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1. Clear and president danger: Democracy and the constitution in Tunisia

Author:
Anthony Dworkin
Publication Date:
07-2022
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR)
Abstract:
The new constitution that Tunisia will soon put to a referendum is a fundamental departure from the democratic model the country established after 2011. The process of drafting the constitution excluded any significant political participation or public debate. The new constitution would create an unaccountable presidency and leave other branches of the state without any power. Tunisia’s president has failed to address the country’s serious economic problems. An agreement with the International Monetary Fund will only provide a short-term solution to these problems. European policymakers should make clear that they do not see the constitution as genuinely democratic, while continuing to support Tunisia economically.
Topic:
Democracy, Constitution, Economy, Referendum, and IMF
Political Geography:
Europe, North Africa, and Tunisia

2. Divergent Views: Tunisian President’s prospects for passing the new constitution

Author:
FARAS
Publication Date:
07-2022
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Future for Advanced Research and Studies (FARAS)
Abstract:
Tunisian President Kais Saied, on June 20, received a new draft constitution written by Sadok Belaid, Coordinator of the High National Advisory Committee for New Republic. The draft was not final as some chapters were reviewed and amended before it was published in the official gazette on June 30. The draft new constitution will be put to a referendum on July 25.
Topic:
Reform, Constitution, Domestic Politics, and Kais Saied
Political Geography:
North Africa and Tunisia

3. Civil Society & Political Transformations (Harvard Journal of Middle Eastern Politics and Policy, Fall 2021)

Author:
Ghazi Ghazi
Publication Date:
04-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Harvard Journal of Middle Eastern Politics and Policy
Institution:
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:
Eleven years after the 2011 Arab Spring, feelings of transformation and change still reverberate throughout the region. The Spring 2022 edition, Civil Society and Political Transformations, seeks to illuminate how civil society organizations operate in the region and their effects on political transformations.
Topic:
Civil Society, Education, Human Rights, Migration, Politics, Race, History, Reform, Women, Constitution, Arab Spring, Syrian War, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Baath Party, and Peacebuilding
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, Iraq, South Asia, Turkey, Middle East, Israel, Libya, Yemen, Palestine, North Africa, Syria, Jordan, Morocco, and United Arab Emirates

4. After the 25 July constitutional referendum: Codification of autocratic rule heightens Tunisians’ fears of the future

Author:
Al Jazeera Center for Studies
Publication Date:
08-2022
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Al Jazeera Center for Studies
Abstract:
While Saied initially had popular momentum behind his programme—he came into office in 2019 with a whopping 72 percent of the vote—his popularity has eroded sharply over the last year as many Tunisians have lost faith in his ability to address economic woes, improve living conditions and fight corruption.
Topic:
Corruption, Constitution, Referendum, and Autocracy
Political Geography:
North Africa and Tunisia

5. A Choice in Distress Will the "National Dialogue" Offer a Resolution for Tunisia’s Political Crisis?

Author:
Ahmed Nazif
Publication Date:
07-2021
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Future for Advanced Research and Studies (FARAS)
Abstract:
The political crisis in Tunisia has been spiraling over the past months with no solution in sight. The reason, in part, is that the country’s constitution, approved in 2014, features complex intertwined interests of the governmental institutions. This situation eventually led to the current conflict between the president, on one side, and the parliament and the government, on the other. In an attempt to resolve the current gridlock, President Kais Saied, on several occasions, called for a radical change of the current political system, while the Islamist Ennahda Movement and its allies fear that they might lose the electoral privileges they have gained thanks to the power-sharing system and the current voting system. The last of Saeid’s calls came up more detailed and within a clearer framework to be shaped by “national dialogue.”
Topic:
Government, Constitution, Political Crisis, and Dialogue
Political Geography:
North Africa and Tunisia

6. Multiple gains: Saied’s Call for Changing the Tunisian Political System

Author:
FARAS
Publication Date:
09-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Future for Advanced Research and Studies (FARAS)
Abstract:
On September 12, during a tour of Habib Bourguiba Street, amid heavy guard, Tunisian President Kais Saied said that the new government would be formed “as soon as possible”, and hinted that Tunisia’s constitution may be amended.
Topic:
Government, Democracy, Constitution, and Domestic Politics
Political Geography:
North Africa and Tunisia

7. Tunisia: An overlapping political and constitutional crisis

Author:
Al Jazeera Center for Studies
Publication Date:
03-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Al Jazeera Center for Studies
Abstract:
Tunisian President Kais Saied’s rejection of governmental alteration is a reflection of a wider political crisis, stemming from the disagreement between the presidency and the parliamentary majority over the form of the political system and the distribution of powers among its pillars.
Topic:
Politics, Constitution, and Political Crisis
Political Geography:
North Africa and Tunisia

8. Why Is Algeria Considering Changing its Military Doctrine?

Author:
Abdelkrim Dekhakhena
Publication Date:
06-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
Institution:
Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
Abstract:
Based on provisions of the new constitution draft released by the Algerian presidency, it will be possible for the Algerian army to act outside the country’s borders. Algeria has been under great pressure in recent years to involve its army in security and military tasks abroad, especially anti-terrorism missions in the region. Consequently, Algeria has found itself marginalized because of its refusal to let its army deploy outside its territorial borders in conformity with its non-interventionist policy. The Algerian political class and security experts are divided over this issue. The question is what prompted the thinking of changing the doctrine of the Algerian army? Why has it been expressly provided for in the new constitution? Is this the end of Algeria’s sacrosanct principle of military non-interference? Algeria appears to be trying, within a new regional landscape characterized by threats at the border, to relocate by deviating from its well-established principle of non-interference and preparing to become a relevant actor in managing multiple crises in the neighbourhood.
Topic:
Security, Constitution, Foreign Interference, and Military
Political Geography:
Algeria and North Africa

9. Algerian Constitutional Amendments Create Conditions for Military Intervention in Libya

Author:
Jacob Lees Weiss
Publication Date:
12-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:
On November 12, the Algerian Constitutional Council confirmed amendments that were approved in the country’s November 1 referendum, which allow the Algerian People’s National Armed Forces (APN) to participate in operations outside the country’s borders (El Khabar, November 12). Missions must be approved by a two-thirds majority in each parliamentary chamber and be within the framework of the objectives of the UN, the African Union, and the League of Arab Nations (al-Arab, October 25). The constitutional referendum was the flagship project of Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who has sought to distinguish his government from that of his predecessor, Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
Topic:
Constitution, Military Intervention, Conflict, and Referendum
Political Geography:
Libya, Algeria, and North Africa

10. The Narrative of Political Islam: Constitutionalism and Human Rights

Author:
Nikola Gjorshoski
Publication Date:
06-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Liberty and International Affairs
Institution:
Institute for Research and European Studies (IRES)
Abstract:
One of the essential postulates of political orientation and determination for the building of stable societies and a functioning political system in its content recognizes and imposes the need to examine the relation of relevant political actors to constitutionalism and human rights as concepts and preoccupations for any modern society. Also, constitutionalism and human rights and freedoms as its inseparable category manifest the political values and the corpus of essential and common political goals and commitments of a particular political community. Political Islam as an ideological political subject has its own sources and a valuable orientation framework through which prisms and perceptions can be interpreted or extracted by individual axiological determinants to certain issues. This paper analyzes exactly the relations of political Islam with constitutionalism and human rights, and similarly to the so-called framework it draws attention to the concepts of power, the mechanisms of control and compliance with the Sharia regulations. At the same time, the importance of human rights and freedoms in the Islamic narrative, their nature and scope, as well as the differences with the western established documents in this area are emphasized and analyzed.
Topic:
Government, Human Rights, Islam, Constitution, and Sharia
Political Geography:
Middle East, North Africa, and Global Focus