Ansar al-Sharia, established in April 2011, is the most prominent Salafist jihadist organization in Tunisia. At the beginning the movement, which sympathizes with the ideology of al-Qaeda, focused its attention on humanitarian and... more
Ansar al-Sharia, established in April 2011, is the most prominent Salafist jihadist organization in Tunisia. At the beginning the movement, which sympathizes with the ideology of al-Qaeda, focused its attention on humanitarian and missionary works. Later it did not balk at using violence to enforce religious norms. The conflict between the Ennahda Government and the organization culminated between May and July, 2013. At the end of August the Government finally designated Ansar al-Sharia a terrorist-organization. According official reports, the organization is responsible for planning several unsuccessful attacks during the intervening months. Additionally, Okba bin Nafaa, the military wing of Ansar al-Sharia, has been fighting an open war with the Tunisian Army in the Algerian border region since December 2012.
AARMS (Scientific Journal of the National University of Public Service, Hungary), Volume 14, Issue 1. 2015, pp. 5-21
The task to reshape governments in the countries confronted with the Arab Spring prompts the question whether there are necessary conditions to realize a stable society that simultaneously seeks to eliminate the elements that have led to... more
The task to reshape governments in the countries confronted with the Arab Spring prompts the question whether there are necessary conditions to realize a stable society that simultaneously seeks to eliminate the elements that have led to the uprisings. Acknowledging some constitutional rights seems indispensable in such a process. I argue that such a state of affairs is indeed the case, at least now that the ‘old’ justifications to differentiate between people do not suffice anymore. That is not to say that the countries involved will have identical laws in each respect, but merely that a common basis has to be realized, manifested in political and legal equality, so this given does not derogate from the fact that each country’s specific legislation needs to be shaped in the light of its own history. Such a basis has no ‘moral’ character, but is simply a necessary condition to prevent sedition.
Secular arabic traditions have emphasized the potential of dreams to foretell the future. Sometimes the prediction is seen as obvious and on other occasions elaborate systems of symbolic translations were consulted such as the tenth... more
Secular arabic traditions have emphasized the potential of dreams to foretell the future. Sometimes the prediction is seen as obvious and on other occasions elaborate systems of symbolic translations were consulted such as the tenth century Oneirocriticon of Achmet.
In Islam, many of the foundations of the Koran were revealed to Muhammad in dreams. Muhammad ordered the practice of adhanthe daily call to prayer from the minarets and a central ritual of Islam to this day after one of his followers dreamed of it. The split of Islam into the conflicting factions of Sunni and Shi'ite was based partly on a dream of Mohammed, which the Sunnis used to justify their rights as his successors.
The autobiographies of Muslim rulers often contain extensive dream diaries and examples of decisions obstensibly based on dreams. When the Shah of Iran was deciding whether to seek a loan from Russia, he dreamed that a famous theological figure dressed in primitive Muslim garb approached the Shah and threw at his feet a sack containing gold and silver. The interpretation of this dream was that the Shah shouldn't make any new loans with unbelievers but should trust that fellow servants of the faith would restore his finances. Sadam Hussein reported dreaming that Allah told him to enter and take back Kuwait just before the first Gulf War. Before the second Gulf War, he reported a dream that a snake came upon his path but he chopped off it’s head with a sword which he interpreted to mean western invaders would be vanquished.
Because of this emphasis on dreams as foretelling the future rather than arising from the past, Arabs who are having PTSD nightmares of an event occurring each night--such as Kuwiati survivors of the Iraqi invasion or Iraqi survivors of the American invasion--experience even more anxiety over whether this will indeed occur again than dreamers in other cultures.
The positive side to this emphasis on dreams foretelling the future happens when oppressed people dream of positive outcomes. These are a source of much inspiration in arab society, while in western traditions they would be dismissed as "wish fulfillment" without the beneficial impact.
We collected dreams associated with events of the Arab Spring and discuss how they inspired and guided those taking part, and what dreams right now may have to offer the reshaping of the Arab world.
Ancient Simitthus (today Chimtou, Tunisia), known for its important quarries of yellow Numidian marble, has been the object of archaeological research conducted jointly by the Tunisian National Heritage Institute (INP) and the German... more
Ancient Simitthus (today Chimtou, Tunisia), known for its important quarries of yellow Numidian marble, has been the object of archaeological research conducted jointly by the Tunisian National Heritage Institute (INP) and the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) since 1965. This report presents a short overview on the recent activities at Chimtou in 2014 and 2015, which were primarily dedicated to publishing the results of the excavations conducted in the 1980s northeast of the forum of the Roman town and the ‘temple of Imperial cult’ accompanied by measures of capacity building and site management.
The EU has been engaged in democracy promotion, human rights, and civil liberties in the Mediterranean countries for over two decades with results ranging from very limited success to total failure. The revolutions in the Arab world –... more
The EU has been engaged in democracy promotion, human rights, and civil liberties in the Mediterranean countries for over two decades with results ranging from very limited success to total failure. The revolutions in the Arab world – that have caught the EU and Western countries by surprise – provide a window of opportunity for real democratic reforms in the region. The successful democratization in Tunisia will send positive messages to the neighboring countries. Why should the EU be more involved in supporting Tunisia's democratic transition? And what can the EU do to support Tunisia's efforts to build and reform its institutions and to move towards a consolidated democracy with a functioning market economy? Answering these research questions requires understanding the major failures of the EU in the Mediterranean region – the Union of the Mediterranean is on hold and conditionality (at least political conditionality) is problematic and questionable. Prior to the Dignity ...
Aside from the primary motives of creating foreign cash income·and jobs, the development of tourist areas in countries outside the OECD is often coupled with the expectation that economic impulses can thus be created in peripheral areas.... more
Aside from the primary motives of creating foreign cash income·and jobs, the development of tourist areas in countries outside the OECD is often coupled with the expectation that economic impulses can thus be created in peripheral areas. Both Morocco and Tunisia as nations are ·relatively wellsuited to such a strategy, being well established as tourist areas, and so a redirection of the tourist now into new areas within both countries can make use of and build on foundations and infrastructures already present.
In Tunisia the state attempted al the end of the 80s with the tourism project Tabarka to develop a completely new complex for beach tourism on the Non hem coast of the country. The creation of new tourism areas in Morocco is primarily focused on the south of the country, with the Ouarzazate region at the fringe of the Sahara constituting the centre of the area to be developed.
The establishment of an important new economic activity in a perifer region should function as a growths pole with forward and backward linkages in addition to its direct effects on the labour market. However, the efficacy of the linkage effects hoped for in stale industrialisation policy has often proved itself to be limited in scope. According Vorlaufer (1996) one can assume that forward and hack ward linkages are only partially developed in the initial phase of a tourism project. The reason for this is that the regional economy of peripheral regions frequently lacks the factors thar are necessary for the development of integrative relationships (capital, skills, production capacity).