Sharan Grewal is a nonresident fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings. He is also an assistant professor of government at the College of William & Mary. His research examines democratization, security studies, and political Islam in the Arab world, especially Egypt and Tunisia.
His book manuscript, “Soldiers of Democracy,” examines why the Egyptian military staged a coup in 2013 while its Tunisian counterpart supported its country’s democratic transition. His academic work has been published or is forthcoming at the American Journal of Political Science, Comparative Politics, International Organization, International Studies Quarterly, and the Journal of Conflict Resolution. He has also published for Foreign Policy, the Washington Post, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the Project on Middle East Democracy.
Sharan received a master's and doctorate in politics from Princeton University and holds a Bachelor of Science, summa cum laude, from Georgetown University. He previously worked for the U.S. State Department.
Sharan Grewal is a nonresident fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings. He is also an assistant professor of government at the College of William & Mary. His research examines democratization, security studies, and political Islam in the Arab world, especially Egypt and Tunisia.
His book manuscript, “Soldiers of Democracy,” examines why the Egyptian military staged a coup in 2013 while its Tunisian counterpart supported its country’s democratic transition. His academic work has been published or is forthcoming at the American Journal of Political Science, Comparative Politics, International Organization, International Studies Quarterly, and the Journal of Conflict Resolution. He has also published for Foreign Policy, the Washington Post, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the Project on Middle East Democracy.
Sharan received a master’s and doctorate in politics from Princeton University and holds a Bachelor of Science, summa cum laude, from Georgetown University. He previously worked for the U.S. State Department.
[Kais Saied] ignored an online consultation for the public and even the consultative committees that wrote the first draft of the constitution, and put forward his own text in the end.
If it was not clear already, Kais Saied’s moves to put half of the parliament on trial for treason and conspiracy should reveal to all his authoritarian ambitions. He has never been committed to the constitution. [Saied] has consistently exhibited a tendency toward executive aggrandizement, increasing his powers in violation of the constitution. Civil society organizations, despite their frustrations with Saied, are trying to set themselves up as the ‘neutral’ arbiters between the president and the opposition. Even if political parties, civil society and international donors all unify around a demand of restoring democratic institutions, and public opinion turns on Kais Saied (both of which are tall tasks), that still may not be enough. It ultimately depends on Kais Saied: Will he agree to negotiate, or will he escalate into even greater repression? We just don’t know. His personality and behavior will ultimately make or break Tunisian democracy.
[Tunisian President Kais Saied ordered the army to take charge of the nation’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign, using their] image of strength and efficiency [to bolster his standing.] [Saied] is trying to get quick wins by using the military courts, which are in theory more reliable in the prosecution of certain members of parliament.
