Towards a New Partnership with Societies? European Civil Society Cooperation after the Arab Spring Case Study: Tunisia

The Arab spring confronted EU officials with the shortcomings of past democracy promotion initiatives. As a consequence, the concept of civil society experienced a rhetorical renaissance and was put at the heart of renewed EU policies for its southern neighborhood. Utilizing Tunisia as a case study, this paper compares and contrasts EU civil society cooperation in an autocratic context with its new initiatives during Tunisia's transition to democracy. Did the Arab Spring change European civil society cooperation in Tunisia? It will become clear that in an autocratic context EU civil society cooperation contributed to "authoritarian resilience", instead of initiating reforms. Since 2011, the EU created new instruments which support a wider range of civil society actors. However, EU officials still hesitate to include faith-based groups in the dialogue. This is a sensitive issue in Tunisia, where social cleavages between secular and religious groups continue to widen.