Re-thinking Secularism in Post-Independence Tunisia

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

Jean Meynaud et Anisse Salah-Bey, Le syndicalisme africain, Coll. Études et documentation, 1963

Hermassi Elbaki. Jean Meynaud et Anisse Salah-Bey, Le syndicalisme africain, Coll. Études et documentation, 1963. In: Sociologie du travail, 7ᵉ année n°1, Janvier-mars 1965. pp. 101-103

Jean Meynaud et Anisse Salah-Bey, Le syndicalisme africain, Coll. Études et documentation, 1963

Hermassi Elbaki. Jean Meynaud et Anisse Salah-Bey, Le syndicalisme africain, Coll. Études et documentation, 1963. In: Sociologie du travail, 7ᵉ année n°1, Janvier-mars 1965. pp. 101-103

Jacques Berque, Dépossession du monde

Hermassi Elbaki. Jacques Berque, Dépossession du monde. In: Tiers-Monde, tome 6, n°21, 1965. pp. 277-279

Le nouvel État et les résistances de la société civile

Elbaki Hermassi Mohamed, 1983 « Le nouvel État et les résistances de la société civile », Annuaire de l’Afrique du Nord, 1983, http://aan.mmsh.univ-aix.fr/volumes/1983/Pages/AAN-1983-22_31.asp