Immunity through technification? A critical review of water governance discourses in Tunisia

After Tunisia's independence from France in 1956, the country was engaged in what has been termed the “supply management policy”, that is, a maximum mobilization of water resources through large‐scale modern hydraulic infrastructure. Towards the beginning of the 1980s, the country entered a crisis and had to adopt in 1986, under pressure from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, a “Structural Adjustment Program” (SAP) that prioritized measures to improve economic efficiency and liberalize the economy. Since then, Tunisian water policy has progressively shifted towards “Integrated Water Resources Management” (IWRM). This review critically analyzes the water governance discourses that have framed these policy interventions. I will draw on academic research and official and civil society reports to suggest that these discourses have been “rendered technical”, stripping issues of any political (and therefore conflicting) character. When rendered technical discourses raise development projects and policies above the terrain of political contestation, the possibilities of action available to those opposed to them become limited. This depoliticization of development interventions through technical discourses narrows the public space of democratic debate. I will also argue that the “technification” (rendering technical) process is reversible. Opposition groups can challenge technical discourses with a critical approach that can reconfigure and alter the trajectory of governmental programs. However, critical discourses can, in turn, be rendered technical.This article is categorized under: Human Water > Water Governance Human Water > Rights to Water