Analyses
Middle East and North Africa
Ramla Dahmani is the sister of Tunisian political commentator, journalist, and lawyer Sonia Dahmani, who is currently imprisoned in her country for allegedly spreading false information. Ramla herself, speaking out from a secret location in Europe to defend her sister and draw international attention to her case, has also been sentenced to prison. The ruling, issued in absentia on July 1, came to light only by chance, when her lawyers—having received no formal notification—stumbled upon it in judicial records. Otherwise, Ramla would have faced an unexpected arrest and imprisonment upon any return trip to Tunisia.
  • Pasquale Ferrara 10 September 2025
    The connection between religion and violence has long been seen as a political and sociological certainty. In recent decades, particularly after the 1979 Iranian Islamic Revolution and the September 11, 2001 attacks, religions have returned to the center of the international political stage, and not always for the right reasons. Examples abound: conflicts in Bosnia, Algeria, Kashmir, Palestine, and Sudan; as well as violent Islamism, Hindu nationalism, the Christian Evangelical right, and extremist Jewish parties. The return of religion to international politics has been linked to the broader theme of identity politics. Religions have often been considered an emblematic case of the encroachment of irrationality into international security.
  • Claudia De Martino 8 November 2024
    Donald Trump’s clear-cut victory in the US presidential election has shaken the entire world, and has been greeted with sharply contrasting reactions, especially in Middle East. For Palestinians, it felt like the final nail in the coffin. Hopes for American mediation toward a fair resolution of the conflict are virtually non-existent, and Palestinians view the next four years through a lens of mere survival, trying to withstand the blows from Israel’s most right-wing government in history, which will now feel even freer from burdensome external constraints, such as the call to respect international law.
  • Federica Zoja 21 October 2024
    After surpassing 90 percent approval in the first round of the presidential elections on October 6, incumbent Tunisian leader Kais Saied faces his new term in a political, social, and economic climate vastly different from that of 2019. We discussed this shift with writer and essayist Hatem Nafty, whose latest work, Notre ami Kaïs Saïed. Essai sur la démocrature tunisienne (Our Friend Kais Saied: An Essay on the Tunisian Dictatorship), was presented in late September.
  • Ruth Hanau Santini 30 September 2024
    Since July 25, 2021, Tunisia has been in a state of self-coup. President Kais Saied, elected two years earlier, suspended parliament that summer, had the prime minister resign, and issued two presidential decrees that consolidated all executive powers in his hands – rather than sharing them with the prime minister, as outlined in the 2014 Constitution.
  • Next autumn Tunisians will go to the polls to elect the President of the Republic. The Election’s date has not been confirmed, and the main opposition coalition, Chebbi’s National Salvation Front, has announced they will boycott the vote unless three conditions will be met: the electoral commission will be independent, the main Islamist party, Ennahda, will be allowed to re-open its headquarters, and all political prisoners will be freed. When Tunisians last voted for presidential elections, all those conditions were in place, but in the past few years, political and civil liberties have shrunk to the extent that the country is not only “partly” free but its democratic ranking continues to deteriorate, year on year.
  • The war in Gaza has expanded to include a new and dangerous flashpoint: the Red Sea. In recent weeks, Yemen’s Houthis have targeted “Israeli” cargo ships – and attacked others – in support of Hamas. The US and the UK have retaliated by bombing a number of Houthis’ targets in Yemen. ResetDOC interviewed Hussein Ibish, senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, about the stakes for the Houthis and the risks of a wider high-intensity conflict.
  • Ilaria Romano 30 October 2023
    Tunisia faces challenges managing a surge in refugees and migrants, with 11,000 registered by the UNHCR, making it a major departure point for those heading to Europe. The country lacks proper infrastructure for immigration, providing minimal support to registered migrants. The EU signed a Memorandum of Understanding to address the issue, but obstacles and human rights concerns persist, with Tunisia rejecting the first EU aid installment.
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