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Abstract

This study aims to examine the construction of identity in post-revolutionary Tunisian foreign policy. This research is interesting because Tunisia is the only country in the Middle East that has successfully passed the Arab Spring wave and formed a democratic government. While many other Arab countries did not make it through the wave of democratization, some of them even fell into protracted civil conflict. The polarization of Arab countries as a result of the Arab spring has caused fragmentation among other Arab countries. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates tried to block the revolution because it would threaten the integrity of their monarchy. On the other hand, Qatar and Turkey in every narrative support Arab pro-revolution groups. This polarization will affect Tunisia's foreign policy, especially since only Tunisia managed to pass the Arab spring wave. Based on the pattern of identity formation, due to changes in the domestic structure, the Tunisian revolution has given birth to the Tunisian identity as a democratic country. This study uses the constructivist concept of identity as the theoretical framework. The finding in this study is that Tunisian foreign policy in two different governments (Moncef Marzouki and Beji Caid Essebsi) shows the influence of identity, in which Tunisia considers Qatar and Turkey as friends because they have the same identity. Even though Qatar is not a democracy, its support for the democratization of Tunisia shows a common perception. While relations with Saudi and the United Arab Emirates are conflicting, they even consider the two as enemies. This is because of the difference in identity between Tunisia as a democracy and Saudi Arabia-United Arab Emirates as a monarchy.

Bahasa Abstract

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengkaji konstruksi identitas dalam politik luar negeri Tunisia pasca-revolusioner. Penelitian ini menarik karena Tunisia merupakan satu-satunya negara di Timur Tengah yang berhasil melewati gelombang Arab Spring dan membentuk pemerintahan yang demokratis. Sementara banyak negara Arab lainnya tidak berhasil melewati gelombang demokratisasi, beberapa di antaranya bahkan jatuh ke dalam konflik sipil yang berkepanjangan. Polarisasi negara-negara Arab sebagai akibat dari musim semi Arab telah menyebabkan fragmentasi di antara negara-negara Arab lainnya. Arab Saudi dan Uni Emirat Arab berusaha menghalangi revolusi karena akan mengancam keutuhan monarki mereka. Di sisi lain, Qatar dan Turki dalam setiap narasi mendukung kelompok pro-revolusi Arab. Polarisasi ini akan mempengaruhi kebijakan luar negeri Tunisia, terutama karena hanya Tunisia yang berhasil melewati gelombang musim semi Arab. Berdasarkan pola pembentukan identitas, akibat perubahan struktur domestik, revolusi Tunisia telah melahirkan identitas Tunisia sebagai negara demokrasi. Penelitian ini menggunakan konsep identitas konstruktivis sebagai kerangka teorinya. Temuan dalam penelitian ini adalah bahwa kebijakan luar negeri Tunisia di dua pemerintahan yang berbeda (Moncef Marzouki dan Beji Caid Essebsi) menunjukkan adanya pengaruh identitas, dimana Tunisia menganggap Qatar dan Turki sebagai teman karena memiliki identitas yang sama. Meskipun Qatar bukan negara demokrasi, dukungannya terhadap demokratisasi Tunisia menunjukkan kesamaan persepsi. Sementara hubungan dengan Saudi dan Uni Emirat Arab saling bertentangan, mereka bahkan menganggap keduanya sebagai musuh. Hal ini dikarenakan adanya perbedaan identitas antara Tunisia sebagai negara demokrasi dan Arab Saudi-Uni Emirat Arab sebagai negara monarki.

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