Opportunity, ideology, and Salafi pathways of political activism in Tunisia

ABSTRACT

The Arab Revolutions have multiplied the pathways of activism available to Salafi groups notably in the newly democratised Tunisia. Based on an opportunity-inclusion approach, the literature has not successfully explained this diversification of pathways due to a focalisation on structural opportunities. This approach is unable to account for the variation in pathways taken by different groups facing the same structural opportunities for inclusion. In the light of this limitation, I argue that pre-revolutionary starting points and ideological legacies largely determined groups’ perception of the revolutionary ‘opportunity’ as well as the choice of political activism pathways. Based on secondary literature and interview and social media data, I show that groups that were open to political participation before the revolution (Jabhah Islamiyya) chose to participate, while groups that rejected it (Ansar al-Shariʿa) maintained their rejection, and formerly quietist sheikhs chose to participate 8 years after the revolution while maintaining certain ideological red lines (sheikhs in the coalition Itilaf al-Karama). On this basis, the article proposes to reassess the relationship between ideology and strategy as complementary rather than exclusionary components of an agency by demonstrating how ideological legacies predispose actors to certain strategic choices through the delineation of legitimate and illegitimate paths of activism.

KEYWORDS:

• Salafism
• opportunity
• ideology
• Arab Spring
• Tunisia
• political activism

Notes

1. Interviewees’ data and names are disclosed with their explicit consent. Anonymity has been granted upon request or when no explicit consent was given. Interviewees were given multiple channels (phone numbers, email address, institutional address) to contact the researcher to ask questions or submit requests. Interviewees were all contacted and recruited through a trusted third-party who either knew interviewees personally or was himself introduced by someone who did. 9 interviews were conducted in Arabic, 4 in French, and 1 in English. All interviews were audio recorded, except for two participants who did not grant consent. Social media entries include a 2-hour Facebook video issued in 2018 (monologue by a sheikh), a 4-minute Facebook video (party leaders address in 2014), and a YouTube video (pre-2011 TV address by a sheikh). Video material was fully transcribed in Arabic and relevant passages were then translated into English. Textual analysis was used to analyse the transcripts (see McKee, Alan. Textual analysis: a beginner’s guide (London: Sage Publications, 2003)).

2. In his study of the Iranian revolution, Kurzman argues that structural opportunities were not needed for mobilisation to occur. In this article, I argue something different, namely that structural opportunities were necessary but not sufficient for mobilisation to occur.

3. The 1988 law (n°88-32, 3 May 1988) stipulated that ‘A political party cannot fundamentally base itself on religion in its principles, activities and programme.’ (art. 3), available at: http://www.legislation.tn/sites/default/files/journal-officiel/1988/1988F/Jo03188.pdf. The decree-law n°2011-87 (24 September 2011) is available at: https://www.venice.coe.int/webforms/documents/default.aspx?pdffile=CDL-REF(2018)036-f.

4. Interview with the researcher Jihed al-Hejsalem (name cited with consent), 21/06/2017, Tunis.

5. Interview with a Salafi sheikh who requested anonymity, Bizerte, 19/01/2020.

6. According to Volpi, this failure also stemmed from the heterogeneity of the group, who could not consensually implement a political integration strategy. This argument, however, in addition to being another implicit acknowledgement of the role of ideology, does not explain why the rejection political participation was the group’s default and enduring majority position.

7. Interviews with co-founders of Jabhah Islamiyya, Skype, 16/01/2020 and Sfax, 11/02/2020.

8. Interview with a co-founder of Jabhah Islamiyya, Sfax, 04/08/2019.

9. Interview, suburb of Tunis, 30/01/2020

10. ‘كلمة رئيس الحزب في افتتاح مقر الجبهة بمكثر’ [Address of Party President at the Opening of the Jabhah’s Bureau in Makthar], 24 December 2014. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=183740095102558

11. Interview (name cited with consent), suburb of Tunis 10/08/2019.

12. Interview, Tunis, 28/01/2020.

13. Interview (cited with consent), Tunis, 17/04/2018.

14. Interview with Muhammad Khouja (cited with consent), Tunis, 17/04/2018; Interview with a leader of Jabhat al-Islah, Kef, 12/08/2019

15. Interview with a leader of Jabhat al-Islah, Kef, 12/08/2019; Interview with a member of Jabhah Islamiyya and current leader of Jabhat al-Islah, Tunis, 12/05/2018; Interview with a former member of Jabhat al-Islah, Tunis, 23/06/2019.

16. Interview with a member of Jabha Islamiyya and current leader of Jabhat al-Islah, Tunis, 12/05/2018

17. Interviews with two historical members, Sfax, 05/08/2019 and 11/02/2020.

18. ‘البشير بن حسن يحرم الخروج على بن علي’ [Bechir Ben Hassan forbids khuruj ‘ala al-hakim], YouTube, online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyybjR8t3Io&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0cYjqtuhJbnp9qPEbDeqdyvBswkqR8qB6xNAH-ROuEUgmBRRBz1q_g0uU

19. Interview with one of these sheikhs who requested anonymity, Bizerte, 19/01/2020

20. Ibid.

21. Ibid.

22. Facebook video of sheikh Kamel al-Marzouqi (length: 2 hours. Language: Arabic), published on 24/08/2019, https://www.facebook.com/kamel.marzouki

23. Ibid.

Additional information

Funding

The author would like to thank Tine Gade and Morten Bøås for supervising this special issue as well as the other contributors for their useful comments on an earlier version of this paper.

Notes on contributors

Théo Blanc

Théo Blanc is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political and Social Sciences (SPS) at the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence and an associate researcher with the ERC project TARICA ‘Political and Socio-institutional Change in North Africa: Competition of Models and Diversity of Trajectories’. He received an M.A. in political science and Middle Eastern Studies from Science Po Grenoble. His doctoral dissertation addresses the development of political Salafism in North Africa after the Arab Revolutions based on fieldwork and interviews. His research interests encompass Salafism, Islamism, and Jihadism. His publications include articles in English in The International Journal of Middle East Studies (co-author) and in French in L’Année du Maghreb and Confluences Méditerranée. His book reviews appear in Sociology of Islam, Revue des Mondes Musulmans et de la Méditerranée (REMMM), Lectures (ENS), and Les Clés du Moyen-Orient.