ABSTRACT
Far from the classic dichotomous approaches to religious radicalisation, which tend to attribute its causes either to the clash of civilisations or to the flaws of modernity, this chapter proposes to examine the role of formal and informal institutions and their impact on the community’s dynamics and reactions to the eruption of religious phenomena. It is based on the results of a field study carried out at two sites in Tunisia in order to show that radicalisation is the echo of marginalisation, which is overdetermined by a feeling of Hogra (contempt) that has persisted for decades in the country. The chapter also points to the fact that radicalisation is in part the outcome of the excesses of globalisation that manifest themselves particularly through exuberant privatisation, on the one hand, and the influence of cross-border religiosity, on the other. It concludes that radicalisation in Tunisia is a political response to political choices. Even if extremism is expressed as being based on religious justifications, it remains political in essence and is a response to social and regional injustice. While some Tunisian regions are equipped with the cultural or symbolic means to resist this radicalisation, other more marginalised ones are more affected by radicalisation and violent extremism.
