"The Power of Obedience: The Political Economy of Repression in Tunisia" is a bestselling book by French researcher and political sociologist Béatrice Hippo, originally published in 2006.
The book provides an in-depth analysis and unconventional mechanisms of how power was managed and subjugation was produced in Tunisia, specifically during the rule of former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.Tyranny is not based on security services and direct violence alone. Hibo believes that the Tunisian regime succeeded in formulating a “political economy of obedience”, according to which the economy, administration, and daily measures were transformed into comprehensive control and control tools that make society automatically comply and adapt to authority to secure its interests and livelihood.
The most prominent themes and ideas of the bookThe economy as a tool for taming: The state is not just an economic regulator, but controls jobs, loans, licenses, and deals. Proximity to authority becomes a prerequisite for economic success, while objection means financial exclusion.
Bureaucracy and administrative complexity: The abundance of paper procedures and complications is not evidence of weak management, but rather a deliberate mechanism of control. This system leaves the citizen in constant need of “mediation” and patronage, which integrates him into the network of loyalty to the regime.Indebtness and Social Solidarity Networks: The book analyzes how debt mechanisms and social solidarity funds (such as the 26-26 Fund) have turned into tools for creating interdependence and individual subordination to authority under the guise of social welfare.
Securitization of everyday life: The bank, the tax collector, the market, and the university intertwine to create an invisible surveillance network. The individual ends up practicing “self-censorship” and avoiding conflict to maintain his or her personal security.The concept of the “implicit pact”: During the Ben Ali era, the rhetoric of the “economic miracle” and stability and security in exchange for giving up political freedoms was widespread. This is what the author calls “conventions of subjugation.”
The importance of the bookThe main value of Beatrice Hippo's thesis (in which she was inspired by the ideas of philosophers Michel Foucault and Max Weber) lies in proving that repression does not only live in prisons, but in everyday transactions, markets and offices. When obedience became a social norm, the regime's need to use hard force at every moment declined.The book carefully explains how this regime suddenly collapsed in late 2010 and early 2011, when this “power of obedience” reached its maximum limit and was no longer able to absorb the increasing economic and social pressures.
