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Limited Statehood in Post-Revolutionary Tunisia

Citizenship, Economy and Security

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  • © 2018
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Overview

Authors:
  1. Ruth Hanau Santini

    1. University of Naples - L’Orientale, Naples, Italy

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  • Fills a gap in the political literature on statehood in post-2011 Tunisia
  • Uses case studies to consider how the relationship between the state and societal forces have been reshaped
  • Offers arguments that reflect on the entire MENA region’s evolving political systems

Part of the book series: Reform and Transition in the Mediterranean (RTM)

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Table of contents (5 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-ix
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  2. Rethinking Statehood in Post-Revolutionary Tunisia

    • Ruth Hanau Santini
    Pages 1-12
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  3. Between the State and Society: Elements of Formal Citizenship

    • Ruth Hanau Santini
    Pages 13-35
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  4. Limited Statehood and Contentious Politics

    • Ruth Hanau Santini
    Pages 37-59
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  5. Limited Statehood and Informal Economy

    • Ruth Hanau Santini
    Pages 61-81
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  6. Limited Statehood in the Security Sector

    • Ruth Hanau Santini
    Pages 83-107
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  7. Back Matter

    Pages 109-119
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Keywords

About this book

This book explores the complexity of the only widely-acclaimed successful democratic transition following the Arab uprisings of 2010-2011 – the Tunisian one. The country’s transformation, in terms of state-society relations across several analytical dimensions (citizenship, security, political economy, external relations), is looked at through the prism of statehood and of limited statehood in particular. The author illustrates how the balance of power and the relationship between the state and societal forces have been shaped and reshaped a number of times at key critical junctures by drawing on examples from very different policy arenas. The critical reading of statehood speaks beyond the Tunisian case study as notions of limited statehood can be applied, with different degrees of intensity and in some dimensions more than others, to most political systems in the Middle East and North Africa. Accessible for students, academics and professionals alike, the book illuminates the complexities and challenges of a successful, albeit still fragile, transition. 

Reviews

“This path-breaking study, moving beyond simplistic, teleological treatments of state formation and democratization, examines, in intimate detail, actually existing politics in post-2010 Tunisia. Ruth Hanau Santini deploys a sophisticated theoretical framework (limited sovereignty, hybrid governance) and extensive empirical detail to chart the nuances and contradictions of Tunisia’s trajectory. She juxtaposes its unique bottom-up and theoretically empowering constitution-making process with the state’s limited capacity to match its normative commitments with actual performance. This study is exemplary of the new research through which younger scholars of MENA are combining advanced theoretical tools with intimate familiarity with actual societies to transcend the simplicities of the transition paradigm and mapping the divergent and contradictory pathways of actual post-Uprising politics and statehood.” (Professor Raymond Hinnebusch, University of St. Andrews, UK)


“Compared to the huge amount of literature on post-revolutionary Tunisia, this timely book brings a fresh perspective. While narratives describe why and how political transition succeeds in this country whereas elsewhere it failed, Ruth Hanau Santini circumvents the redundant dissertations on its “exceptionalism” by bringing back the state in society. And even from this point of view, the author forsakes the Leviathan state to focus on its Achilles’ heel: an inability to impose the monopoly of force, a lack of capacity to implement significant decisions, a contradiction between rhetoric and action, a hiatus between expectations and realisations and a multiplication of sources of power. The book then illuminates the complex and contentious dynamics working state-society relations in the post-2011 Tunisia, by exploring three empirical Areas of Limited Statehood: citizenship, economy, and security. Now any theory on Tunisia must cope with this original and stimulating book.” (Professor Hamadi Redissi, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunisia)



Authors and Affiliations

  • University of Naples - L’Orientale, Naples, Italy

    Ruth Hanau Santini

About the author

Ruth Hanau Santini is Assistant Professor of Politics and International Relations at Università degli Studi di Napoli "L'Orientale", Italy. Her research deals with European foreign policy towards the Middle East and North Africa, geopolitics of the Middle East and issues of citizenship in North Africa. She was previously Visiting Fellow at The Brookings Institution in Washington DC and Associate Fellow at Johns Hopkins University, SAIS Europe.

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