National Dialogue in Tunisia

The authentic dialogue, the compromises, the consensus which allowed Tunisia
to overcome its political and institutional crisis

This book is the final product of an investigation launched in November 2014
and completed in July 2015. It has collected first-hand information from
stakeholders involved in the national dialogue through 26 interviews with
leaders and representatives of political parties, representatives of the
Quartet, the mediators of dialogue (UGTT, UTICA, ONAT and LTDH) and figures
from the political area who participated in the National Dialogue or have
observed it from outside.

These data were enhanced by the results of four Focus groups, held in Tunis,
Bizerte, Sfax and Douz, designed to gather information on the perceptions of
the National Dialogue from a small sample (32 people) of Tunisian opinion in
different regions of the country, North and South.

A record of a key step in the history of Tunisia

EXCERPT

The idea of the National Dialogue has always been in the background of the
Tunisian transition. A process which was stirred at the slightest difficulty,
at the slightest blockage. A process that was certainly not invented by
Tunisia, which was first implemented in African countries such as Kenya
(2008), Senegal (2009) or Sudan (2014), but also has been experienced in some
Arab countries after the Arab Spring, as in Bahrain in 2011, Yemen in 2014 and
attempts in Libya in 2013, 2014 and 2015.

We must admit that in Tunisia, the National Dialogue could follow its own
logics through. This dialogue could bring together politicians, professional
organizations, trade unions and representatives of civil society, as in the
“National Conferences of Senegal,” which largely helped unlock a serious
political and institutional crisis, a dead end situation, by means and process
of compromise and consensus.

PRESS REVIEWS

\- "This book, recently published by The Tunisian Association of Political
Studies, scientifically analyzes and sequences The National Dialogue in
Tunisia. (...) This Dialogue, which took place after difficult negotiations,
was born during a troubled period and considered as the only pacific solution
for a country undergoing a transition and looking for references and governing
policies. The Dialogue was successful: an elected government agreed to resign
and an interim government was created." Hella Lahbib, La Presse de Tunisie

The National Dialogue in Tunisia earned the Nobel Peace Prize in 2015

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hatem M'rad is Professor of Political Science at the Faculty of Legal,
Political and Social Sciences of Tunis. His Ph.D. Dissertation focused on The
place of procedures' in multilateral diplomacy (published in 2001). He is
Founder and President of the Tunisian Association of Political Studies since
2010 as well as a Member of the French Association of Political Science in
2010 and 2011.

With the collaboration of Maryam BEN SALEM, Khaled MEJRI, Moez CHARFEDDINE,
Belhassen ENNOURI and Monia ZGARNI.