Bouchra Ibn Chakroune is in her second year at SAIS Bologna. A UK citizen, she is a candidate for a Masters of Arts in International Affairs (MAIA), a degree awarded by SAIS Bologna that requires a thesis in the second year. Below she discusses her recent summer internship and how it related directly to her studies.
I’d never done an internship before last summer, so I didn’t really have a clear idea of what to expect.
I suppose I thought I would spend most of my time making cups of tea or trying to swim my way through masses of paperwork. So I was pleasantly surprised when I finally arrived in Beirut to start my internship with a small NGO called Right to Nonviolence.
Right to Nonviolence (RN) has quite a broad remit, focusing on non-violence, constitutional reform and judicial accountability. I joined the Middle East Constitutional Forum team, which focuses more narrowly on the Middle East revolutions.
My surprise came when instead of receiving a list of duties on my first day, I was told I was free to conceive and design a project that was of mutual interest to myself and RN. The only other criterion was that I was to think out of the box! And so the Tunisia Constitutional e-Forum was born.
I am an MAIA student starting my second year in Bologna. I will be writing my thesis on the Tunisian Revolution, analyzing the transition taking place with a particular focus on the constitutional developments. As it turns out, my internship directly supports my academics -- a symbiotic relationship that is familiar to many SAIS students.
I started my research last year while working for the the Center for Constitutional Studies and Democratic Development. But working on the Tunisia Constitutional e-Forum gave me an opportunity to focus my research. It is in essence an information-sharing platform. I wanted to collate content on the Tunisian constitutional process and build a “one-stop shop” for information on the constitutional developments taking place in the North African country.
A number of Tunisian and International lawyers, academics and researchers agreed to submit articles, videos or audio podcasts to the e-Forum. They included Bsili Adel, Legal Advisor to the National Constituent Assembly, and Nathan Brown, Carnegie Scholar and Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University.
I have been struck by the generosity of the contributors who dedicated time and effort, without any compensation, to provide content for the e-Forum, which was launched on 2nd October and is now available online.
This research will underpin my thesis and help others follow the Tunisian Constitutional process.
I’d never done an internship before last summer, so I didn’t really have a clear idea of what to expect.
I suppose I thought I would spend most of my time making cups of tea or trying to swim my way through masses of paperwork. So I was pleasantly surprised when I finally arrived in Beirut to start my internship with a small NGO called Right to Nonviolence.
Right to Nonviolence (RN) has quite a broad remit, focusing on non-violence, constitutional reform and judicial accountability. I joined the Middle East Constitutional Forum team, which focuses more narrowly on the Middle East revolutions.
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| Bouchra Ibn Chakroune |
I am an MAIA student starting my second year in Bologna. I will be writing my thesis on the Tunisian Revolution, analyzing the transition taking place with a particular focus on the constitutional developments. As it turns out, my internship directly supports my academics -- a symbiotic relationship that is familiar to many SAIS students.
I started my research last year while working for the the Center for Constitutional Studies and Democratic Development. But working on the Tunisia Constitutional e-Forum gave me an opportunity to focus my research. It is in essence an information-sharing platform. I wanted to collate content on the Tunisian constitutional process and build a “one-stop shop” for information on the constitutional developments taking place in the North African country.
I have been struck by the generosity of the contributors who dedicated time and effort, without any compensation, to provide content for the e-Forum, which was launched on 2nd October and is now available online.
This research will underpin my thesis and help others follow the Tunisian Constitutional process.
