Writing the Tunisian Constitution: Process and Problematics

In this course students will investigate the process of drafting Tunisia’s new constitution from the ground up. Using transcripts of constitutional committee meetings and materials drawn from traditional media sources and social media, students will examine how the final draft language emerged from consensus-based decisions on three social and political topics: the distribution of political power, the role of religion in the state, and the equality of citizens’ rights. Students will investigate which topics have been left out of the constitution, and why. Alongside an intimate look at the partisan and personal factors that influenced debate on these topics in Tunisia, students will engage in comparative analysis of the Tunisian constitution of other recently composed constitutions. This course counts as elective credit towards the Political Science major.