Acceso usuarios
Francisco Láuzara Morales
Este artículo analiza la reconfiguración del imaginario sociotécnico de la sociedad tunecina a través de un estudio comparado del discurso en las constituciones de 2014 y 2022. Desde la denominada Primavera Árabe, Túnez ha sido considerado un caso clave para el análisis de los procesos de cambio político en el norte de África. Sin embargo, la promulgación de la Constitución de 2022, en un contexto de creciente concentración de poder presidencial, ha reabierto el debate sobre la trayectoria del orden político postrevolucionario. En este contexto, el objetivo del artículo es examinar cómo los textos constitucionales articulan diferentes visiones de orden político, social y tecnopolítico, y qué implicaciones tienen estas narrativas para la proyección internacional del Estado tunecino.
El trabajo se apoya en el concepto de imaginarios sociotécnicos desarrollado en los Estudios de Ciencia, Tecnología y Sociedad (CTS), que permite analizar cómo determinados discursos institucionales condensan visiones colectivas sobre futuros deseables y sobre las formas de organización social y política. Este marco teórico se pone en diálogo con enfoques constructivistas y postestructuralistas de las Relaciones Internacionales, que conciben el discurso como una práctica productiva capaz de configurar identidades, intereses y orientaciones de política exterior.
Metodológicamente, el artículo adopta un enfoque cualitativo basado en el análisis comparado del discurso constitucional. El estudio examina los preámbulos y una selección de categorías temáticas relevantes en ambos textos constitucionales —relacionadas con identidad, relaciones internacionales, desarrollo sostenible, innovación, juventud, representtividad y participación política— con el objetivo de identificar continuidades y rupturas en la articulación discursiva del proyecto de estado y sociedad.
El artículo se estructura en cuatro partes. En primer lugar, se presenta el marco teórico que conecta los imaginarios sociotécnicos con los debates críticos en Relaciones Internacionales. En segundo lugar, se describe la estrategia metodológica y el corpus analizado. En tercer lugar, se desarrolla el análisis comparado del discurso constitucional. Finalmente, se discuten los resultados y sus implicaciones para comprender la evolución del orden político tunecino y su inserción en el sistema internacional.
Since the uprisings commonly referred to as the Arab Spring, Tunisia has occupied a central place in ac-ademic and policy debates on democratization, institutional reform, and political change in North Africa. For several years, the country was widely regarded as the most promising case of democratic transi-tion in the region, particularly following the adoption of the 2014 Constitution. Drafted by the National Constituent Assembly after an extended process of political negotiation and societal deliberation, the 2014 constitutional text was initially interpreted as the institutional consolidation of the revolutionary moment that began in December 2010. However, the promulgation of a new constitution in 2022 under the presidency of Kaïs Saïed has fundamentally reopened debates regarding the trajectory of Tunisia’s post-revolutionary political order. The new constitutional framework emerged in a context characterized by the suspension of parliament, the concentration of executive authority, and growing concerns about democratic backsliding. Beyond the strictly legal or institutional dimensions of constitutional change, these transformations raise broader questions about how political elites articulate competing visions of the state, society, and the country’s place in the international system.Against this background, the objective of this article is to examine how the sociotechnical imaginary of Tunisian society is reconfigured through the constitutional discourses embodied in the 2014 and 2022 constitutions, and to explore the implications of these discursive shifts for the international projection of the Tunisian state. The article starts from the premise that constitutions should not be understood solely as legal documents that regulate institutional arrangements. Rather, they can also be interpreted as discursive artefacts that condense shared representations of the past, the present, and desirable collective futures. In this sense, constitutional texts provide a privileged site for analysing how political actors articulate normative visions of social order, sovereignty, development, and collective identity.The theoretical framework of the article draws primarily on the concept of sociotechnical imaginaries developed within Science and Technology Studies (STS). Sociotechnical imaginaries can be understood as collectively held visions of desirable futures that are animated by shared understandings of social life and that become embedded in institutional arrangements, technological projects, and political discourse. These imaginaries not only shape domestic governance projects but also influence how so-cieties define their identity and position themselves within the international system. By examining the discursive construction of such imaginaries within constitutional texts, it becomes possible to analyse how particular visions of political order, state authority, and societal organization are stabilized, con-tested, or reconfigured during periods of political transformation.The article also engages with critical and constructivist approaches in International Relations, which emphasize the role of discourse, norms, and identity in shaping international politics. From this per-spective, the international behaviour of states cannot be fully understood solely through material in-terests or institutional structures. Instead, foreign policy orientations and international alignments are mediated by socially constructed identities and narratives that define how states perceive themselves and their role in the international system. Discursive practices—such as constitutional language—there-fore play a key role in producing and legitimizing particular understandings of sovereignty, cooperation, development, and geopolitical belonging.By bringing together insights from STS and critical approaches of International Relations, the article de-velops an analytical framework that allows constitutional discourse to be examined as both a domestic political practice and a site where broader visions of international order are articulated. This interdis-ciplinary approach makes it possible to identify how constitutional narratives contribute to shaping the symbolic and normative foundations of the state’s external action.Methodologically, the study adopts a qualitative research design based on Foucaluldian discourse analysis. The empirical analysis focuses on the constitutions of 2014 and 2022, which correspond to two politically distinct moments of Tunisia’s post-revolutionary trajectory. While the 2014 constitution emerged from a participatory and deliberative process involving political parties and civil society actors, the 2022 constitution was introduced following a presidential initiative and approved after a referendum characterized by low voter participation. These contrasting contexts of constitutional production pro-vide an important background for interpreting the discursive differences between the two texts. The analysis examines the preambles and selected constitutional provisions that are particularly rele-vant for the articulation of sociotechnical imaginaries and for the international positioning of the state. The categories analysed include identity narratives, references to international relations, the role of local authorities in external cooperation, notions of sustainable development and innovation, and the institutional role attributed to civil society and participatory democracy. These categories were selected because they capture key dimensions through which constitutional discourse projects visions of social order and future development.As said, the methodological approach combines elements of critical discourse analysis with interpreta-tive frameworks inspired by Foucauldian discourse analysis. Following this perspective, constitutional texts are understood not merely as neutral descriptions of political arrangements but as discursive prac-tices that produce particular problematizations of society, define legitimate subjects of political action, and establish normative frameworks for governing social relations. The analysis therefore focuses on identifying recurring narratives, shifts in discursive emphasis, and significant silences within the con-stitutional language.The article is structured in four main sections. The first one presents the theoretical framework, outlin-ing the concept of sociotechnical imaginaries and discussing its relevance for the study of constitutional discourse and international politics. It also situates the analysis within broader debates in International Relations and Science and Technology Studies. The second section describes the methodological strat-egy adopted in the study, detailing the corpus of constitutional texts analysed and the analytical cate-gories used to structure the comparison.The third section develops the empirical analysis through a systematic comparison of the two constitu-tional texts. This section examines the motivations and justifications articulated in the preambles, the identity narratives embedded in the constitutional language, the treatment of international relations and sovereignty, and the role attributed to societal actors in shaping political and economic develop-ment. Particular attention is paid to how the constitutional discourse constructs different visions of the relationship between state authority, social participation, and national identity.The fourth section discusses the broader implications of the findings for understanding Tunisia’s evolv-ing political order and its international positioning. The analysis suggests that the differences between the two constitutional texts do not represent a complete rupture but rather a reconfiguration of the sociotechnical imaginary underpinning Tunisia. While the 2014 constitution articulated a vision of polit-ical order centred on pluralism, institutional balance, and societal participation, the 2022 constitution reorganizes many of the same symbolic elements around a discourse emphasizing sovereignty, central-ized authority, and the reduced mediating role of civil society. These discursive shifts have important implications for the way Tunisia projects itself internationally. The imaginary associated with the 2014 constitution aligns more closely with narratives of democratic transition, international cooperation, and normative convergence with external partners. In contrast, the constitutional discourse of 2022 sug-gests a reorientation towards a more sovereigntist and state-centred vision of political authority, poten-tially affecting Tunisia’s relationships with regional actors, international organizations, and traditional partners such as the European Union.By analysing constitutional discourse through the lens of sociotechnical imaginaries, the article contrib-utes to ongoing debates in International Relations about the relationship between discourse, political authority, and international order. More broadly, it illustrates how constitutional texts can serve as key sites for observing the symbolic and normative transformations that accompany political change in post-revolutionary contexts.
