From Counter-Terrorism to Preventing Violent Extremism: Security Practices and Approaches in Post-Revolutionary Tunisia.

The international policy and research agenda has increasingly emphasized terrorism as a complex and multifaceted phenomenon, and thus the need to expand the toolkit with which to relate to it beyond the exclusively force-based approaches typical of counter-terrorism. Prevention of violent extremism and radicalization are examples of this. A newly democratized polity grappling with unprecedented terrorist challenges, Tunisia has since 2015-2016 featured a paradigmatic shift from a state-centric perspective, contingency-based approach mainly focused on counter-terrorism to a more inclusive, long-term strategy involving society at large in counter-radicalization efforts. This chapter thus accounts for the gradual diversification of the security strategies in the country focusing particularly on the prevention dimension. Reviewing pivotal terrorist attacks in the first post-revolution decade, it argues that this change of pace in security approaches and practices is the result of the interplay of international and national orientations. By illustrating the main initiatives that both local and foreign actors have carried out, the chapter also claims that preventing violent extremism has failed to replace counter-terrorism, but meritoriously complements the latter’s predominant military focus with new, more comprehensive measures.