Do Tunisian Secular Civil Society Organisations demonstrate a process of democratic learning?

Abstract

This paper asks the question as to whether secular Tunisian Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) demonstrate a process of democratic learning, thereby interrogating the assumption – often found in media and academia – that secular CSOs are necessarily the democratic counterparts to undemocratic Islamist organisations. Drawing on extensive fieldwork including both in-depth, private, qualitative interviews and ethnographic observation, this paper examines whether the norms and discourses of such secular CSOs on the one hand, and the skills and behaviours on the other, exhibit democratic learning. By reflecting an understanding of democratic learning as a process of evolving political culture, this paper argues that secular CSOs are generally developing and exhibiting democratic learning through their own concern with issues of (1) autonomy, neutrality and independence (2) consensus, debates and inclusiveness (3) financial transparency (4) trust (5) succession planning and sustainability and (6) self-awareness. The demonstration of concern with these particular issues is indicative of conformity with the normative underpinnings of a democratic learning process. It further demonstrates that this process of democratic learning is contingent on what is transpiring in the wider political environment, in this case the national political transition. A sign for optimism is that Tunisians are learning to deal with the disappointments of the democratic transition.