Security is one of the key challenges for Tunisia’s fragile democratic transition. The deterioration of the security situation within the country since 2015, as well as in neighbouring Libya, has shown the Tunisian government’s persisting difficulties in maintaining stability and protecting its citizens from jihadi terrorism. This policy brief appraises Tunisia’s relations with key security providers (NATO, the EU, individual EU Member States, and the United States). It argues that, despite significant increase in foreign support to the Tunisian security sector in the past two years, a lack of integrated security-development strategy and coordination between international actors may erode part of the country’s progress towards stability, failing to address the root causes of fragility. Coherent, coordinated and sustained assistance from the international community will be pivotal for the security of Tunisia in the years to come.

This Policy Brief was written in the framework of the EuroMeSCo Working Package “Transformation in Tunisia: The First Five Years”, led by the Finnish Institute of International Affairs.