Oral history interview with Ghazi Jeribi, 2015

Biographical Note

Ghazi Jeribi is a Tunisian politician and magistrate. He was acting religion affairs minister from 2016 to 2017, minister of justice in the Youssef Chahed government from 2015 to 2016, and minister of defense in the technocratic government from 2014 to 2015. In 2011, he was appointed chairman of the High Committee for Administrative and Financial Control. From 2007 to 2011, he was president of the Administrative Tribunal, where he had previously served as counselor (since 1991) and deputy adviser (since 1984). He was legal director of the Arab Institute for Human Rights from 1997 to 2001

Scope and Contents

Ghazi Jeribi describes his role as a member of Tunisia's Constitutional Council, which dealt with issues of succession after Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's flight. Jeribi says that the Tunisian Revolution was not unexpected; social unrest was already roiling, especially since 2008. He explains how the Administrative Tribunal, on which he sat, protected the country's legal system, supported opposition leaders after the revolution, and pressured the Mohamed Ghannouchi government to disempower the Ministry of Interior. Jeribi later became president of the High Committee for Administrative and Financial Control, which sought to balance the powers of the prime minister and the president. Jeribi then narrates his own recruitment to Mehdi Jomaa's technocratic government, first to the Ministry of Justice and then, abruptly, to the Ministry of Defense. Jeribi was not part of Ben Ali's government; in fact, Ben Ali had established a kind of parallel government in Carthage. Jeribi comments on the warm atmosphere and team spirit in Jomaa's cabinet. He discusses the challenges of terrorism in the region. He speaks to Tunisia's exceptional identity, including the non-ideological role of the army, his own experience being educated in France, and the country's early investments in women's rights and education. Finally, Jeribi asserts that the Jomaa government has left no negative legacy

Subjects

• Arab Spring, 2010-
• Bin ʻAlī, Zayn al-ʻĀbidīn
• Constitutional law--Tunisia
• Interviews
• Jeribi, Ghazi--Interviews.
• Oral histories
• Portelli, Stefano, interviewer.
• Revolutions--Tunisia.
• Tunisia--Officials and employees--Interviews
• Tunisia--Politics and government--2011-

Access Conditions

Copyright by the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, 2015