Jihad and the Genealogy of Resistance in Tunisia by Michael
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Understanding Radicalism: Jihad and the Genealogy of Resistance in Tunisia By Michael Marcusa M.A. in Political Science, Brown University 2015 B.A. in Government and Asian/Middle Eastern Studies, Dartmouth College 2011 A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Political Science at Brown University Providence, Rhode Island May 2018 © 2018 Michael Marcusa All Rights Reserved This dissertation by Michael Marcusa is accepted in its present form by the Department of Political Science as satisfying the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Date_____________ _________________________________ Ashutosh Varshney, Advisor Recommended to the Graduate Council Date_____________ _________________________________ Melani Cammett, Reader Date_____________ _________________________________ Patrick Heller, Reader Approved by the Graduate Council Date_____________ _________________________________ Andrew Campbell, Dean of the Graduate School iii Curriculum Vitae Michael Marcusa obtained a B.A. in Government and Asian/Middle Eastern Studies from Dartmouth College in 2011 with Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude honors. During the 2012-2013 academic year, he was a recipient of Dartmouth College’s Paul L.'83 and Neil T. McGorrian Fellowship, which he appropriated towards advanced Arabic Language study in Cairo, Egypt. During the course of his doctoral study at Brown, his research on radicalization in Tunisia was awarded several competitive fellowships, including a National Science Foundation IGERT Fellowship (2013- 2015), a long-term research grant from the American Institute for Maghrib Studies (2015-2016) and a US Institute of Peace Minerva Peace and Security Scholarship (2017-2018) for the write-up phase. Articles based on the research were accepted for publication in The Atlantic, Middle East Report, and Comparative Politics (forthcoming, November 2018.) Marcusa’s research also has garnered interest outside of academia. As his research progressed, he served as an occasional on-air contributor to BBC 5Live in the UK, the BBC World Service, and Radio France International where his analysis focused on violent extremism in North Africa. He also conducted numerous briefings with governmental bodies, including: the UK Foreign Office, UK Department of Foreign and International Development US Embassy in Tunisia, US Institute of Peace and UK House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) As part of his collaboration with the UK House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC), he contributed evidence to a parliamentary inquiry on political Islam that was widely cited in the resulting report. iv Acknowledgments This dissertation would not have been possible without the support and guidance of many people who pushed me forward at various stages of my journey. The intellectual seed of the research was planted during my undergraduate years at Dartmouth College, where I encountered incredible mentors who opened me up to the world of political science and Arab Studies. Jonathan Smolin and Mostafa Ouajjani in the Arabic Language department instilled within me a love of Arab culture, and a confidence in my ability to master the language. During my Dartmouth-funded post-graduate year, I continued my Arabic studies in Egypt under the tutelage of Mona Labib, Nabil Jabzi, and Yahia Harty - each of whom also brought a special energy to language teaching. At Dartmouth, I also had the privilege of learning from first-rate scholars in the social sciences who were instrumental in the development of my undergraduate thesis, of which this dissertation is a natural extension. These mentors include George Trumbull in History, Dale Eickelman in Anthropology, and Benjamin Valentino and Brent Strathman in Government. During my early years at Brown, as this dissertation began to take shape, I benefited from the advice and tutelage of several mentors who did not ultimately become official “readers” for the project, but influenced my scholarly direction. These include Richard Snyder and Barbara Stallings from the Watson Institute’s Graduate Program in Development who helped me solidify the interdisciplinary methodological approach the dissertation embraces, and James Morone, who led the department’s thesis-writing workshop. All of these mentors helped me hone my analytical and creative faculties in the run-up to the project. I am most indebted however to my dissertation committee, all of whom inspired me in different, but complementary ways. My chair, Ashutosh Varshney, was instrumental in helping v me chart the general scholarly thrust and analytical direction of the project. On the basis of his own prior work with qualitative sub-national comparison and his experience working in politically volatile environments, he gave me excellent advice about how to structure my analysis, where to situate it in the literature, and how to support my argument. His encouragement helped me stay motivated during the more difficult aspects of the writing process. His mentoring style struck a perfect balance between pushing me towards more scholarly rigor, while simultaneously embracing the interdisciplinary perspective that I chose to take Melani Cammett provided important early direction for the project and invaluable advice on some of the more technical aspects of research design. During my first two years at Brown, she shaped the direction of my exploratory research in Tunisia and pushed me to examine my empirical material through multiple analytical lenses. She also inspired me to immerse myself in fieldwork and shared her hard-earned wisdom about how to handle its complex interpersonal aspects. After moving to Harvard, she was gracious enough to stay involved in the dissertation project and her targeted critiques spurred many intellectual breakthroughs. She constantly challenged me to be the best scholar I could be - and I benefited immensely from having her involved in the project. Patrick Heller, who joined the project as a reader by way of Brown’s sociology department, was extremely valuable in helping me crystalize my thinking about big picture concepts like culture, identity, and rationality. He is a master at comprehending and teaching abstract social theory concepts, and simultaneously one of the most down-to-earth people I have ever met. The ultimate argument that emerged owes much to our frequent consultations and his critiques. He was also crucial in helping me rework an article based on this dissertation research vi that netted me my first major peer-reviewed publication. On a personal level, discussions with him were some of the most intellectually stimulating I experienced during my time at Brown. Beyond my mentors at Brown, I am indebted to the people of Sidi Bouzid and Metlaoui - as well as other friends across Tunisia - for the hospitality and kindness they showed to me throughout the data collection process. During the course of field research, I benefited from the enormous generosity of ordinary people who welcomed me into their homes and shared their lives with me. I never once stayed in a hotel in either town but rather was aided by a number of wonderful, inspirational families who treated me as a guest of honor over the course of many research trips. In addition to making the research possible, my friends and research contacts in Tunisia have shaped me and my values as a human being. Their good humor and genuine selflessness will stay with me for the rest of my place. Finally, I would like to acknowledge my family - particular my parents - as the unsung heroes of this project. The field component of this research was carried out during a very tense time in Tunisia’s history and the history of the Arab World more generally. The sensitive nature of the research topic and the unstable political and security environment caused them to fear terribly for my safety - a fear that never abated, even as research progressed. Despite the fear, they showed constant love and support throughout the research - and supported me emotionally when the psychological strain of fieldwork began to wear on me. They are and always will be my heroes - and there is no way I could have gotten this far without them. vii Table of Contents CHAPTER 1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………..1 CHAPTER 2 Methodology and Theory…...…………………………………………………………....42 CHAPTER 3 The Hamama in the 19th Century and the Roots of Resistance…………………………71 CHAPTER 4 Sedentarization, Resistance and the Emergence of New Repertoires…………………..105 CHAPTER 5 Resistance and Repertoire after Independence…………………………………………137 CHAPTER 6 The Rise of Ben Ali and the Roots of Radicalism………………………………...……163 CHAPTER 7 The Revolution and the Ghost of History………………………………………………193 CHAPTER 8 Jihad, Strikes, and the Great Escape…………………………………………………....228 CHAPTER 9 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………...258 BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………………....278 viii Chapter One Introduction Introduction In the West, the nearly two decades since the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington have brought striking changes in the way people understand the phenomenon of Islamist political violence. As unceasing counterinsurgency campaigns have raged in Afghanistan and Iraq, the focus in many western academic and policy circles has shifted away from “fighting terrorism” and towards the study of “radicalization” or “combating violent extremism.” Despite this growing interest in radicalization however, one set of questions has consistently