On February 6, The German Marshall Fund of the United States hosted a luncheon roundtable discussion with Ambassador Faysal Gouia, Director General for the Americas and Asia at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tunisia. Ambassador Gouia examined the economic, political and social transformations in Tunisia, two years after the fall of the Ben Ali regime. The luncheon was attended by 35 people, including representatives from embassies, think tanks, and international organizations.

Ambassador Gouia began the discussion with a short overview of Tunisia’s political history. He described the progress made under Habib Bourguiba and the subsequent regression under Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. In the two years since the 2011 uprising, Tunisia has made tremendous strides. It went from having a few token political parties to 140 distinct political parties in just a few months. It elected a national constituent assembly and charged it with drafting a new constitution. Civil society in Tunisia has experienced an exponential growth in the past two years and the groups focus on issues varying from women’s empowerment, to refugee relief, to lobbying for changes to the new constitution. Ambassador Gouia praised the growing civil society and said that it has a vital moderating effect on the increasingly divided politics in Tunisia.

In response to many questions about the political divide between Islamists and secularists in Tunisia, Ambassador Gouia stressed that the revolution was not about faith; it was about freedom and dignity. The partisanship developed after the revolution and he sees this as a danger to the new Tunisian political system. He was deeply troubled by the assassination of opposition leader Chokri Belaid and he hopes that this is a single tragic event, not an escalation towards employing violence as a political tool.

While he applauded Tunisia for its progress over the past two years, Ambassador Gouia acknowledged that there are many issues that still interfere with Tunisia’s growth into a stable democracy, the most pressing of which are the lagging economy, the fractured leading coalition in the National Constituent Assembly, and the stalled constitution writing process. Without resolution on any of these three issues, Tunisia cannot make a full transition into a stable and secure democracy.

Ambassador Gouia also addressed the current state of American-Tunisian relations. He recognizes that relations have cooled since the September attack on the American Embassy in Tunis and he expressed his regret over the incident. He hopes that the relationship can be rebuilt since the United States was the first supporter of post-revolution Tunisia. Ambassador Gouia stressed that he would like to see Tunisia become the voice of moderation in the region and a leader in developing a successful democracy. He does not see this happening without a strong relationship with the United States. Ambassador Gouia commended the German Marshall Fund for its timely commitment to the MENA region with the MENA Partnership for Democracy and Development and stressed the importance of a vibrant civil society to bring Tunisia into a new era of democracy.