Negotiating the Post-Revolution Constitution for Tunisia; Members of the National Constituent Assembly Share Their Experiences

This paper forms part of a three year research project entitled How can constitution-building processes in post-conflict states and in states transitioning from authoritarian rule contribute to enhancing democracy? This particular study within the project takes an interest in exploring, and analyzing, the post-revolution Tunisian constitution-building process; a process which resulted in the promulgation of a new constitution for Tunisia in 2014. The Tunisian transition from authoritarian rule towards democratization is remarkable, not just in comparison to other countries in its proximity that were part of the Arab Uprisings, but also beyond. The reasons that explain the Tunisian experience, are in fact a theoretical challenge waiting to the grappled with by political scientists. Theoretical insights would have us believe that Tunisia’s neighbors must have been democratic, hence inspiring the country to follow their lead; or, that international pressure for democratization was exceptionally pronounced, hence pushing the country to democratize; or, that the country had a democratic culture to draw experience from, hence making the transition easier; or, that the country had a single dominant and legitimated opposition movement waiting to take power and consensually establish a democratic order. In fact, none of these conditions were present in Tunisia. In relation to the last factor, the contrary was actually the case; a heterogeneous composition of different actors, secular and religiously oriented alike, had to come together to agree on a political roadmap for the future Tunisia. This is the focal aspect of attention in this paper, as it seeks to understand and analyze how and why political elites from different political parties came to bargain, and consensually agree, on a constitution for the country. It does so by interviewing politicians – including members of the moderate Islamist party Ennahda, as well as members of secular parties such as Ettakatol, Congress for the Republic, Afek Tounes, Al Massar and Popular Petition; all of which were part of the constitutional negotiations in the National Constituent Assembly during the period of its work 2011-2014. The paper finds that a number of different factors ranging from pragmatism, to rational calculations, to moderation through a history of exclusion – particularly in regards to the stances made by members of Ennahda – serve to at least partly explain how the seemingly divided Tunisian political establishment managed to consensually agree on a constitution for the country.