Abstract
In the 3 years since the ousting of Tunisia's dictator Zine El Abedine Ben Ali in January 2011, net emigration from Tunisia has doubled, suggesting a link between revolutionary politics and aspirations to emigrate. A large proportion of this emigration has taken the form of a clandestine crossing to Europe, locally called El Harka. This paper explores the complex interactions between the 'migration-development nexus' and revolutionary national politics in the aspirations of Tunisian young men to emigrate in the post-Revolution period. I use the sociologist Albert O. Hirschman's concept of 'Exit-Voice-Loyalty' to come to an understanding of the geographical imaginaries and spatial practices expressed by individual Tunisian men in relation to migration. I present my findings within a typology of 'surplus', 'circulation', and 'engagement' to describe the ways in which the inherent politics of migration are expressed. 'Surplus' emerged as a powerful discourse in post-Revolution Tunis, leading to politically significant notions of migrant identity. 'Circulation' denotes the developmental ideal held in tension with concerns over legality. I argue that the primacy of illegal emigration from Tunisia indicates the dominance of exploitative migration policies. Finally, political 'engagement' in the post-Revolution period is theorised to correlate to disinterest in emigration. The institution of freedom of expression is argued to increase 'loyalty', through privileging 'voice' over 'exit' as a course of action for the discontent.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 493-505 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Population, Space and Place |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| Early online date | 25 Jun 2014 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Aug 2015 |
Keywords
- Arab spring
- Development
- Migration
- Migration geopolitics
- Migration-development nexus
- Mobilities
