Traditional and new forms of young women’s political engagement in a transitional context

This study address conditions required for the emergence of militant practices, which seem to mark youth’s disappointment of politics. By comparing it to conventional politics, we have tried to highlight features characterizing this form of participation (individualism, freedom of expression, deliverance from submission to hierarchy, subversion, loss of interest).
Our analysis shows that cyber-activists’ practices relate to militant activism and not to politics. It is characterized by resentment towards political parties’ quest for legitimate political authority, and calling for “activism for the sake of activism” and hence the constitution of "counter-powers". Cyber-activism constitutes a change in the common logic of activism. If we replicate renewal in religious beliefs to politics, we will notice that transformations are quite similar. As the emergence of “customized” religiosities reflects liberation from communities we belong to , cyber-activism is also a customized engagement, where “individuals are involved and even elevated”.

The survey shows that the choice for cyber-activism responds to an ethical need for freedom, and the desire to get rid of hierarchy characterizing party structures. Cyberactivism is indeed characterized by the absence of hierarchy preventing the development of activists’ personal development. This type of activism preserves individual autonomy. The changing perception about politics contributes to the challenge now facing participatory democracy. There are calls to implement participatory democracy in Tunisia, still confined to some initiatives, such as OpenGov, faced by the resistance of the elected members of the National Constitutional Assembly in trying to enforce transparency, or the Bawsala Association (Compass), prevented to attend the Assembly’s sessions when it started denouncing the representatives’ absenteeism.