How does Islamic activism transform at the transnational level? Drawing on multi-sited fieldwork in Europe and North America, this article examines the trajectories of Islamist activists in exile and the arenas through which they sustain political engagement from abroad. Adopting an arena-based approach, it identifies four hybrid arenas in which Islamist-linked players interact with secular actors, organizations, and policy networks. Across these arenas, activists frequently participate in causes not explicitly framed in Islamic terms, including anti-authoritarian protests, humanitarian action, democratic advocacy, and policy debate. Rather than signaling ideological dilution, such engagement reflects processes through which earlier Islamist political commitments are translated and adapted to the normative frameworks of transnational civic environments. The findings show that exile-based activism enables Islamist actors to sustain ideological continuity while reworking their repertoires of engagement within hybrid arenas that target political transformation not only in their countries of origin but also in host countries and transnationally.

This chapter brings to light the fundamental continuities and changes in state-society’s power relations in Tunisia from the years of French colonial domination until the revolution. The chapter is divided into two main sections. The first part describes in depth the mechanisms of co-optation of civil society actors under the authoritarian regimes of Habib Bourguiba (1956–1987) and Zine-El Abidine Ben Ali (1987–2011), highlighting the role of associations as tools of state control over Tunisian society. The second part highlights the main legal transformations introduced after 2011 that made it easier for new associations to register legally. The rise of thousands of social solidarity and development associations went hand in hand with the state’s continued disengagement from the socioeconomic sphere.

This chapter scrutinizes the diffusion mechanisms of ‘civil society promotion’ packaged by different kinds of actors. In the first section, I cast light on the constellation of international donors targeting the Tunisian associational arena working on the developmental and charitable sector since 2011. In the second section, I analyze the of diffusion of a neoliberal model of civil society, describing the conceptualization, planning, and implementation of development projects in the country. The third section describes the spread of projects on the ‘social solidarity economy’ (SSE) as a way to enhance associations’ skills. The fourth section analyzes the impact of SSE programs in marginalized areas of the country. In the last section, I show how the state replicates discourses and inspired by the international neoliberal agenda.

The chapter is divided into three sections, describing how and why three socio-political groups neglected during the Ben Ali’s regime have engaged in the associational system. The first section describes the nature of power relations in the social solidarity economy ecosystem in marginalized areas of the country, where local NGOs experts act as pivotal actors. The second section highlights the rising urban middle-classes previously excluded from the political game and now looking for new partnerships with local institutions at the sub-national level. The third section is focused on the reorganization of Islamic networks under the new frame of professionalization. As we will see, different forms of civic engagement ultimately reveal a reconfiguration of power relations.

This chapter illustrates the associations’ agency by analyzing the activation of localized networks under the normative frame of professionalization. Notably, it sheds light on mechanisms of NGOization of local associations by showing how their organizational structures have adapted, their cultivation of competences through the recruitment of professional experts, and the specialization of their activities. In light of this, the chapter shows how most associations have progressively internalized the neoliberal model of civil society as a strategy of adaptation to exploit emerging opportunities under new constraints. Therefore, I demonstrate that the process of professionalization—the acquisition of a new professional language and practices—acts as a sort of “access code” to participate in the post-authoritarian redefinition of the public sphere.

This chapter provides an overview of the actors operating and the processes unfolding in the Tunisian associational sphere against the backdrop of post-revolutionary political developments. The following pages describe the post-revolutionary setting as a highly competitive arena characterized by strategic dynamics of inclusion and exclusion of different players. In the first section, I highlight the political process underpinning the postauthoritarian context from 2011 until the 2019 elections by underlining the competition between new emerging actors and the remnants of the old regime. In the second section, I show how post-2011 civil society’s dynamics reflect the cleavages characterizing the political sphere. In the third section, I focus closely on religious groups, emphasizing the heterogeneity of the Islamic associational space and its relationship with the Ennahda party.

This chapter accounts for the role played by digital media when it comes to grassroots anti-corruption struggles in two North African countries, Tunisia and Algeria, that have respectively experienced a revolutionary process leading to full or partial political changes. Inspired by a grounded theory approach, and based on ethnographic research, this study scrutinises the anti-corruption mobilisations that occurred over time in the two countries and describes a variety of initiatives supported by diversified uses and understandings of digital media. The objective of this study is to fill the theoretical and empirical gaps in the literature. While academic works on the MENA region have largely focused on digital media and anti-corruption as two separate subjects of inquiry, this chapter aims to combine the two dimensions in a consistent theoretical framework, by providing an empirical analysis of two exemplary case studies. Overall, findings suggest overcoming normative and teleological explanations accounting for the role of digital media and the anti-corruption struggles in countries facing uncertain and fluid situations characterised by the reconfiguration of power relations.

Formally launched by the United Nations (UN) in 2016, the so-called Triple Nexus has been adopted by several international donors that have intervened in Tunisia since the fall of its authoritarian regime. Faced with the state's limited capacity to address critical post-revolutionary challenges such as escalating poverty and radicalisation, external actors - spanning multilateral, bilateral and non-governmental organisations - have endeavoured to tackle humanitarian, development and security issues to promote stability and support the fragile democratisation process in the country. In this context, Social Solidarity Economy (SSE) initiatives have gained prominence as a means to concurrently address diverse challenges associated with the 'lack of social development', including marginalisation and the absence of social cohesion - identified as catalysts for radicalisation and instability. In contrast with these stated objectives, fieldwork spanning 2015 to 2019 across various regions of Tunisia reveals that the international donor discourse on SSE, entrenched in a neoliberal approach and government securitisation strategies, exacerbates economic insecurity and amplifies marginalisation.

Over the past decades, numerous studies have enhanced the understanding of the Salafi milieu, revealing a diversity within the movement that goes beyond the traditional classifications of quietist, jihadist, and political Salafism. This research builds on recent scholarly work by exploring the porous boundaries of the Salafi realm, emphasizing the concept of hybridization. It examines the blending of registers and repertoires of action from other social worlds with Salafism, utilizing a social movement perspective and first-hand field data. The study investigates Salafi trajectories of engagement beyond the religious sphere in Tunisia and Algeria during perceived periods of constraint. This comparative analysis is both empirically and theoretically significant, given the distinct socio-political landscapes of the two countries. Tunisia was recognized as a democratic exception in the MENA region in 2011. In contrast, Algeria, rising from the ashes of its civil war, is regarded as a resilient rentier state largely unaffected by the Arab uprisings but significantly impacted by the Hirak movement in 2019. Despite these differences, both countries have experienced revolutionary moments and repressive campaigns, offering opportunities for the transformation of Salafism.

This book illustrates the results of ethnographical research designed to shed light on the notion of civil society in a context characterized by the transformation of power relations. Such transformation is given by shifting resources, renewed local and international opportunities, and a general reframing of goals and objectives. The academic literature has usually relied on a substantialist understanding of the notion of civil society – referring to the latter as something that exists a priori or does something. This volume relies, instead, on a relational approach – where civil society becomes the name we give to a host of complex interactions in which local associations are involved in a time of reconfiguration of power relations. Building on this approach, this volume analyses the relational dynamics affecting Tunisian associations after the fall of the authoritarian regime in 2011 and their implications for the changing political order. Findings show two main interrelated trends: the nationwide professionalization of local associations and the localized networking strategies of various socio-political categories crossing the associational sector. The book shows how their members understand the standardization of local associations as a strategy to have guaranteed access to the public sphere and, therefore, to influence the changing political order.

This article investigates the notions of ‘civil state’ and ‘civil party’ as constructed by the Tunisian Islamist party Ennahdha through its process of ‘specialization’ in partisan action and its interactions with both ‘secular’ forces and the different groups composing – or are associated with it. The various conceptualizations of these notions reveal a multilayered political group, seeking to adapt to the new political environment by recombining the links between religious and political activities. Analyzing the debates that led in 2014 to the constitutionalization of the civil nature of the state and the controversies surrounding religiously inspired bills, as well as interviews with the various actors involved, we show how the reconfiguration of the Islamist movement into two components, a civil party specialized in politics and a faith-based civil society, does not imply a clear separation of state and religion, but rather the affirmation of a civil state inspired by Islamic values.

This chapter examines the transformation of Tunisia’s political landscape against the backdrop of the legislative and local elections held in the country from 2011 to 2019. Celebrated by the media, policymakers and international organizations as the democratic exception in the MENA region, 11 years after the “Jasmin Revolution”, Tunisia is, however, far from being a fully-fledged democracy. Despite a procedural democracy being in place through the guarantee of free and fair elections, over the years the country’s political system have displayed a high party fragmentation and a long list of unstable governments. The contribution shows that despite party pluralism on paper, most parties have been indistinguishable on crucial issues such as socio-economic rights and regional inequalities, issues that had been the beacon of the revolutionary processes of 2011. Notably, political competition has been mostly absorbed by the Islamist/secular divide, thus blurring the ideological boundaries of the different political actors at play. The lack of political offerings in turn has led to widespread discontent among Tunisian voters, who have become increasingly alienated from the main political parties in the field. Over the years, disaffection from politics has led to a growing detachment from the electoral process, also visible in the declining turnout, thus endangering the country’s democratic order. Overall, the fragmentation of the Tunisian party system and the unresponsiveness of local governments over time seem to have been the sinister premonitory sign of the country’s slide into a phase of democratic involution, marked by the president’ Kaïs Saïed decision taken in July 2021 to suspend parliament.

This article accounts for the hybrid transformations of the Tunisian Islamist movement. While most of the literature affirms the end of Political Islam in Tunisia through evidence of the Ennahda's compromise with secular forces and the decision to keep politics separate from religion, this contribution offers a new perspective by shifting the unit of analysis from the political party to civil society actors. Findings show that, due to new opportunities and constraints that characterise the transition process, Islamist activists engaged in the associations have embarked on various trajectories that transform their relationship with the political party, and more generally with politics. This article examines three relational logics involving Islamist activists engaged in the associational field and the political party: professional empowerment, party complementarity and political challenge. The three logics trace a hybrid dynamic of reconfiguration of the Tunisian Islamist movement that challenges binary interpretations of transformation based on the dichotomy of radicalisation/moderation or on teleological narratives that foretell the end of political Islam in Tunisia.

it is an excellent candidate for analytic explorations.

This article explores the complex dynamics shaping the integration of the Tunisian Islamist party Ennahdha into the instituted political game. Drawing on a strategic relational approach, the analysis highlights the simultaneous, mutually reactive, and often conflicting relationships of Ennahdha party with three types of actors: political secular forces (allied or antagonist), political and religious Salafi actors, and faith-based associations. Based on extensive field research and 33 in-depth interviews conducted with key players involved, we propose to capture these dynamics at the macro (regime), meso (organizations), and micro levels, through the notion of strategic pluralization, by which we mean a reconfiguration of Ennahdha’s relations with various Islamic actors under the pressure of secular forces. Going beyond institutional-structural approaches and monolithic interpretations of the Islamist constellation, we argue that Ennahdha’s integration in relational economies has formed the basis of the party’s strategy to secure its political inclusion in the post-revolutionary scene.

Drawing on the case of the Hirak movement born in Algeria in 2019, this article casts light on the mechanisms of transformation of the anti-regime movement when it comes to the transnational dimension. Based on a qualitative case-study research design, the article first unpacks the transformative dynamics of the movement when it bypasses the context of origins regarding the framing, organizational, and protesting dimensions. Then, the article looks at the effects of such changes against a background characterized by high political conflict and harsh repression. Findings show that digital media supporting transnational activism have three main effects that are deeply intertwined: they mix up the sociopolitical cleavages of the country of origin by facilitating the hybridization of actors' registers and repertoires of action at a global level; they contribute to politicizing specific issues by escalating the levels of contention; and they allow new measures of a regime's transnational repression.