Through an analysis of the early legal and institutional response to Covid-19 in Tunisia, this article demonstrates that the narrative of Tunisia’s democratic exceptionalism following the 2011 revolution is not translated into a liberal legal practice but is instead upheld by an authoritarian rationale that serves the role of a formal channel that legitimizes power discourse. Specifically, this article focuses on what the state of exception, which was declared during the ongoing state of emergency, reveals about the various uses of law in Tunisia. It argues that the state of emergency has become the norm to the Tunisian way of governance post-2011, allowing for the survival of past authoritarian practices where the legal apparatus is used and deployed as a tool of policing and control.

通过分析突尼斯对 Covid-19 的早期法律和制度反应，本文表明，关于 2011 年革命后突尼斯民主例外主义的叙述并未转化为自由主义的法律实践，而是由服务于使权力话语合法化的正式渠道的作用。具体而言，本文重点关注在持续紧急状态期间宣布的例外状态，揭示了突尼斯法律的各种用途。它认为，紧急状态已成为 2011 年后突尼斯治理方式的规范，允许过去使用和部署法律机构作为维持治安和控制工具的威权主义做法继续存在。