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.