Shifting Priorities or Business as Usual? Continuity and Change in the post-2011 IMF and World Bank Engagement with Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt

Salafism, liberalism, and democratic learning in Tunisia

“…Such compromise has come at the expense of the material needs of large sectors of society, which feel under-represented or not represented at all in the political system, as the high rates of abstention in both the 2011 and 2014 legislative elections indicate. The influence of the trade union on the transition process has somewhat softened the exclusion of socio-economic demands, but the Union Générale Tunisienne du Travail as well is caught in the necessity of contributing to the creation of a stable liberal democracy that, from an economic perspective, conforms to the requirements of financial globalisation (Hanieh 2015).…”

Beyond Authoritarianism: Rethinking Egypt's ‘Long Revolution’

“…Egypt may have been held up by international financial institutions as an exemplary role model for neighbouring countries, but market-led development models were hegemonic across the entire Middle East, and they continue to be promoted by the World Bank and IMF as the only solution for unemployment, inequality and other social ills (Hanieh, 2015). Most pertinently, the regional resonance of the uprisings through 2011 and 2012 indicate that the experience of neoliberalism was by no means unique to Egypt alone.…”

“…Most pertinently, the regional resonance of the uprisings through 2011 and 2012 indicate that the experience of neoliberalism was by no means unique to Egypt alone. Egypt may have been held up by international financial institutions as an exemplary role model for neighbouring countries, but market-led development models were hegemonic across the entire Middle East, and they continue to be promoted by the World Bank and IMF as the only solution for unemployment, inequality and other social ills (Hanieh, 2015). Middle East scholars need to refocus attention on exploring the class dynamics of these processes, and move away from the misleading dichotomy of 'authoritarianism vs democracy' as the sole analytical lens for understanding Arab societies.…”

Continuity and Change before and after the Uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco: Regime Reconfiguration and Policymaking in North Africa

“…This is the case, for instance, with new technologies and social media which, capitalising on past mobilisations, have been a new and relevant feature in the protests and which may change future mobilisation patterns for good. 19 The heterogeneity of time frames at work in the aftermath of the uprisings includes the longue durée of an enduring colonialism, which has taken new forms but is still present in the policy imprimatur of former colonies, as the case of Tunisia's process of identity building and Morocco's regionalisation policy demonstrate; 20 the medium durée of the post-independence period, characterised by political authoritarianism and its several transformations, decompressions and retrenchments 21 and by the dependence on international financial institutions, which has become seemingly irrevocable despite popular demands during the uprisings; 22 and the most recent, post-uprisings durée, where enduring and nonlinear pattern of contention meet relatively new trajectories of institution building, generating further changes, as the politics of constitution making and constitutional reform demonstrate in all North African countries. 23 Such plurality of time frames is highlighted in the 'moment' of the uprisings, which generate change and continuity.…”