Pan-Arab and anti-Israel rhetoric decided a modern Tunisian presidential election.
Evidence
During the 2019 presidential campaign, Kais Saied said that normalization with Israel was a form of treason. His main rival, Nabil Karoui, signed a contract with a Canada-based lobbyist who had previously worked in Israeli intelligence (Schaffer, 2020). Saied was perceived as an ardent sovereigntist who would stop foreign interference and someone who speaks Arabic and uses pan-Arab jargon, while Karoui was part of the elite who ran the country as an open, pro-Western state, who speaks Arabic with French words and whose lifestyle is more Western than Arab. There are many reasons for Saied’s victory over Karoui, but sovereigntism, pan-Arabism, and relations with Israel played an important role. — Youssef Cherif, Neo-pan-Arabism, 96
Categorization
- XREF: Directly relevant to the reader’s question about whether professed conviction vs. measured bias predicts behavior: Saied’s pan-Arab message proved more electorally resonant than the pro-Western elite’s, despite Tunisia’s institutional history being anti-pan-Arab. — connects to: Renewed pan-Arab rhetoric principally legitimizes existing authoritarian regimes. — Youssef Cherif, Neo-pan-Arabism: a renewed contract of…, 64
- SEED: Angle for an article/essay: the 2019 Tunisian election as a case of ‘manufactured enemy’ rhetoric being re-deployed domestically — sovereignty and anti-Israel stance as the replacement solidarity glue once the old anti-imperial frame faded.
Related
- Opposition within Arab states is reframed as treason to the pan-Arab cause (similarity 0.80)
- Tunisian state identity was built in opposition to pan-Arabism yet never fully abandoned it. (similarity 0.78)
Broader Connections
- Renewed pan-Arab rhetoric principally legitimizes existing authoritarian regimes.
#expands(0.85) — Youssef Cherif, Neo-pan-Arabism, 64