This chapter shows how the decisions and actions taken between January and October 2011 by the Tunisian Provisional Administration (TPA) in Tunisia and by the National Transition Council (NTC) in Libya between February 2011 and July 2012, which were the first interim governments in each country, influenced events between 2014 and 2019. In Tunisia, where the TPA had insisted on abiding by a “spirit of consensus” that helped its successor government, the National Constituent Assembly (NCA)/Troika, overcome its crisis of 2013, a second republic had been inaugurated under a constitution that was written in this spirit. However, governing in this spirit – implementing and operating through consensual institutions – proved much more difficult and caused many challenges in later years. In Libya, the NTC had been unable to assert a moderate, unifying narrative and governing presence; it was instead drowned out by extremist forces as the NTC gave way to its successor, the General National Congress (GNC). The GNC became so plagued by the features and decisions of the NTC – among others, its inability to control armed groups or assert a shared Libyan vision – that the next several years were defined by spiraling conflict among groups of varying goals and identities.

This chapter analyzes Tunisia’s first post-uprising transition government, the Tunisian Provisional Administration (TPA). The TPA formed in order to fill the void left in the wake of Ben Ali’s departure – a void defined not simply by the absence of a leader, but by the collapse of an entire political system. The chapter first presents a “historical backdrop” in order to set the stage for the work of the TPA. It then describes the various features, decisions, and actions taken by the various bodies and individuals comprising the TPA. Although the TPA sought to adhere to its defined mandate of managing day-to-day affairs and organizing elections, in seeking to organize itself and establish its own legitimacy, as well as draft a plan for transition, it dealt with several other issues relevant to any transitional process. This chapter describes how the TPA dealt with these myriad issues all during its short tenure.