Since the revolution, the number of civil society associations in Tunisia has more doubled, reaching some 19 thousand. In the context of establishing a “participative democracy” with citizens and civil society as principal actors, Decree-law 88 of 2011 guaranteed the “freedom to create, belong to, and carry out activities through associations, and the strengthening of the role of civil society organizations…” But there is a tremendous gap between legislation and practice, as founders and heads of Tunisian civil society organizations repeated umpteen times last week during a forum on “Governance of Associations.”
