Tunisia coup: What Europeans can do to save North Africa’s only democracy
Europeans cannot stand apart from the chaos in Tunisia – indeed, active European involvement now can help restore stability to the country
Experts & Staff
Tarek Megerisi
Senior Policy Fellow
Areas of expertise
Libyan affairs; politics, governance and development in the Arab world
Languages
English, Arabic
Biography
Tarek Megerisi is a senior policy fellow with the North Africa and Middle East programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations. He is a political analyst and researcher who specialises in Libyan affairs and more generally politics, governance and development in the Arab world.
Megerisi started his career in Tripoli, Libya with the Sadeq Institute and various INGOs providing diverse research and democratisation assistance to Libya’s post-revolutionary authorities between 2012-2014.
Megerisi returned to London in 2014 and has since been working freelance as an analyst and researcher, advising on Libya policy to a range of international missions to Libya, commentating on Libyan developments for publications like Foreign Policy, and co-authoring policy briefs or assisting with the Libya programming of a variety of think-tanks. He has also authored commissioned papers for organisations such as WPF and the Legatum Institute and contributed to wider publications for journals like ISPI. In 2017 he was part of the UN OHCHR team to update the Pinheiro Principles on Home, Land & Property Rights for the Middle East.
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How a Biden win could transform US policy in the Middle East and North Africa
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How new street protests can help diplomacy in Libya succeed
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Italy’s chance in Libya
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Russia’s Syria, Turkey’s Libya?
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Publications
Back from the brink: A better way for Europe to support Tunisia’s democratic transition
The EU and its member states can assist Tunisian leaders by providing new investment – and thereby reboot the democratic transition
Spoiler alert: How Europe can save diplomacy in Libya
Europeans should provide stabilisation, technical, and diplomatic support to strengthen Libya’s governance and accountability mechanisms to ensure a new government can successfully hold elections in 2021
Libya’s global civil war
Introduction The Libyan National Army’s (LNA) recent advance on Tripoli, under the leadership of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, has pushed Libya into what could become…
Order from chaos: Stabilising Libya the local way
The tragedy of Libya in well known in outline but poorly known in detail – to many in Europe, that is. But Europe has a role in the country’s stabilisation.
Articles
Tunisia coup: What Europeans can do to save North Africa’s only democracy
Europeans cannot stand apart from the chaos in Tunisia – indeed, active European involvement now can help restore stability to the country
The great game: A geopolitical Euros
If policymakers watch closely enough, football might just provide the perspective and insights they need to advance a geopolitical Europe
Cooling-off: How Europe can help stabilise the Middle East
As countries across the Middle East pause to take stock of recent conflicts, Europeans need to do more to support dialogue
Plot twist: How Europe should deal with Libya’s new government
Europe should support the UN process in Libya by working to ensure that the country’s upstart new government focuses on preparing for and holding the general election in December
How a Biden win could transform US policy in the Middle East and North Africa
Victory for Joe Biden is likely to bring three big policy shifts in the region, opening new possibilities and challenges for Europeans
How new street protests can help diplomacy in Libya succeed
Rival camps in Libya will likely sabotage political processes that could undermine them. The international community can head this off by harnessing protesters’ justified anger.
Italy’s chance in Libya
The tide of Libya’s war is turning against renegade general Khalifa Haftar. Italy should seize this opportunity to lead European countries to a harmonised Libya policy.
It’s Turkey’s Libya now
European countries should try to revive the political approach to resolving the Libya conflict, particularly given that Turkey may want to do so from its current position of strength
The EU’s ‘Irini’ Libya mission: Europe’s Operation Cassandra
Europe’s latest move seems likely to marginalise it and damage its credibility as an honest broker
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Europe seems unconcerned by the chaos smouldering on its doorstep, as Libya’s five-year-old conflict becomes world’s main theatre of drone combat
Specials
Deep sea rivals: Europe, Turkey, and new eastern Mediterranean conflict lines
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Podcasts
Russia’s Syria, Turkey’s Libya?
The attempt of a peace process in Libya is facing several substantial hindrances, where a variety of actors keep on inducing significant upheavals in its…
The Berlin Libya Conference: a moment to shine for European foreign policy?
Anthony Dworkin stands in for our usual host, Mark Leonard, to de-brief the Berlin Conference on Libya. Together with the ECFR’s experts Asli Aydıntaşbaş, Tarek…
Quelle issue pour la situation en Libye ?
Podcast de notre BCM du 5 mai « Quelle issue pour la situation en Libye ? » en présence de Tarek Megerisi, chercheur…
Is Libya falling apart again?
Mark Leonard speaks with Julien Barnes-Dacey and Tarek Megerisi about the Libyan conflict, the impact of the Paris summit, and Europe’s fight over migration policies…
In the media
It’s more and more unlikely by the day. There just isn’t enough time.
Tarek Megerisi doubts whether the election in Libya will take place
What happened was not a sincere effort to defend Tunisia from an imminent threat. But neither was it a well-planned coup to take advantage of local discontent and seize absolute powers.
Tarek Megerisi talks about Tunisia’s coup d’état
He would win with a small majority, and the revolutionary groups would start an immediate war
Russia has leverage over Haftar, but forcing through a Saif al-Islam candidacy would be a “massive mistake” thinks Tarek Megerisi
His popularity now is a law of diminishing returns […] Everything he does is going to lose him some supporters
The difficult decisions that will be needed to manage the situation in Tunisia may undermine Saied’s support, thinks Tarek Megerisi
European inaction in the crisis could cause an ‘anti-democratic domino effect’
The turmoil in Tunisia could also spread to neighbouring countries, warns Tarek Megerisi