Salafism in Tunisia : Political Engagement and the Advent of Post-Salafism

By offering a comparative analysis of Salafi movements in Tunisia, this book explores how Salafism developed and crystallised into distinct currents, and how it adapted to the 2010–11 revolution and evolved during democratisation. In doing so, it contributes to central debates in political science and Islamic studies.

By offering a comparative analysis of Salafi movements in Tunisia, Théo Blanc advances a systematic theory explaining variation in Salafi pathways of political engagement, built around the concepts of subjective and processual opportunities. The book first explores how Salafism developed in the country and crystallised into distinct currents – scholastic, political, and Jihadi – and then examines their respective adaptations to the 2010–11 revolution and evolutions during the democratisation decade (2011–21). This evolution culminated in what Blanc calls a shift towards post-Salafism, defined as a re-hierarchisation of actors' priorities in action. Blanc draws on rich fieldwork material, including interviews with the founding figures of Salafism in Tunisia, leading Salafi clerics and ideologues, and Salafi and Islamist party leaders, alongside original documentary sources. In doing so, Salafism in Tunisia makes a significant contribution to key debates in political science and Islamic studies, including inclusion-moderation, post-Islamism, political opportunity structure, politicisation, and the conceptualisation of both Salafism and Islamism.