In the pursuit of social justice during political transitions: the practices of CSOs in post-Arab Spring Tunisia

While social inequalities and regional disparities incited Tunisia’s 2011 so-called ‘Jasmine Revolution’, successive government promises to improve the lives of the country’s most marginalized people remain unfulfilled. This article explores the role of local Tunisian civil society organizations (CS...

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Main Authors: Fethi Mansouri, Rebecca Buys, Amanuel Elias
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2024-12-01
Series:Cogent Social Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311886.2024.2340834
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author Fethi Mansouri
Rebecca Buys
Amanuel Elias
author_facet Fethi Mansouri
Rebecca Buys
Amanuel Elias
author_sort Fethi Mansouri
collection DOAJ
description While social inequalities and regional disparities incited Tunisia’s 2011 so-called ‘Jasmine Revolution’, successive government promises to improve the lives of the country’s most marginalized people remain unfulfilled. This article explores the role of local Tunisian civil society organizations (CSOs) in compensating for the state’s lack of social justice reform and equitable regional development during the COVID-19 pandemic and growing political unrest. Our findings show that during periods of significant upheaval, civil society rapidly changes to assume increasingly diverse and essential roles in providing care and safety for vulnerable people and their communities, but this responsiveness is not without difficulty. Attempts at understanding civil societies’ emergent and dynamic functions needs to be deeply contextualized to incorporate the dynamic politics of democratic transitions and entanglements vis-à-vis the state in processes of change. By bringing attention to these relational entanglements, complexities and dynamic state-civil society-citizen struggles participants emphasized, our findings challenge homogenizing and normative theoretical approaches to civil society.
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spelling doaj-art-cc9768d4db6a4bb0b1612d2b0174ff7b2025-08-20T04:03:21ZengTaylor & Francis GroupCogent Social Sciences2331-18862024-12-0110110.1080/23311886.2024.2340834In the pursuit of social justice during political transitions: the practices of CSOs in post-Arab Spring TunisiaFethi Mansouri0Rebecca Buys1Amanuel Elias2Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University, Melbourne, AustraliaAlfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University, Melbourne, AustraliaAlfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University, Melbourne, AustraliaWhile social inequalities and regional disparities incited Tunisia’s 2011 so-called ‘Jasmine Revolution’, successive government promises to improve the lives of the country’s most marginalized people remain unfulfilled. This article explores the role of local Tunisian civil society organizations (CSOs) in compensating for the state’s lack of social justice reform and equitable regional development during the COVID-19 pandemic and growing political unrest. Our findings show that during periods of significant upheaval, civil society rapidly changes to assume increasingly diverse and essential roles in providing care and safety for vulnerable people and their communities, but this responsiveness is not without difficulty. Attempts at understanding civil societies’ emergent and dynamic functions needs to be deeply contextualized to incorporate the dynamic politics of democratic transitions and entanglements vis-à-vis the state in processes of change. By bringing attention to these relational entanglements, complexities and dynamic state-civil society-citizen struggles participants emphasized, our findings challenge homogenizing and normative theoretical approaches to civil society.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311886.2024.2340834Arab springcivil societydemocratizationNorth AfricaTunisiasocial change
spellingShingle Fethi Mansouri
Rebecca Buys
Amanuel Elias
In the pursuit of social justice during political transitions: the practices of CSOs in post-Arab Spring Tunisia
Cogent Social Sciences
Arab spring
civil society
democratization
North Africa
Tunisia
social change
title In the pursuit of social justice during political transitions: the practices of CSOs in post-Arab Spring Tunisia
title_full In the pursuit of social justice during political transitions: the practices of CSOs in post-Arab Spring Tunisia
title_fullStr In the pursuit of social justice during political transitions: the practices of CSOs in post-Arab Spring Tunisia
title_full_unstemmed In the pursuit of social justice during political transitions: the practices of CSOs in post-Arab Spring Tunisia
title_short In the pursuit of social justice during political transitions: the practices of CSOs in post-Arab Spring Tunisia
title_sort in the pursuit of social justice during political transitions the practices of csos in post arab spring tunisia
topic Arab spring
civil society
democratization
North Africa
Tunisia
social change
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311886.2024.2340834
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