Tunisia

Tunisia A part of the Ottoman Empire from 1574, it became a French protectorate in 1881. After World War I, nationalist opposition among the French-educated Tunisian intellectual elite emerged to demand greater involvement of Tunisians in their own affairs. From its establishment in 1934, the Neo-Destour Party (Parti Socialiste Destourien) led by Bourguiba became the main opponent to French colonial rule, though under his leadership the party advocated piecemeal, rather than revolutionary, change of government. In World War II, Tunisia was liberated from German occupation by Free French and Anglo-US forces at the end of the North African campaigns in 1943, whereupon French colonists sought to reimpose control. A decade of growing unrest followed before France offered autonomy (1954) and a customs union, followed by independence (1956).

Bourguiba became Prime Minister upon independence, President in 1957, and in the (enforced) absence of political opposition was re-elected until he became President for life in 1975. State control over society, economy, and education was in some ways quite successful, as education became universal and women were given greater equality and independence. However, combined with the lack of political freedom, this led to the emergence of an Islamic fundamentalist movement which threatened the very existence of the secular state. This slowed down the efforts of Bourguiba's successor, Ben Ali, to introduce a process of political liberalization. Nevertheless, the constitution was revised in 1988 and 1994, so that oppositional groups could attain token representation in the National Assembly (34 reserved out of 182 seats). Ben Ali was only able to contain growing fundamentalist opposition with the imprisonment of political opponents. He also tried to shore up his personal support by advocating his own brand of nationalism, which sought to overcome the French cultural influence that continued to exist beyond the twentieth century.