Re-thinking secularism in post-independence Tunisia

Abstract

The victory of a Tunisian Islamist party in the elections of October 2011 seems a paradox for a country long considered the most secular in the Arab world and raises questions about the nature and limited reach of secularist policies imposed by the state since independence. Drawing on a definition of secularism as a process of defining, managing, and intervening in religious life by the state, this paper identifies how under Habib Bourguiba and Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali the state sought to subordinate religion and to claim the sole right to interpret Islam for the public in an effort to win the monopoly over religious symbolism and with it, political control. Both Bourguiba and Ben Ali relied on Islamic references for legitimacy, though this recourse to religion evolved to face changing contexts, and both sought to define Islam on their own terms. Bourguiba sought to place himself personally at the summit of power, while under Ben Ali the regime forged an authoritarian consensus of security, unity, and 'tolerance'. In both cases the state politicised Islam but failed to maintain a monopoly over religious symbolism, facing repeated religious challenges to its political authority.

Gender Equality in the Inheritance Debate in Tunisia and the Formation of Non-Authoritarian Reasoning

“…Bourguiba publicly rejected both the state being ignorant of religion and the secular state model which solely depended on secular ethics as its legal basis (McCarthy 2014). Yet, Bourguiba's secularization was top-down which made the late sociologist Abdelkader Zghal qualify it as being 'mute' (Harmāsī 2012) and a style of "authoritarian reason", a term borrowed from Maeve Cooke as we will see.…”

Media and the politics of the sacral: freedom of expression in Tunisia after the Arab Uprisings

“…Yet, McCarthy (2014a: 734) argues that secularism in Tunisia never meant a binary logic of separation between state and church, or religion from politics, and is better understood as state intervention into religious life and its instrumentalisation of Islamic symbolism for its own purposes. Thus, secularism is more a statement about state power, and in Agrama’s view, the process, rather than separating religion from politics, tended to blur them (Agrama, 2010).…”

“…By imposing a monopoly of interpretation over its meaning and practice, Bourguiba belittled it as stultified and strong only if reinterpreted. He pushed through the reform of rights in the Personal Status Code in the 1960s, for example, on the basis that modern Muslim life could not be constrained by sharia (McCarthy, 2014a: 739). Yet, Bourguiba’s use of Islamic rhetoric to mobilise the population by recasting Islamic traditions to further the needs of the state eventually engendered a backlash.…”

“…Yet, Bourguiba’s use of Islamic rhetoric to mobilise the population by recasting Islamic traditions to further the needs of the state eventually engendered a backlash. Public debates on television, wearing the veil and the emergence of Islamic political groups (precursors of today’s Ennahda) forced the regime to claim that preserving Islamic values had always undergirded its rule (McCarthy, 2014a: 740). The compromises, though politically expedient, weakened the sacral canopy, blurring national, secular and religious symbolisms.…”

Tunisia: Presidential and Parliamentary Elections, 2014

“…It soon transformed to another authoritarian republican regimes in the Arab world, such as, Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, Hafez al-Assad’s Syria, Hosni Mubarak’s Egypt, and Ali Abduallah Saleh’s Yemen (Lee, 2008). For a while, Ben-Ali courted the Islamists and tried capitalize on the Arab-Islamic heritage of Tunisia but soon discovered that the Islamists are gaining popularity and could threaten his stronghold (McCarthy, 2014). Inheriting the legacy of al-Jamaa al-Islamia, in 1981 Mouvement de Tendance Islamiqiue (MTI) became a major challenge for the regime due to its rising popularity and led to banning of religion-based political parties during the run up to the 1989 parliamentary elections.…”