[1] The Yacoubian Building is a novel by Egyptian author ‘Alaa al Aswâni. The book was made into a film of the same name in 2006. Alaa Al-Aswany, The Yacoubian Building, The American University of Cairo Press, Cairo New York, 2004 ; Harper Perennials, New York, 2006
[2] There is nothing fortuitous about the fact that these examples focus on French measures and positions. Currently top EU partners to the south of the Mediterranean, the three main countries of the Maghreb (Algeria, Morroco, Tunisia) were for decades colonies of France. And it is now a well-documented fact that for years, within the upper echelons of the EU, the representatives of the main Member States tacitly agreed that the management of « Maghrebin affairs » was first and foremost a « domestic issue of France ». Over and beyond partisan platforms, this colonial heritage continues to heavily inflect – even while today thankfully tending to fade – the definition of EU policies on the southern rim of the Mediterranean. Paradoxically, the rulers of such countries’ authoritarian regimes, albeit attached by a thousand occult links to the former metropolis, never forego an opportunity to hypocritically insist in their public rhetoric on this severe handicap of the EU, hamstrung by its capacity to define a foreign policy free of postcolonial afterthoughts.
[3] « The respect for democratic principles and fundamental human rights, spelled out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, inspires the domestic and international policies of the present parties and constitutes an essential element of the present agreement »
[4] Sihem Bensedrine and Omar, L’Europe et ses despotes. Quand le « modèle tunisien » dans le monde arabe fait le jeu du terrorisme islamique, La Découverte, Paris, 2004.
[5] « Organisations Vraiment Gouvernementales », in French.
[6] Béatrice Hibou, La force de l’obéissance. Économie politique de la répression en Tunisie, La Découverte, Paris, 2006 (p. 120 : « Le jeu impossible des partenaires étrangers : l’exemple des financements européens »).
[7] For a more exhaustive development of our hypotheses onPolitical Islam, see : François Burgat, The Islamist Movement in North Africa, University of Texas Press, Austin, 1997 ; Face to Face with Political Islam, I. B. Tauris, London, New York, 2005 ; Islamism in the Shadow of Al-Qaeda, Pluto Books, London, 2008, University of Texas Press, Austin, 2008(Co-Edition, Under Press) translated by P Hutchinson ; J. Esposito et F. Burgat (dir.), Modernizing Islam. Religion in the Public Sphere in Europe and the Middle East, Hurst and Company, Londres, 2002.
[8] Amr Hamzawy, « For decades, Arab regimes have used scare tactics to encourage the United States and Europe to support their repressive measures toward Islamist movements by invoking the image of anti-Western fanatics taking power through the ballot box. However, today’s moderate Islamists no longer match this nightmare. Political actors or observers who still insist that there is no such thing as a “moderate Islamist” miss the reality that activist organizations in Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, and Yemen have evolved after decades of failed opposition to repressive regimes. Instead of clinging to fantasies of theocratic states, many Islamist movements now see the wisdom of competing peacefully for shares of political power and working within existing institutions to promote gradual democratic openings. The key to Arab reform : moderate islamists », Policy Brief, n° 40, July 262005.
