In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, Daniel Hannan, secretary-general of the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists (AECR), stressed the aim of organising a summit of centre-right-wing parties in Tunisia was not an attempt to impose Western norms on Muslim-majority countries.

Hannan said the aim of the event was, on the contrary, an attempt to stress shared principles on both sides of the Mediterranean through strengthening mainstream free-market and conservative parties in emerging democracies in North Africa and the Middle East.

Al Jazeera: What is the purpose of this initiative?

Hannan: The CRI aims to strengthen mainstream free-market and conservative parties in emerging democracies in North Africa and the Middle East. It runs practical programmes designed to strengthen the organisational capacity of each political party, supports campaign and communications operations and assists with policy development.

Al Jazeera: How can this initiative help Tunisia and other countries of the region?

Hannan: It is worth recalling what sparked the revolution in 2010 - which spread from Tunisia across North Africa and the Middle East. The risings began when Mohamed Bouazizi, a market trader, was driven to the horrific extreme of self-immolation because he had been denied ownership of his own goods and the right to engage in commerce.

His was a protest against the violation of property rights, and he was not alone.

In an authoritative study of the Arab Spring, the Peruvian economist, Hernando de Soto, chronicled many other cases of entrepreneurs in Arab countries being driven to suicide by police corruption and harassment.

The Arab Spring, in other words, began as a movement against arbitrary government. Citizens were fed up with living under regimes that could make up the rules as they went along, seizing property without due process, rigging the law in favour of their clients.

To read the complete article, please visit Yahoo Maktoob.