During regime change, how does the balance between security and liberty shift? In Arab states in particular, this tension is often reflected in a struggle between Islamists on the one hand and nationalists/anti-Islamists on the other. In the so-called Arab Spring states of 2011-2014 – Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, and Syria—this dynamic led to three different outcomes. First, as in Egypt and Yemen, the traditional authoritarian state gained the upper hand over contesting Islamist parties, claiming itself necessary for restoring security, resulting in a return to the status quo. Second, as in Libya and (to some extent) Syria, neither side gained the upper hand, and the result was civil war. In Tunisia, instead, a compromise between the two sides was reached in the form of a democratic institution-building project. This paper argues that, over the course of the three years following the fall of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali’s regime in January 2011, though some of the old repressive tools of the state re-emerged, a balance between security and liberty/democracy was reached without a return to traditional authoritarian methods. Islamists represented the rhetoric of revolution and democracy, while anti-Islamists or nationalists, on the other side, insisted on the nation-state and the return of the apparatus as a guarantee for security and stability. The two sides eventually agreed on a ‘democratic deal’ according to which Islamists would be obliged to support the strong state and recognize a free dialectic between the two camps in the frame of the new constitutional rules. This paper uses research from several neighborhoods in Tunisia during 2012 and 2013 to shed light on how this process played out. The findings can contribute to understanding of how and why post-revolutionary processes unfold differently in different countries, as well as how the concept of the authoritarian state in the Arab world has evolved since 2011. It can also shed light on the inevitable tension between security and liberty in countries seeking to establish democratic regimes.