Mohsen Marzouk
{{short description|Tunisian politician}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Mohsen Marzouk
| native_name = محسن مرزوق
| native_name_lang = ar
| nationality = Tunisian
| image = Mohsen Marzouk.jpg
| birth_date = July {{birth year and age|1965}}
| party = Machrouu Tounes
| spouse =
| children =
|}}
Mohsen Marzouk ({{langx|ar|محسن مرزوق}}; born July 1965) is a Tunisian politician. He holds a degree in political sociology and International Relations from the International Studies Association in Tunis.
Early life
Mohsen Marzouk was born in July 1965 and raised in a poor working-class neighborhood in the city of Sfax. At fourteen, he was expelled from school for his oppositional political activities. He managed to re-enter and finish high school in Sfax.{{cite journal|url=http://www.meforum.org/1973/dissident-watch-mohsen-marzouk|title=Dissident Watch: Mohsen Marzouk|last=Carpenter|first=Scott|journal=Middle East Quarterly|year=2008|volume=15|issue=3}}
At the University of Tunis, Marzouk was a leading student activist. In 1987, while still enrolled, he was arrested by Tunisia's secret police. He was interrogated and tortured for many days before being sent to a labor camp in the southern desert.
When he was allowed to return, Marzouk remained politically active. He worked towards reinstating the General Union of Tunisian Students (UGET) which after Ben Ali's rise to power became deeply divided over its further political course.{{cite web|url=http://www.ecoi.net/local_link/66541/160715_en.html|title=Tunisia: The General Union of Tunisian Students (l'Union générale des étudiants Tunisiens, UGET) (2003-2005)|author=Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada|date=2005-11-01|accessdate=2014-12-23}} Marzouk was appointed to the UGET's executive bureau while at the same time, he was conspiratively active for the outlawed leftist movement El Amal Ettounsi.{{cite web|url=http://pomed.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Tunisia-Election-Guide-2014.pdf|title=Previewing Tunisia's Parliamentary & Presidential Elections|publisher=Project on Middle East Democracy|last1=Tavana|first1=Daniel|last2=Russell|first2=Alex|date=October 2014|page=9|accessdate=2014-12-23}}
Career
{{Update section|date=December 2018}}
From 1989 on, he worked as a coordinator for the newly founded Arab Institute for Human Rights.{{cite web|url=http://al-yawm.com/%D8%A3%D8%AE%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B1/%D9%88%D8%B7%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9/%D9%88%D8%AC%D9%87-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B4%D9%87%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%8A-%D9%85%D8%AD%D8%B3%D9%86-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B2%D9%88%D9%82|script-title=ar:وجه من المشهد السياسي: محسن مرزوق…|trans-title=The face of the political scene: Mohsen Marzouk|date=2014-08-09|accessdate=2014-12-22|language=ar|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309175824/http://al-yawm.com/%D8%A3%D8%AE%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B1/%D9%88%D8%B7%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9/%D9%88%D8%AC%D9%87-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B4%D9%87%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%8A-%D9%85%D8%AD%D8%B3%D9%86-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B2%D9%88%D9%82|archive-date=2016-03-09|url-status=usurped}} Since 2008 he has been secretary-general of the non-governmental Arab Democracy Foundation and member of the International Steering Committee of the Community of Democracies.{{cite web|url=http://isc-cd.org/members/marzouk.html|title=Mohsen Marzouk, Tunisia|work=Council for a Community of Democracies|accessdate=2014-12-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141223105259/http://isc-cd.org/members/marzouk.html|archive-date=2014-12-23|url-status=dead}}
Marzouk is one of the founders of Nidaa Tounes and was member of the party's Executive Committee. As Beji Caid Essebsi's campaign manager in the 2014 presidential election{{cite news | url=http://www.trust.org/item/20141123153512-h1l1v | title=Tunisians vote for first freely elected president of post-Ben Ali era | date=2014-11-23 | agency=Reuters | accessdate=2014-12-23 | archive-date=2015-11-19 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151119172343/http://www.trust.org/item/20141123153512-h1l1v | url-status=dead }} he announced Essebsi's victory in the runoff vote on 21 December,{{cite web|url=http://www.africanmanager.com/178075.html|title=Tunis : " Bajbouj Président ", a annoncé Mohsen Marzouk aux partisans de BCE|date=2014-12-21|accessdate=2014-12-23|work=African Manager|language=fr}} stating that Tunisians were now turning the page of the transitional phase{{cite web|url=http://www.kapitalis.com/politique/26471-presidentielle-mohsen-marzouk-annonce-la-victoire-de-caid-essebsi.html|title=Présidentielle : Mohsen Marzouk annonce la victoire de Caïd Essebsi|work=Kapitalis|date=2014-12-21|accessdate=2014-12-23|language=fr}} and that Tunisia was now a stable democracy.{{cite web|url=http://www.gnet.tn/temps-fort/tunisie-la-campagne-de-bce-proclame-la-victoire-manser-conteste/id-menu-325.html|title=Tunisie : La campagne de BCE proclame la victoire, Manser conteste|work=gnet.tn|date=2014-12-21|accessdate=2014-12-23|language=fr}} Marzouk’s faction within Nidaa Tounes supported a more assertive, secularist government.{{cite news|title=A rift in the ruling party may be the least of Tunisia's problems|url=https://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21678721-rift-ruling-party-may-be-least-tunisias-problems-tunisia-confronts|accessdate=18 November 2015|newspaper=The Economist|date=17 November 2015}} Marzouk left the party in early January 2016{{cite news|title=Tunisia's ruling party faces splits as lawmakers quit|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tunisia-politics/tunisias-ruling-party-faces-splits-as-lawmakers-quit-idUSKBN0UM23U20160108|accessdate=19 August 2019|date=8 January 2016|work=Reuters|author=Tarek Amara}} and later became part of Machrouu Tounes.{{cite web|url=http://www.babnet.net/cadredetail-122434.asp|title=Les dissidents de Nida Tounes lancent le parti du Projet de la Tunisie|date=20 March 2016|work=Babnet Tunisie|accessdate=19 August 2019}}
Publications and working papers
- Marzouk, M. (1997): The Associative Phenomenon in the Arab World: engine of democratisation or witness to the crisis? in: David Hulme and Michael Edwards (ed.): "NGOs, States and Donors. Too close for comfort?" New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997. Republished: London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, {{ISBN|9781137355140}}.
- Marzouk, M. (2003): Social Movements in Tunisia: Searching for the Absent. Arab Research Center, 2003.
- Marzouk, M. (2005): Social Movements in Tunisia and the Democratization Process. Santiago: Community of Democracies, 2005. ([https://web.archive.org/web/20060116195414/http://www.santiago2005.org/archivos/Social%20movements%20in%20Tunisia-%20Mohsen%20Marzouk.doc archived])
References
{{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marzouk, Mohsen}}
Category:Nidaa Tounes politicians
Category:Members of the International Steering Committee of the Community of Democracies