Tunisia's Ruling Ennahda Confronts an Islamist Rival
Exploring the conflict within the Islamist constituency in Tunisia between Ennahda and the Salafists — and why it was inevitable.
Tunisia has been facing an eruption of violence by the radical Salafists, particularly the jihadist Salafists. They engaged in an open, bloody confrontation with the regime, which is controlled by the Islamist Ennahda party. The party had tried to co-opt the Salafist constituency at home as Rachid Ghannouchi, the leader of Ennahda, would declare often i that these are our sons, and we have to have dialogue with them to moderate their views and policies.
Many explanations, not necessarily exclusive of each other, were attributed to this appeasement policy conducted by Ennahda vis-à-vis this radical movement. One was a policy of reassurance by building bridges with them via this paternalistic discourse, to better contain them and moderate their policies and behavior.
