Reforms for Whom? SSR Programs and Security Unions in Post-2011 Tunisia

This presentation analyses the local reception of public policy projects carried out in the name of police reform and democratization in post-revolution Tunisia. The period following the departure of former dictator Ben Ali saw a series of readjustments within the security forces, notably following an opening to new sources of influence, emanating from security professionals organized in the form of unions or associations, or international players. Programs labelled “Good Governance of the Security Sector” or “Security Sector Reform” (SSR) supported by multilateral security organizations, mostly the EU and UNDP, increased exponentially over the 2012-2015 period. The UNDP for instance launched a community policing program in 2014, aiming to enhance citizens role in local security and police population cooperation. Another aim of the project pushed by the UNDP, is the promotion of accountability of the security forces through the adoption of a code of conduct and the creation of a deontological commission. Unsurprisingly, this second part of the project is the most problematic and generates a strong opposition among police agents. Based on thirty semi-directive interviews with police agents, UNPD local and international employees and collaborators, a review of the documents produced both by international organizations and security unions, the purpose of the presentation is to show that, without profoundly modifying the structures and standards governing the police, the policy process has largely been shaped by its opponents inside and out of the ministry of Interior. Firstly, opposition can be found among the police agents responsible for the implementation of the community policing project, confirming the importance of the “street-level” in policy process (Lipsky, 1980). Secondly, newly formed police unions contributed to reduce the specter of political change by doing lobbying work to exclude police control and accountability from SSR. Drawing on policy process studies, advocacy coalition framework and critical security studies, we will show how police unions emerged as major stakeholders in Tunisian SSR. They manage, by taking over the discourses of the Security Sector Reform, to legitimize and strengthen their position as representatives of the police forces, as well as shaping the policy implementation process. While Weible and Heikkila (2017) observed that conflict is mostly studied as protest mobilization, through this case study we aim to show how policy process is deeply influenced in its trajectory by conflict among stakeholders with different interests and agendas, namely police agents gathered in security unions, and international organizations. The aim of the presentation is to analyze a process of change at work without presuming its outcome, by reinscribing it in its political temporality and the lines of tension around the definition of the terms of change within the police.