Tunisia is known as the only democracy to emerge from the Arab Spring. This seminar aims to critically reexamine Tunisia’s democratization process from the perspective of critical security studies. It will explore how the discourse and practices around the idea that terrorism negatively impacts democracy contributed to top-down democratization, based on an analysis of the leading elite discourse in Tunisia. Additionally, the seminar will analyze the political effects of counter-discourses reconstructed by unemployed youth, based on their interviews. Finally, it will discuss the theoretical implications of the Tunisian case for studies on international political issues, such as U.S./European Middle East policies and resistance to the global neoliberal system.