Down and Out: Founding Elections and Disillusionment with Democracy in Egypt and Tunisia

Grewal, Sharan; Monroe, Steve L.

doi:10.5129/001041519x15647434970027

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…When comparing the two sessions, we therefore estimate one ideal point for Nahda, as the only Islamist party, and one for all the rest, representing the secular forces. This cleavage-based classification fits both the literature on Tunisia, which suggests that the secular-religious cleavage was the dominant cleavage during the transition (Brownlee, Masoud, and Reynolds 2015;Ozen 2018;Grewal and Monroe 2019), and an ideal point analysis of each parliamentary session separately, which shows Nahda consistently on one end of the political spectrum. For H1, therefore, we employ this simplification to Islamists and secularists.…”

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 80%

When National Unity Governments are neither National, United, nor Governments: The Case of Tunisia

Kubinec¹,

Grewal²

2018

Preprint

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Is power-sharing an effective way for endangered transitional democracies to reduce political tensions and improve government performance? We provide one of the first quantitative tests of this question in Tunisia, the Arab Spring's only success story. We argue that power-sharing may reduce polarization for a limited time, but at the cost of undermining democratic institutions. To measure polarization, we examine all rollcall votes from Tunisia's first and second post-transition parliaments. We employ a time-varying ideal point model and examine whether powersharing agreements led to convergence in political parties' ideal points. Our analysis reveals that Tunisia's national unity government in 2015 temporarily moderated political tensions and allowed for parliamentary activity to resume.However, despite a broadening of the coalition in mid-2016, polarization reemerged and crucial legislation stalled.Moreover, longitudinal survey data suggest that the failure of power-sharing in Tunisia contributed to disillusionment with political parties, parliament, and democracy. 1

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Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 80%

When National Unity Governments are neither National, United, nor Governments: The Case of Tunisia

Kubinec¹,

Grewal²

2018

Preprint

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“…Less than 41 per cent of the eligible population voted in the 2019 parliamentary elections, and approximately 25 per cent of the parliamentary vote went to parties that promoted anti-system rhetoric (Grewal, 2019b). As enthusiasm for democracy has waned since the revolution, Tunisians have become disillusioned with the political establishment and increasingly open to a range of political alternatives (Grewal & Monroe, 2019). In this section, we draw on different sources, including available survey data, to describe Tunisians' growing democratic disenchantment, some consequences of these shifts in terms of the emergence of new electoral alternatives, as well as the rise of street politics.…”

Section: Democratic Disenchantment In Tunisiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Popular support for military intervention and anti-establishment alternatives in Tunisia: Appraising outsider eclecticism

Albrecht

Bishara

Bufano

et al. 2021

Mediterranean Politics

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Popular attitudes in support of authoritarian alternatives and weak party systems constitute important threats to democratic consolidation and the stability of new democracies. This article explores popular alienation from established political actors in Tunisia. Under what conditions do citizens support alternatives to the elites in power and the institutional infrastructure of a new democracy? Drawing on an original, nationally representative survey in Tunisia administered in 2017, this article examines three categories of popular attitudes in support of political outsiders.Military interventionism appears in people's preferences for anti-system politics-the most immediate challenge to the country's stability and democratic transition. Anti-political establishment sentiments are shown in people's preferences for an enhanced role of the country's main trade union as a civil-society alternative to political party elites. Finally, outsider eclecticism is the seemingly incoherent phenomenon of concurrent support for a civil society actor and the military as an 'authoritarian alternative.' Anti-establishment sentiments will continue to be an important element in Tunisian post-authoritarian politics, evidenced by the rise to power of Kais Said in the 2019 presidential elections and his 2021 decision to dismiss parliament. In turn, popular support for military intervention may have implications for the country's domestic security and peaceful transition.

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“…While anti-system parties and organizations have been studied in both liberal democracies and authoritarian regimes (Albrecht 2013; Capoccia 2002), anti-system attitudes exist among citizens rejecting the institutional framework of the polity and—in new democracies—the often volatile system of political parties and electoral politics. In the empirical reality of Tunisian politics, anti-system attitudes may be explored among all those people disillusioned with elections and the party establishment (Grewal and Monroe 2019; Yardimci-Geyikçi and Tür 2018). It is this constituency where we may find support for an enhanced role of institutions outside of the existing political establishment.…”

Section: Political Cleavages and Support For Role Expansionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These actors have been navigating a turbulent post-authoritarian transition period, leading to the establishment of a party system and founding elections in 2011 but also challenges emanating from an economy in crisis and security threats in the country’s border regions (Grewal 2019). Economic hardship and electoral defeat have led to disillusionment within parts of the population (Grewal and Monroe 2019), resulting in protracted protest politics and volatile voting patterns in subsequent electoral rounds in 2014 and 2019. With an increasing number of Tunisians economically disenfranchised and disillusioned with politics, the Tunisian democratic transformation remains at risk (Günay and Sommavilla 2019).…”

Section: Political Cleavages and Support For Role Expansionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Role Model or Role Expansion? Popular Perceptions of the Military in Tunisia

Albrecht

Bufano

Koehler

2021

Political Research Quarterly

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This article introduces a theory on military role expansion in emerging democracies and poses a broad question: who wants the military to adopt which role in society and politics? Drawing on an original, nationally representative survey conducted in Tunisia, the article explores people’s preferences for the military to remain a security provider or serve in government and contribute to policing protests. Findings reveal that public support for military role expansion is substantial and varies across political cleavages. We test hypotheses to account for cleavages driven by the country’s authoritarian past versus partisan divides during Tunisia’s transition to democracy. Findings indicate that popular support for military role expansion is driven by anti-system sentiments prevalent in contemporary Tunisian politics: while voters prefer the military as a role model for security provision, non-voters support its enhanced role in politics. These observations have ample implications for the research programs on civil–military relations and the dynamics of democratic consolidation. Tunisia’s experience warrants greater attention to anti-system attitudes caused by people’s disillusionment with democratic procedures. In turn, authoritarian legacies do not appear to play a prominent role during such challenging transitions toward democratic consolidation.

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Down and Out: Founding Elections and Disillusionment with Democracy in Egypt and Tunisia

Cited by 8 publications

References 0 publications

When National Unity Governments are neither National, United, nor Governments: The Case of Tunisia

When National Unity Governments are neither National, United, nor Governments: The Case of Tunisia

Popular support for military intervention and anti-establishment alternatives in Tunisia: Appraising outsider eclecticism

Role Model or Role Expansion? Popular Perceptions of the Military in Tunisia

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