian democratic transition and the lessons that can be drawn from the experience. Beginning with a definition of democratic transition as a theoretical introduction, the study uses a descriptive analytical approach to describe and explain the failure of the democratic transition in Tunisia. It concludes that despite the existence of various instruments of democratisation in Tunisia, such as the peaceful transfer of power, guarantees for rights and freedoms in Tunisian constitutions, a consensual constitution, and participatory transitional institutions, the transition in Tunisia has faltered. The most important lessons the study draws from the stalled transition are: economic development is an important factor in democratisation; the peaceful rotation of power is not sufficient to ensure the success of the transition; genuine consensus must be built between elites and the opposition; and finally, the lack of specific constitutional institutions may hinder the democratic transition.

The Failure of the Democratic Transition in Tunisia (2010- 2021): The Reasons and the Expected Scenarios

The study aims to highlight the theoretical rooting of the concept of democratic transition, and to study the reasons for the failure of the Tunisian experience after ten years of the democratic transition process in light of the escalation of the political and constitutional crisis and the conflict between the three presidencies (President of the Republic, Head of Government, Speaker of the Assembly of People’s Representatives). The paper also aims to study the justifications that prompted the President of the Republic to issue exceptional decisions (7/25/2021) to freeze the democratic process. The article uses the historical, descriptive, analytical, and probabilistic inductive approach to prove the validity of its hypothesis. There is a correlation between the stumbling of the democratic transition process and the form of the mixed political system that was adopted in the 2014 constitution. The study foretells the scenario of amending and restructuring the political system towards the presidential system. Keywords: Tunisia, The democratic transition, Ennahda party, Qais Saied, Rashid Ghannouchi, Hybrid political regime.

Strategic Choices: How Conservative Women Activists Remained Active throughout Tunisia's Democratic Transition

Gender politics scholars conclude that conservatives and religious actors curtail women's rights and political participation during a democratic transition, except in post‐conflict contexts. Yet, this was not the case in Tunisia. This article documents how Islamist women activists remained active throughout the democratic transition in Tunisia. I argue that Islamist women within Tounissiet remained politically active by making two strategic choices: (1) not challenging conservatives and (2) aligning with liberal feminists when it was in their interest. This article builds on the emerging scholarship on women's roles in a democratic transition, especially conservative women, by providing original empirical work on an Islamist women's rights organization in a democratizing Tunisia. I suggest that more needs to be understood about conservative women and new actors that democratic transitions empower and embolden.

Tunisian Exceptionalism: The Role of Civil Society in Tunisia's Transition

Tunisian Exceptionalism:The Role of Civil Society in Tunisia's Transition Ayfer Erdoğan (bio) Introduction Even under authoritarian rule and despite several limitations, Tunisian civil society formed a counterweight to the state power by making up a sphere of civilian activity beyond the state. Unlike many other countries in the region, the authoritarian leaders in Tunisia allowed and even publicly encouraged the growth of some forms of civil society which were not disentangled from the liberal economic development strategy adopted by Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Tunisia was one of the first countries to disengage from "Arab socialism" and it pursued a liberal development strategy, creating a strong private sector and the cultural norms of entrepreneurship and individuality.1 Rather than repressing civil society entirely, Ali pursued a selective liberalization policy and adopted state-monopolized civil society framework, which enabled him to advocate for economic development and, at the same time, get rid of the pluralist effects and democratizing consequences of civil society.2 [End Page 67] Hence, civil society organizations mainly located in the capital Tunis and coastal cities, such as Sfax and Sousse, operated within the restrictions posed by the Ben Ali regime. Civil society could not reach its full potential, yet, in parallel to the state-monopolized civil society, there existed an informal activist network that grew underground. During Ben Ali's rule, the Tunisian public was actively involved in "formal and informal modes of resistance" through unions, social media, youth movements, and grassroots.3 Both formal and informal networks of civil society have generated a culture of dissent that created the basis for resistance against Ben Ali. In the case of post-revolution Tunisia, the new constitution and legitimate political institutions came into existence thanks to the involvement of a group of civil society actors including activists, unions, and non-governmental and women's organizations. In each phase of the transition, civil society groups have struggled to maintain the democratic nature of the transition. When political tensions arose, civil society actors mediated among different political groups and initiated a broad national dialogue. The inclusive and consensual manner in which the constitutional drafting took place owes a lot to Tunisia's strong civil society with its monitoring the draft laws and engaging with members of the assembly to reflect people's demands. Up to the present, civil society has maintained its role in checking on the government's policies and organizing protests and sit-ins when they are not in line with the objectives of the revolution. This article first analyzes the historical evolution of the Tunisian General Labor Union (Union Générale Tunisienne du Travail–UGTT), a primary actor of the uprisings that took place against the regime since the country's independence. Second, it continues with an analysis of the critical role played by civil society and unions during the Jasmine Revolution and the turbulent transition of Tunisia. Finally, it investigates civil society's role in the constitutional drafting process and the implementation of policies in the sphere of politics, economy, and transitional justice. The Historical Evolution of the Labor Movement Tunisia has an organized labor movement as embodied by the UGTT since 1946, and it has been unique in terms of its history, political influence, and social dimension in the MENA region. Throughout Tunisian history, the UGTT's sphere of influence was much larger than an average trade union, which simply advocates for workers' rights and demands. Farhat [End Page 68] Hached, the founder of the UGTT, learned about union activism in the French communist-leaning union, Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT), where he had been a member for fifteen years before he founded the union in Tunisia. He resigned from the CGT due to its lack of support for Tunisians' struggle to gain independence from France, which clearly indicated that the UGTT has been more than a labor union from its inception.4 Besides, the labor movement has been rather independent compared to other labor movements in the region, as it does not owe its existence and origin to the state. Rather, the class of "formally free" wage earners and their introduction to trade union activism can...

Exploring the inter-factor and inter-fuel substitution possibilities in Tunisia: the potential of renewable energy.

Tunisia is among the developing countries that have taken initiatives to develop renewable energy and strengthen energy efficiency. Moreover, it has considerable potential, especially in the field of wind and solar energy. However, the country is still dependent on fossil fuel energy. In this context, the transition to renewable energy is considered one of the possible solutions to reduce energy dependence and strengthen the economy in general. Therefore, the aim of this research study is to evaluate the role of renewable energy in shaping the energy transition in Tunisia in order to qualify the possibilities of energy transition. Accordingly, we investigate the potential for substitution between the following factors and fuels: Capital, labor, renewable, and non-renewable energy in Tunisia using a translog production function approach. Due to the multicollinearity of the model, the ridge regression method is used to estimate the parameters of the function. The obtained results showed that the possibility of substitution between inputs, especially between renewable and non-renewable energy, can replace fossil fuels with clean energy consumption. Moreover, to maximize the potential of renewable energy in Tunisia, this study recommends that policy makers should take more reliable measures to reflect the exact price of energy through price regulation measures, encourage investment in research and development, and introduce carbon taxes that could accelerate this transition.

The Power of Bipartisan Mobilization: The Success of Tunisia’s Feminist Movement During the Coronavirus Pandemic

Abstract The Tunisian government, which is deeply divided, especially along ideological lines, responded to growing concerns over increased violence against women during the Coronavirus pandemic by establishing a new domestic violence shelter and 24/7 hotline. This article asks: Why did the state respond to gender-based violence(gbv) concerns during the Coronavirus pandemic in Tunisia, despite ideological and political divisions? We argue that the state addressed some concerns around violence during the pandemic because combatting gbv has bipartisan support in Tunisia. Tunisian Islamist and secularist women’s rights organizations succeeded in building a bipartisan coalition of support on this issue because they worked either together in a short-lived coalition or in tandem with similar goals over the past decade during the democratic transition in Tunisia. Building on the existing coalition literature, we show that feminist coalition formation before a pandemic has implications for feminists’ success in times of crisis.

Corporate law and governance: A case of Tunisia after the Arab Spring

This paper reviews the corporate governance practices of listed Tunisian companies. Besides that, the paper explores the evolution of corporate governance legislation between 2013 and 2017 in order to identify the changes caused by the revolution to accompany the current context’s needs and the democratic transition in Tunisia. Although the most of companies in Tunisia are dominated by family small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and very small enterprises (VSEs) we have chosen to focus on listed companies. These companies present more advanced practices of corporate governance given the legislation in force. Results of this paper shed light on several important features of the Tunisian corporate governance system, for example, interlocking directorates. It is interesting to notice that a limited number of directors control the majority of the market capitalization in Tunisia. The practice of interlocking directorates reflects the Tunisian way of economic lobbying. As for gender diversity, although there are no laws imposing a minimum quota of women directors, the proportion of female board members has slightly increased during the last years, moving from 7.87% in 2013 to 9.92% in 2017. In contrast to Arab and African countries, it should be noted that the majority of women directors sit on boards as members of the family controlling the company or because they are civil servants representing the state’s interests in state-owned enterprises

Revolution and transition in Tunisia as crises of hegemony

ABSTRACT Some Gramscian concepts proved to be relevant for a better and a worthwhile understanding of the current changes and of the political and social upheavals in Tunisia since winter 2010/2011. In particular, I will approach the ongoing political crisis as a crisis of hegemony. By emphasising the social and economic content in the hegemony of the Tunisian state, the article will focus on its construction during the Habib Bourguiba era, by showing how elites emerged after the independence, through their alliance with the workers’ union (UGTT), won the people’s support by working on two main issues: first, economic growth, second, social recovery thus fairly benefited different social classes, according to meritocracy. I will then look at how President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali tried to apply the same ‘hegemony formula’ and how despite his agreement with the trade unions, he nevertheless lost that hegemony due to two major evolutions during the 2000s: the transformation of Tunisian capitalism into a crony capitalism and the end of meritocracy. Eventually, the article will show that the current political and socio-economic crisis can be read as the consequence of the crisis of hegemony, since old and new elites have not yet succeeded in providing answers to the main social and economic questions raised by the 2011 Revolution.

Towards energy transition in Tunisia: Sustainability assessment of a hybrid concentrated solar power and biomass plant

Electricity demand in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region increases at a rate of 6–8% per year. It is expected to double by 2020 and triple by 2030. Renewable electricity ensures climate protection and energy security. This work presents a sustainability assessment of CSP hybridization with biomass technology to be installed in Tunisia. Environmental impacts have been assessed by Life Cycle Analysis (LCA). For socioeconomic impacts, a Multiregional Input-Output (MRIO) analysis was used to estimate the production of goods and services, value added and employment creation. Regarding the results, the system reports 22 gCO2eq per kWh. The most important component in terms of emissions is the gasifier system, due to biomass transport. Socioeconomic results show important impacts for employment creation in Tunisia, coming essentially from the O&M phase. The multiplier effect of the direct investment for production of goods and services amounts to 2.4 (3.5 accounting induced effects). Domestic value added in investment is low, only 28.9% of the overall value added created. Thus, increasing the national content of the investment stage would bring additional local benefits. Using extended MRIO, CO2 emissions have also been calculated and differences in the CO2 emission with both methodologies are discussed.

Fighting Corruption within the Framework of Transitional Justice: The Impact on Democratic Transition in Tunisia

Fighting Corruption within the Framework of Transitional Justice: The Impact on Democratic Transition in Tunisia

Legacy Trade Unions as Brokers of Democratization? Lessons from Tunisia

The Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT) emerged as a major player in the country's transition from authoritarianism. Existing explanations - focusing on authoritarian legacies, the degree of trade union autonomy from the state, and labor's material incentives to support democratization - do not sufficiently account for the high-profile nature of the union's political role in Tunisia's transition. Instead, as this article argues, the importance of unions' pre-authoritarian legacy is key to understanding the role of unions in the transition from authoritarian rule. If unions enter the regime formation stage with a history of political struggle and with strong organizational capacities, they are more likely to develop a degree of internal autonomy that makes it difficult for authoritarian incumbents to disempower them. The article employs a historical institutional approach and draws on fieldwork and interviews with labor activists in Tunisia.

Social Dialogue and Democracy in Tunisia

Promoting social dialogue is a requirement of the democratic transition in Tunisia. But, the effectiveness of this dialogue remains limited in particular because of the shortcomings of the law concerning the institutionalization of tripartite social dialogue, as well as the lack of an appropriate legal framework for bipartite social dialogue.

Currency returns during democratic transition: evidence from Tunisia

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the question whether democratic transition elections influence currency returns. Also, the paper examines the behavior of the currency market around these elections in Tunisia.Design/methodology/approachEmpirical data are collected from the International Monetary Fund, the Central Bank of Tunisia and the Tunisian stock market websites. The paper employs event study analysis using a market model and investigates abnormal currency returns around the four election events that occurred during the period of democratic transition in Tunisia (2011–2015). A robustness test is also conducted to control for monetary policy effects.FindingsThe results indicate that democratic transition does impact currency returns. The authors did not find any significant effect on the events dates (t0). However, event windows around the elections days reacted significantly to the events. The authors notice a significant decrease in cumulative abnormal returns (CARs) at event periods leading up to the elections. Post-event windows perceived negative CARs in the first and second election, and positive CARs in the last two elections. The authors also find that the change in the victors of the elections does not cause major differences to CARs. Further, the authors do not find significant results when controlling for inflation and interest rate.Originality/valueThere is no evidence yet on how democratic transition elections can affect currency returns. Given that currency is a leading indicator of the performance of the financial sector, this paper should provide policymakers with new evidence on the response of currency returns to democratic transition.

Do democratic revolutions ‘activate’ participants? The case of Tunisia

The democratic transition in Tunisia and free and fair elections that followed offer a unique opportunity to assess whether the experience of participating in successful political efforts translates into subsequent political participation. We consider whether participation in a democratic revolution is associated with greater rates of participation in nascent ‘normal’ democratic processes. Leveraging data from two surveys fielded in the wake of the revolution and the Constituent Assembly elections that followed, we find scant evidence of a relationship between protest participation and subsequent turnout. We also consider the possibility that young – presumably more impressionable – Tunisians were more likely to be ‘activated’ by protest participation. However, our findings run directly counter to this expectation. Our findings show that the socializing effects of monumental historical events can be strikingly circumscribed.

Women, Feminism and Politics in Post-Revolution Tunisia

During periods of flux generated by Tunisia's transition to democracy, all classes of women found the ‘political opportunities’ to push for change even if they did not necessarily share the same ambition or dream. The mobilisation, contestations, confrontations and struggle of Tunisian women in the post-revolution period alert us to the need to examine the factors behind this activism and the extent of its visibility. It is important to revisit the Tunisian women's movement in order to understand its interaction with other forms of power such as politics, religion, and class; as well as the extent to which such activism is a renegotiation of women’s identities and status in post-revolution Tunisia. Indeed, the extent to which the rise of Islamism and its conservative gender ideology can affect feminist movement activities has been one of the main issues of debate. The divide between Tunisian women - secularist and feminist versus Islamist women (Nahdhawiyat) begs to be explored. This divide can be understood as the expected materialisation of binaries that manifestly reveal the hard task of pursuing accountability of feminist movements regarding broader and universal feminist issues of epistemology, agenda, and ethics within the new local context. 
 This article is an attempt to address the binary framings of secular/liberal/elitist/Westernised feminist movements against the re-emerging religious/indigenous/ethical and conservative discourse. It aims to shed light on the influence of such opposed frames and their impact on women’s struggles for empowerment, and the accountability of both state and non-state actors.

Rheumatic heart disease in a developing country: Incidence and trend (Monastir; Tunisia: 2000–2013)

BackgroundThe penicillin therapy of β hemolytic streptococcal pharyngitis has aided in the decrease of rheumatic heart disease (RHD) in developing countries. Tunisia is an endemic area, however, and incidence of RHD is weakly documented. We aimed at establishing the standardized incidence rate (SIR) of RHD in Monastir governorate and at determining RHD prevalence among hospitalized patients in two cardiology departments. MethodsFrom the regional register of Monastir Hospital morbidity, we have selected newly diagnosed patients with RHD, residents of Monastir, and hospitalized to the 2 cardiology departments between 2000 and 2013 (2001 not included). FindingsWe studied 676 newly admitted patients. We estimate 1060 to be the number of new annual RHD cases in Tunisia. The SIR per 105 person-years was 10.97, being 9.3 in men and 19.1 in women, respectively. We have notified a negative trend of crude incidence rate/105 Inhabitants (Inh) (CIR) (r=−0.23, p<10−3), and a strong positive correlation between age and CIR/105 Inh (r=0.989, p<10−4). RHD lethality was 1%. We have registered 728 hospitalizations for RHD, representing 2.5% of all cardiology hospitalizations [95% CI: 2.3–2.7%], with a prevalence for 13.3% for women aged 15–29years. The median hospital stay was 9days (IQR: 5–15). ConclusionOur results confirm the RHD incidence decrease, consistent with epidemiological transition in Tunisia. We have also emphasized on the close trend of RHD with age and the predominance of RHD among women especially at the procreation age.

Nonlinear dynamic of the renewable energy cycle transition in Tunisia: Evidence from smooth transition autoregressive models

In this paper, we focus on the problem of the energy transition in Tunisia were we suggest to study and modeling the nonlinear dynamic of the endogenous renewable energy cycle.As today the socioeconomic development in Tunisia is too complicated and dependent on the adopted energetic strategy. Our contribution consists on recognizing exactly the main bases of this correlative development.In this context, we try to provide some theoretical and empirical studies for renewable energy politics especially under the chaotic transition in the post revolution period in Tunisia.All this work will be based on the application of the univariate STAR (smooth transition autoregressive) method composed by two transition process types the logistic STAR model (LSTAR) and the exponential STAR model (ESTAR). As results we found that the LSTAR process is more adequate for asymmetric data for our case. In this regard, our results indicated that the renewable energy can not only work as a possible factor for energetic strategy transition in Tunisia, but also, is a promising candidate for stability and socioeconomic development.

Neighborhood Policy, Cross-border Cooperation and the Re-bordering of the Italy–Tunisia Frontier

ABSTRACTThis article focuses on the contents and outcomes of the cross-border cooperation program between Italy and Tunisia in light of a review of the limits of the European Neighborhood Policy and of its impact on the construction of the EU external frontiers. The transfer of the CBC policy model to this and similar cases, it is argued, produces ambivalent results due to various asymmetries and the lack of a proper multi-level governance of trans-border relations. Some suggestions are proposed about how a renewed approach may increase the political relevance of the program, support the democratic transition in Tunisia and contribute to a rethinking of Euro-Mediterranean policies.

Transition to democracy in Tunisia: Learning about citizenship in a national and transnational context

In this article devoted to the democratic transition in Tunisia, we will provide an opportunity to reflect once again on the process and dynamics entailed in learning about citizenship in a context of transition. We want to stress the different experiences and various moments or events that contributed to bringing about this ‘citizenship’ (mouwâtana).