Abstract: | This essay, which is drawn from secondary sources of mostly Tunisian origin, supplemented by direct observations made over a number of years, provides a comparison of arguments about and analyses of the Tunisian Islamist movement, and specifically of the supporters of its largest group, the Islamic Tendency Movement. If the current political and economic difficulties provide the context of discontent and explain the readiness of individuals to affiliate themselves with any opposition movement that might be effective, the psychosocial problems faced by many young Tunisians help explain why that opposition is oriented toward Islam. Because for many Tunisians the roots of the Islamist appeal are in a psychosocial phenomenon, Islamism is not likely to go away any upturn in the economy, though its explosive potential could thereby be reduced. Notes, ref. |