“Securing the state” in post-2011 Tunisia: performativity of the authoritarian neoliberal state

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this article, I adopt the theoretical lens of authoritarian neoliberalism coupled with the concept of performativity to analyse post-transition Tunisian counterterror politics. In doing so, I argue that “securing the state” from discursively constructed “threats” such as terrorism, political Islamism and the associated instability they are perceived to engender can be understood as a performative enactment of statehood in the context of reduced sovereignty associated with neoliberal deregulation, as well as a crisis of legitimacy faced by successive post-transition governments in Tunisia. However, performative counterterror discourses and practices are aimed not only at “flexing the muscles” of the state. They also seek to construct moral panic surrounding certain groups and thus justify the roll out of repressive policing of already marginalised communities rather than merely suspected terrorists. This performance is intended to distract from some of the root causes of radicalisation in contemporary Tunisia: economic inequalities and dispossession linked to failed neoliberal deregulation. Thus, through the exploration of the Tunisian case between 2014 and 2021, I contend we can best understand (in)security in the MENA when adopting an analytical approach bringing together security studies and International Political Economy (IPE).