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95 Foreign Aff. 58 (2016)
From Political Islam to Muslim Democracy: The Ennahda Party and the Future of Tunisia

handle is hein.journals/fora95 and id is 980 raw text is: From Political Islam to Muslim Democracy The Ennahda Party and the Future of Tunisia Rached Ghannouchi E nahda, one of the most influential political parties in the Arab Eworld and a major force in Tunisia's emergence as a democracy, recently announced a historic transition. Ennahda has moved beyond its origins as an Islamist party and has fully embraced a new identity as a party of Muslim democrats. The organization, which I co-founded in the 1980s, is no longer both a political party and a social movement. It has ended all of its cultural and religious activities and now focuses only on politics. Ennahda's evolution mirrors Tunisia's broader social and political trajectory. The party first emerged as an Islamist movement in response to repression at the hands of a secularist, authoritarian regime that denied citizens religious freedom and the rights of free expression and association. For decades, Tunisian dictators shut down all political dis- course in the country, forcing movements with political aims to operate exclusively as social and cultural organizations. But the revolution of 2010-11 brought an end to authoritarian rule and opened up space for open, free, and fair political competition. Tunisia's new constitution, which Ennahda members of parliament helped draft and which was ratified in 2014, enshrines democracy and protects political and religious freedoms. Under the new constitution, the rights of Tunisians to worship freely, express their convictions and beliefs, and embrace an Arab Muslim identity are guaranteed, and so Ennahda no longer needs to focus its energies on fighting for such protections. RACHED GHANNOUCHI is a co-founder of the Ennahda Party. 58 FOREIGN AFFAIRS

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