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E-book Rethinking Civil Society in Transition : International Donors, Associations and Politics in Tunisia
After the Arab Uprisings in 2010–2011, which saw one authoritarian regime after the other toppled across the region, questions about the causes and consequences of civil society in transitional settings have acquired a new salience. Especially in the Arab world, the role of Muslim civil societies in fostering the democratization process has focused on the minds of scholars (Bozzo and Luizard 2011; Esposito, Sonn, and Voll 2015; Grinin, Korotayev, and Tausch 2018). Others have instead focused on the role of international donorsin supporting civil society during the transition, often portraying the impact of such actors on their benef iciaries in a less than f lattering light (Durac and Cavatorta 2009; Cavatorta and Durac 2010; Teti 2012, 2015; Teti et al. 2020). These important studies have a substantialist perspectiveof ‘civil society,’ def ining it in binary terms as either present or absent, as either dynamic or quiescent.By applying a relational approach to the study of newly emerged associa-tions in a post-authoritarian setting, the present book eschews this substan-tialist interpretation of civil society. Concretely, it shows that civil society is not a given, an object with def ined properties and boundaries, but rather a complex system of relations that changes over time. Post-revolutionary Tunisia is an excellent place to bring such mutability to light. Thanks to the post-revolutionary liberalization, thousands of associations have f lourished under the impulse of ‘civil society promotion.’ Thus, since 2011, ‘civil society’ in Tunisia has emerged as essentially uncharted territory waiting to be ‘occupied’ by new ideas contributed by many actors.Against this background, the second part of this introductory chapter is devoted to introducing the book’s argument, based on the interpreta-tion of newly emerged associations as pivotal players participating in the reconf iguration of power relations in post-authoritarian Tunisia. The third part focuses on the methods used to develop this argument. The research is based on a cross-case analysis that draws on a grounded theory approach. After collecting rich data through immersive f ieldwork, I was able to compare different types of local associations (Islamic and secular associations mobi-lizing for development and social solidarity) in diverse localities in Tunisia (Grand Tunis, Sfax, Siliana, and Medenine) from alternative perspectives (socioeconomic, cultural, and political).
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