Abstract
Ten hands holding each other around the wrist form a circle around the crescent and star of the Tunisian flag. At critical moments since the popular uprising in 2011 and the ousting of President Ben Ali this picture was often accompanied by the slogan ”Together for Tunisia.” The message of the circle of hands and the slogan is clear: Tunisia is one nation of one people standing together. This narrative was enforced and reproduced in 2014 when the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize[1] for their effort to bring the work on a new constitution back on the track. The Quartet consisted of four large organizations,[2] often referred to as “civil society actors,” representing all segments of Tunisian society.[3]
The Quartet seemed to support a view of the importance of ‘civil society’ in Tunisia and who and what ‘civil society’ in Tunisia is that dates back to the takeover of power by President Ben Ali in 1987 and the so-called ‘National Pact’ signed in 1989.[4] The Pact reflected a narrative of national unity articulated in speeches delivered by President Ben Ali that encouraged Tunisian civil society to take an active part in what he called “The New Era.” This led scholars such as Eva Bellin to note that “associational life has indeed blossomed. Recent official counts put the number of associations in Tunisia at over 5,100, with 3,300 formed since 1988.”[5] Today we know that many of these civil society organizations were launched and funded by the authoritarian regime. But Ben Ali’s New Era seemed in many ways to confirm the expectations of the scholars of modernization theory, and of neo-liberal assumptions focusing on civil society as a precondition for and hallmark of democratization. As Yom has noticed: “Drawing upon such work, Arab specialists generated exciting studies that dissected civil society―defined as the organizational sector of public life distinctive from the family, market, and state.”[6]
This essay challenges these ideas and concepts. It demonstrates that national unity was constructed and utilized as a tool by the Tunisian state for the purpose of consolidating power, and that traditional kin-based and family ties have existed parallel to the formal structures of both the state and civil society as frames for social and political activity. As will be shown, these historical frames for organization were revitalized after the popular uprising in 2011.