De la centralisation autoritaire à la naissance du « pouvoir local » : transition politique et recompositions institutionnelles en Tunisie (2011–2014)

Abstract

The weakening of local power structures in Tunisia, whether linked to the authoritarian centralization of the country or to the erosion of the mechanisms for coopting local elites, strongly contributed to upset the political equilibrium of fallen President Ben Ali’s regime. The weakened position created conditions favorable to an ongoing negotiation over power-sharing among social groups and their access to resources. The adoption of a new Constitution in 2014 attests to this redefinition of power relations between local elites and the central State inasmuch as it established, for the first time in modern Tunisian history, the principle of an elected, decentralized ‘local power’ with financial and administrative autonomy. The aim of this article is to answer the question of whether the adoption of a new Constitution, brought in on the basis of a historical compromise between the representatives of the country’s different political tendencies, would enable an orderly changeover from authoritarian government to long-term power-sharing arrangements.