Unlike many Islamist movements elsewhere in the region, Ennahda argued that Islam and democracy were complementary rather than contradictory. Britain's Foreign Office likewise welcomed the country's free and fair elections and pledged its support for Tunisia's democratic transition. His power grab in July 2021 transformed Tunisia's political landscape almost overnight. He said that while regional powers hostile to the Arab Spring sought to undermine Tunisia's democratic transition, Europe and the US also failed to defend it. Instead, Gaaloul said, Western governments increasingly accepted the argument that Tunisia's democratic experiment had failed, while overlooking what he described as an authoritarian rollback.