Tunisia: Islam as a political force.

Abstract

In the wake of the Iranian revolution, Middle Eastern countries are experiencing a resurgence of populist Islam. Described as "fundamentalist", these movements appear to be serious threats to the governments of these countries. In Tunisia, the government has virtually halted its promised democratic reforms claiming that the Islamists will use the political process to gain control of the government and that they are violent radicals attempting to overthrow the government. This thesis argues that the Islamic movement in Tunisia is neither revolutionary, radical, nor fundamentalist. Islam has played an important role historically in the creation of Tunisian nationalism and the current movement is a political movement attempting to reform a repressive, unresponsive regime.