​This study explores the evolving role of the Tunisian military in politics across three phases: exclusion from politics (1956-2011), voluntary neutrality (2011-2014), and active political engagement since 2019. These developments necessitate a reassessment of the military's professionalism, which has long been regarded as stable and apolitical. Drawing upon key theoretical frameworks and scholarly debates on civil–military relations in both democratic and Arab contexts, the study employs these perspectives as interpretive tools to analyze the military's shifting posture during each of the three periods. The findings suggest that the emergence of the Tunisian military as an interventionist political actor—particularly since the onset of the power struggle in 2019—constitutes a pivotal factor in eroding its professional military identity. Accordingly, the restoration of democratic governance in Tunisia is deemed essential to re-establish effective civilian oversight of the armed forces. Such oversight is crucial to restrain the military's expanding political ambitions, which are likely to intensify amid ongoing political fragmentation and elite competition for state power.