“Unmaking Democracy: Civil Society, Media, and Democratic Backsliding in Tunisia and Hungary”

What roles do civil society and media play in democratic backsliding in young democracies? This project helps to answer this question by addressing how civil society and media organizations have facilitated executive aggrandizement in Tunisia. While such organizations often contribute to the early phases of democratization, they can also facilitate democratic backsliding by activating underlying cleavages to express grievances and create polarized environments. Through interviews with journalists and other media professionals in Tunisia, this project aims to support pro-democracy actors by exploring how civil society and media organizations can legitimize undemocratic actions by elected populist authoritarians, inhibit economic reforms, weaken political parties and political opposition, and help spread undemocratic norms.