A central challenge of Tunisia’s transition out of dictatorship has been finding a way
to implement democratic reforms in a country where citizens place little trust in the
volatile, post-authoritarian institutions. One pre-requisite for trust is dialogue; if civil
society actors don’t have a forum for exchange with the government, they can’t be
heard, and trust remains elusive. Social tensions (sometimes manifesting as protests) are
high in Tunisia, and the government’s responses have been mostly ineffective.