From Pluralism to Autocracy: De-Constitutionalization of the Debate over Religion and State in Kaïs Saied’s Tunisia

Existing scholarship has analyzed Tunisia’s 2022 Constitution primarily as an instrument of hyper-presidentialism, democratic breakdown, and authoritarian restoration. Bringing together the literature on authoritarian constitutionalism and religion–state relations, this article suggests that constitutional identity clauses constitute an additional, largely overlooked dimension of Tunisia’s neo-authoritarian transformation. Through a comparative analysis of the relevant religion-related provisions in the 2014 and 2022 Constitutions, it shows how the 2022 Constitution withdrew explicit constitutional recognition from competing Islamist and non-Islamist claims concerning Islam and civil statehood that had been accommodated in the 2014 Constitution, while entrusting the state alone with realizing the purposes of Islam. These changes in Kaïs Saied’s Constitution, the article argues, de-constitutionalized the debate over religion and state that the earlier Constitution had represented and mediated through a pluralist compromise framework, and concentrated authority over Islam’s public meaning within a state-centered authoritarian order.