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The article charts the rise of the jihadi Salafi movement in Tunisia during the transitional period and analyses the way in which the national attempt to construct a more liberal and democratic system influenced its internal dynamics and debate. It highlights in particular how democratic mechanisms and liberal norms being put in place in Tunisia impacted on the movement and how then this was reflected in its interactions with the other social and political actors in the system. The unique Tunisian environment in which democratic mechanisms and individual liberal freedoms were introduced immediately after the revolution led the jihadi Salafi movement to operate through contradictory behaviour and actions in a process of what can be called ‘stop-start’ democratic learning, which ultimately failed. The novelty of the political arrangements was beneficial to jihadi Salafism initially, as the new liberal environment allowed it to proselytise and organise in the open while railing against democracy and liberalism. In doing so they unwillingly contributed to strengthen the consensus of political actors on the necessity to build a democratic system. However, under the weight of this contradictory attitude, the movement ended up threatening the transition and failed to integrate. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The concept of authoritarian upgrading introduced by Heydemann significantly contributes to explain how Arab authoritarian rulers have been able to maintain their grip on power while introducing a number of liberal reforms. The media reform in Tunisia has been widely interpreted indeed as one of those liberal reforms implemented to give domestic and international constituencies the sentiment that genuine liberalisation is under way in the country and it has therefore been dismissed as a façade reform. While this interpretation contains a degree of validity, this paper challenges the notion that the reform is exclusively about authoritarian upgrading. Perhaps unwittingly, the reform has permitted the arrival on the media scene of new social voices and actors that never had the opportunity to discuss taboo topics and this transforms public debate. While political discussions were excluded and political pluralism absent, the new private media managed to challenge previously prevailing notions of national unity and homogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to a number of scholars of international relations, the transatlantic relationship is going through a very significant and possibly irreversible crisis. It is claimed that the different reactions of the United States and the European Union to both September 11th and the war in Iraq were the catalyst for a rift that had been deepening for some time, leading to competition between the two actors. The literature on the foreign policy of the US and the EU in the Middle East and North Africa also points to this rift in order to explain the seemingly contradictory policies that the two actors implement in the region, with the US being more forceful in its attempts to export democracy and in supporting Israel while the EU adopts a less confrontational attitude and is perceived to be more friendly to the Palestinians. This article, which introduces a special issue on the nature of US and EU foreign policies in North Africa, argues on the contrary that the transatlantic rift does not really exist. While there are certainly differences in discourse and policies, both the EU and the US share the same concerns and have similar strategic objectives in the region, leading the two actors towards cooperation and division of labour rather than confrontation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article puts forth an open model of transition to democracy challenging the conventional wisdom of the literature on processes of democratisation, which focuses almost exclusively on domestic factors. International variables are thus at the centre of explanations for regime change. The article argues that transitions do not occur in a vacuum and presents a theoretical model that can be useful to analyse external-internal linkages. The model is then applied to three North African countries, whose efforts to democratise have failed: Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria. The article concludes that it is no longer methodologically sound to exclude international factors from the analysis of transitions and that there is considerable evidence pointing in the direction of the central role they have. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article attempts to challenge the somewhat marginal role of international factors in the study of transitions to democracy. Theoretical and practical difficulties in proving causal mechanisms between international variables and domestic outcomes can be overcome by defining the international dimension in terms of Western dominance of world politics and by identifying Western actions towards democratising countries. The article focuses on the case of Algeria, where international factors are key in explaining the initial process of democratisation and its subsequent demise. In particular, the article argues that direct Western policies, the pressures of the international system and external shocks influence the internal distribution of power and resources, which underpin the different strategies of all domestic actors. The article concludes that analysis based purely on domestic factors cannot explain the process of democratisation and that international variables must be considered more seriously and in greater detail. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]