Attitudes on Family Law as an Electoral Cleavage

Survey Evidence from Tunisia

Bibliographic Data

ID6160885
AuthorsSalih Yasun (0000-0003-0999-1122, Indiana University Bloomington, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume12
Issue2
Pages131-166
Publication date2020-08-29
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueMiddle East Law and Governance (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1876-3367 • E-ISSN: 1876-3375
PublisherBrill (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1163/18763375-01202003
OpenAlexW3081594209
LanguageEN
Citations received2

Most societies in the Middle East and North Africa region ( mena ) are subject to strict family laws. Do these laws affect voters’ decisions? In this article, I argue that public attitudes on family law constitute an issue-based social cleavage in Tunisia, and I examine the influence of family law on whether individuals vote for Ennahda, the largest conservative party, or Nidaa Tounes, the authoritarian successor party. Findings from a Multinomial Logistic Regression on Afrobarometer data indicate that individuals who hold more egalitarian views on women’s inheritance rights are less likely to vote for Ennahda and more likely to vote for Nidaa Tounes, whereas there is no statistically significant relationship between opinions on women’s divorce rights and voting. These study findings suggest that the attitudes on provisions of family law are an alternative source of social cleavage in emerging democracies, which can have relevance in other country settings in the mena

Affect (linguistics · Authoritarianism · Cleavage (geology · Democracy · Family law · Multinomial logistic regression · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Successor cardinal · Survey data collection · Voting · Gender Politics and Representation · Law

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