Islamic Activism and Dynamics of Radicalization Beyond Religion in Tunisia

Tunisia was the only country in the Arab world to undertake a serious attempt at democratic transition in the aftermath of the 2010-2011 uprisings, in contrast to the geopolitical upheavals experienced throughout the region. However, since 2014 it was also the birthplace of a vast jihadist movement, which led thousands of young people to enlist as foreign fighters for the Islamic State. While several academic works have linked the phenomenon of radicalization to the political resurgence of Islamism, this contribution goes beyond the Islamism-radicalization nexus, exploring alternative explanations for the rise of radical registers and repertoires of action in the country. The revolutionary protests that first erupted in December 2010, but have reignited cyclically over the years, have advanced socio-economic demands on employment and social justice among the most disadvantaged segments of the population. The grievances have been expressed mainly by young people from the most marginalized areas of the interior and the south and, in general, by those social groups excluded from the clientelist networks of the old regime. In contrast to the rhetoric of ‘Tunisian exception’, instead of resolving the country’s socio-economic divide, the transition process has led to the exacerbation of non-inclusive growth and growing frustration of disenfranchised groups. While initially the discontent and sense of alienation were channeled by the Salafist-jihadist movements, more recently the ‘forgotten of the revolution’ have been represented by non-religious entrepreneurs.