From Islamism to Democracy: The Case of Rached Ghannouchi and Ennahda of Tunisia
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Published:
Mar 1, 2023
Keywords:
Ghannouchi, Ennahda, Islamism, democracy, moderation
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Abstract
This article examines the shift of Rached Ghannouchi and Ennahda party from Islamism to democracy. This article analyzes Ghannouchi’s early Islamist ideology and confrontational approach to politics, as well as his exposure to democratic systems, which led to a reevaluation of his views on democracy, following the failure of Ennahda’s early attempts at revolutionary Islamism in the 1980s and 1990s, which prompted Ghannouchi to reconsider his approach to politics and Islamism. This led to a shift towards a more moderate and inclusive approach to politics, culminating in Ennahda’s participation in Tunisia’s democratic transition after the 2011 revolution. This article highlights the theoretical implications of his shift from Islamism to democracy for the study of political Islam and democratization. This article argues that Islamist actors and movements can evolve and adapt to changing political circumstances, as well as undergo gradual moderation in promoting democratic reform.
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Fuad, Ahmad Nur, Slamet Muliono Redjosari, and Rofhani Rofhani. “From Islamism to Democracy: The Case of Rached Ghannouchi and Ennahda of Tunisia”. Islamica: Jurnal Studi Keislaman 17, no. 2 (March 1, 2023): 244-267. Accessed May 2, 2024. https://islamica.uinsby.ac.id/index.php/islamica/article/view/1024.
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References
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Yildirim, A. Kadir. Muslim Democratic Parties in the Middle East: Economy and Politics of Islamist Moderation. Bloomington and Indianapolis Indiana University Press, 2016.
Zhang, Chuchu. Islamist Party Mobilization: Tunisia’s Ennahda and Algeria’s HMS Compared, 1989-2014. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020.
Alvi, Hayat. The Political Economy and Islam of the Middle East: The Case of Tunisia. Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.
Ayoob, Mohammed and Danielle N. Lussier. The Many Faces of Political Islam: Religion and Politics in Muslim Societies. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2020.
Bartal, Shaul. “Rached Ghannouci’s Test: Political Islam and Democracy in Tunisia.” African Studies, Vol. 79, No.1 (2020), 110-124. https://doi.org/10.1080/00020184.2020.1732190.
Cavatorta, Francesco, and Fabio Merone. “Moderation through Exclusion? The Journey of the Tunisian Ennahda from Fundamentalist to Conservative Party.” Democratization, Vol. 20, No. 5 (2013), 857-875. https://doi.org/10.1080/1351 0347.2013.801255.
Dennison, James and Jonas Draege. “The Dynamics of Electoral Politics After the Arab Spring: Evidence from Tunisia.” The Journal of North African Studies, Vol. 26, No. 4 (2020), 756-780. https://doi.org/10.1080/13629387.2020.1732216.
Esposito, John L., Lily Zubaidah Rahim, and Naser Ghobadzadeh (eds.). The Politics of Islamism: Diverging Visions and Trajectories. Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.
Esposito, John L., Tamara Sonn, and John O. Voll. Islam and Democracy After the Arab Spring. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.
Fraihat, Ibrahim. Unfinished Revolutions: Yemen, Libya, and Tunisia after the Arab Spring. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2016.
Gerges, Fawaz A. “The Islamist Moment: From Islamic State to Civil Islam?” Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 128, No. 3 (2013), 389-426. https://doi.org/10.1002/polq.12075.
Ghannouchi, Rached. “The State and Religion in the Fundamentals of Islam and Contemporary Interpretation.” Contemporary Arab Affairs, Vol. 6, No. 2 (2013), 164-171. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17550912.2013.783184.
-----. Al-H{urriyyāt al-‘Āmmah fī al-Dawlah al-Islāmīyah, third edition. Damascus: Markaz al-Naqid al- Thaqafī; Mu’assassah Thaqafīyah Fannīyah Mustaqbilah, 2008.
-----. Public Freedoms in the Islamic State, translated by David L. Johnston from Al-H{urriyyāt al-‘Āmmah fī al-Dawlah al-Islāmīyah. Yale: Yale University Press, 2022.
Grewal, Sharan. “From Islamists to Muslim Democrats: The Case of Tunisia’s Ennahda.” American Political Science Review, Vol. 114, No. 2 (May 2020), 519-535. https://doi.org/10.1017/ S0003055419000819.
Jebnoun, Noureddine. Tunisia at the Crossroads: An Interview with Sheikh Rachid al-Ghannouchi. ACMCU Occasional Papers, April 2014.
Karakaya, Suveyda, and A. Kadir Yildirim. “Islamist Moderation in Perspective: Comparative Analysis of the Moderation of Islamist and Western Communist Parties.” Democratization, Vol. 20, No. 7 (2013), 1322-49. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 13510347.2012.696612.
Linjakumpu, Aini. Political Islam in the Global World. London: Ithaca Press, 2008.
McCarthy, Rory. “Protecting the Sacred: Tunisia’s Islamist Movement Ennahdha and the Challenge of Free Speech.” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 42, No. 4 (2015), 447-64. https://doi.org/10.1080/13530194.2015.1005055.
-----. Inside Tunisia’s al-Nahda: Between Politics and Preaching. Cambridge, U.K: Cambridge University Press, 2018.
Schwedler, Jillian. “Can Islamists Become Moderates? Rethinking the Inclusion-Moderation Hypothesis.” World Politics, Vol. 63, No. 2 (2011), 347-76. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0043887111 000050.
Tamimi, Azzam. Rachid Ghannouchi: A Democrat Within Islamism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
-----. “Islam and Democracy from Tahtawi to Ghannouchi.” Theory, Culture and Society, Vol. 24, No. 2 (2007), 39-58. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276407074994.
Tezcür, Günes Murat. “The Moderation Theory Revisited: The Case of Islamic Political Actors.” Party Politics, Vol. 16, No. 1 (2010), 69-88. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068809339536.
-----. The Paradox of Moderation: Muslim Reformers in Iran and Turkey. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2010.
Virgili, Tommaso. Islam, Constitutional Law, and Human Rights: Sexual Minorities and Freethinkers in Egypt and Tunisia. New York, NY: Routledge, 2021.
Willis, Michael J. Politics and Power in the Maghreb: Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco from Independence to the Arab Spring. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
Wolf, Anne. Is Rached Ghannouchi Ennahda’s President For Life? Leadership Struggles Pose Challenge to Tunisia’s Largest Party. Washington: Project on Middle East Democracy, 2021. https://pomed.org/is-rached-ghannouchi-ennahdas-president-for-life.
-----. Political Islam in Tunisia: The History of Ennahda. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017.
Yildirim, A. Kadir. Muslim Democratic Parties in the Middle East: Economy and Politics of Islamist Moderation. Bloomington and Indianapolis Indiana University Press, 2016.
Zhang, Chuchu. Islamist Party Mobilization: Tunisia’s Ennahda and Algeria’s HMS Compared, 1989-2014. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020.