THE SECURITIZATION OF MIGRATION IN TUNISIA

Mohamed Salah Chatti

ABSTRACT:
This research seeks to analyze the securitization of migration in Tunisia by focusing on the way
different political agents and influential actors on social media represent sub-Saharan migrants as
sources of societal, existential and economic risks. Using the theoretical framework of
Securitization Theory as developed by the Copenhagen and Paris schools and mobilizing the tools
of the Sociology of Social problems, the research argues that representing migrants as sources of
threat is a process that results from the intersection of the actions and interests of multiple actors
emanating from different social and political fields and who are impacted by national and
international constraints. The analysis focuses on discourses as well as on the national and
international contexts that favored the securitization of migration in Tunisia. It puts under study
the practices and tools deployed against migrants while shedding light on their political and
symbolic aspects and effects on the immigrants and the state.