Tunisia in the Aftermath of the Arab Uprisings Working Group II

Between June 22 and 29 2020, the Center for International and Regional Studies held the second working group for its faculty research initiative on “Tunisia in the Aftermath of the Arab Uprisings.” This CIRS project is a faculty-led initiative, under the intellectual guidance of Professor Mohamed Zayani. Adopting a hybrid model the group met and discussed the submitted chapters virtually. The group met for two short sessions of live group interaction using Zoom conferencing and discussed and provided feedback on the submitted chapters via asynchronous interaction through prerecorded videos hosted on the Blackboard platform. Taking a multi-disciplinary approach, the meeting offered an in-depth discourse on the post-revolutionary Tunisian state.

The paper presented and discussed are as follows:

Tunisian Youth: Catalyst for Socio-Political Change and Emergence of Identity Politics in post-Arab Spring Tunisia – Zouhir Gabsi

Tunisia’s Reinvigorated Civil Society – Zuzana Hudáková

Transitional Bodies, Modern Politics and Anti-Democratic Potential: The Case of HAICA – Enrique Klaus

Women’s Rights in Tunisia from 1900 to 2020: From Taboo to Totem – Lilia Labidi

Tunisian Transition in the Context of Middle East Persistent Authoritarianism- Marina Ottaway

From Political Protest to Contention against Austerity: Mobilization in Tunisia Post-2011 – Irene Weipert-Fenner

Ennahda and Post-Islamism Politics in Tunisia – Fabio Merone

What can Tunisia’s Past Tell us about its Future? – Alexandra Blackman

Under the intellectual lead of Professor Zayani, this CIRS project seeks not only to identify and better understand trends that characterize the country’s uneasy transition 10 years after the revolution but also to examine what some of these intricate and intertwined changes of transition mean for the future of the Tunisian state. The contributions to this research project are embedded in imperially grounded research from the perspective of various disciplinary specialty and research focus. CIRS plans to publish the outcome of this timely project in an edited volume in the near future.

• Read more about this research initiative. 

Participants and Discussants: 

• Zahra Babar, CIRS – Georgetown University in Qatar
• Misba Bhatti, CIRS – Georgetown University in Qatar
• Alexandra Blackman, New York University Abu Dhabi, UAE
• Ahmad Dallal, Georgetown University in Qatar
• Zouhir Gabsi, Deakin University, Australia
• Zuzana Hudáková, Sciences Po, Paris
• Mehran Kamrava, CIRS – Georgetown University in Qatar
• Enrique Klaus, Galatasaray University, Turkey
• Lilia Labidi, Association of Tunisian Women for Research and Development (AFTURD), Tunisia
• Fabio Merone, University of Ghent, Belgium
• Alyssa Miller, University of Pennsylvania, US
• Suzi Mirgani, CIRS – Georgetown University in Qatar
• Marina Ottaway, Woodrow Wilson Center, US
• Jackie Starbird,  CIRS – Georgetown University in Qatar
• Elizabeth Wanucha, CIRS – Georgetown University in Qatar
• Irene Weipert-Fenner, Peace Research Institute Frankfurt, Germany
• Mohamed Zayani, Georgetown University in Qatar

Article by Misba Bhatti, Research Analyst at CIRS