Tunisian Politics in France: Long-Distance Activism Since the 1980s

What does it mean to oppose or support an authoritarian regime from afar? During the years of Ben Ali’s dictatorship in Tunisia between 1987 and 2011, diaspora activism played a key role in the developments of post-independence Tunisian politics. Centring this study on long-distance activism in France, where the majority of leftist and Islamist exile groups took refuge, Mathilde Zederman explores how this activism helps to shed new light on Tunisia’s political history. Tunisian Politics in France closely explores the interactions and conflicts between different constellations of pro-regime and oppositional actors in France, examining the dynamics of what the author persuasively describes as a ’trans-state space of mobilisation’. In doing so, Zederman draws attention to the constraints and possibilities of long-distance activism. Utilising material gathered from extensive fieldwork in France and Tunisia, this study considers how the evolution of diaspora activism both challenges and reinforces the boundaries of Tunisian politics.