With Tunisia’s young population and well-maintained infrastructure, there is the opportunity for strong economic development. The establishment of democratic rule in the country should also be a major boon in terms of creating a positive business environment characterized by the strong rule of law. Tunisia has a deserved reputation for stability and moderation, and while the political dialogue will undoubtedly be trying and the security environment a challenge, recent months have shown the propensity of key actors to focus on consensual policies – which bodes well for Tunisia’s long-term outlook.
This paper presents an overview of the macroeconomic condition of Tunisia. Tunisia has managed to preserve macroeconomic stability and initiate fiscal and banking reforms in a context marked by a prolonged political transition, spillovers from the crisis in Libya, and numerous exogenous shocks, including terror attacks. However, important vulnerabilities remain: economic activity is weak, employment is low, social tensions linger, spending composition has deteriorated, and external imbalances are high. To tackle these issues, Tunisia formulated a five-year (2016–20) economic vision in 2015, which is being developed into a detailed plan. The vision aims at promoting stronger and more inclusive growth in Tunisia.
The Arab Spring began and ended with Tunisia. In a region beset by brutal repression, humanitarian disasters, and civil war, Tunisia's Jasmine Revolution alone gave way to a peaceful transition to a functioning democracy. Within four short years, Tunisians passed a progressive constitution, held fair parliamentary elections, and ushered in the country's first-ever democratically elected president. But did Tunisia simply avoid the misfortunes that befell its neighbors, or were there particular features that set the country apart and made it a special case? In Tunisia: An Arab Anomaly, Safwan M. Masri explores the factors that have shaped the country's exceptional experience. He traces Tunisia's history of reform in the realms of education, religion, and women's rights, arguing that the seeds for today's relatively liberal and democratic society were planted as far back as the middle of the nineteenth century. Masri argues that Tunisia stands out not as a model that can be replicated in other Arab countries, but rather as an anomaly, as its history of reformism set it on a separate trajectory from the rest of the region. The narrative explores notions of identity, the relationship between Islam and society, and the hegemonic role of religion in shaping educational, social, and political agendas across the Arab region. Based on interviews with dozens of experts, leaders, activists, and ordinary citizens, and a synthesis of a rich body of knowledge, Masri provides a sensitive, often personal, account that is critical for understanding not only Tunisia but also the broader Arab world.
Tunisia’s GDP totalled TD84.3bn (€36.2bn) in 2015, expanding at a rate of 0.8%, down from growth of 2.3% the year before. The fall was due to a variety of external factors, including two terrorist incidents that negatively affected the tourism sector in particular and shook business confidence more generally. However, growth picked up somewhat in 2016, standing at 1%, 1.4% and 1.3% in the first, second and third quarters of the year, respectively, and is expected to maintain this upward trend in 2017, supported by greater export competitiveness. Moves to bolster the economy through reforms, such as the new investment law and plans to tackle wider structural issues, are likely to help to raise growth to higher levels than those witnessed in recent years, as should the improvement in security since the 2015 attacks, though the extent of this will depend in part on whether or not the economy of the country’s main export destination and tourism source market – the eurozone – can emerge from its own recent slowdown.
“Trade Policy Reviews" analyse the trade policies and practices of each member of the WTO. The reviews consist of three parts: an independent report by the WTO Secretariat, a report by the government, and the concluding remarks by the Chair of the WTO's Trade Policy Review Body. The opening section - "key trade facts" - provides a visual overview of the WTO member's major exports/imports, main export destinations, origins for its imports and other key data. This edition looks into the trade practices of Tunisia.
The first edition of Tunisia was released just nine months before the eruption of the Arab Spring. The most substantial period of political unrest felt by the Arab world in a half century originated in Tunisia, a fact that confounded expectations about Tunisian politics. This new edition builds upon the first edition’s overview of Tunisia’s political and economic development to examine how one of the region’s hardiest authoritarian orders was toppled by a loosely organised protest wave. Providing the most up-to-date introduction to Tunisia’s post-independence and post-Arab Spring politics, concisely written chapters cover topics such as: state formation domestic politics economic development foreign relations colonialism the Arab Spring; its factors and repercussions Key to this new edition is the examination of Tunisian history, politics and society alongside the subsequent upheaval following the outbreak of revolts in December 2010. It looks at how political and economic changes after 2001, including economic deterioration and rising inequality and corruption, had already begun to erode bases of Ben Ali’s government, and explores why Tunisia is the sole Arab Spring country to construct a democracy thus far, and the challenges that this new democracy still faces. An essential inclusion on courses on Middle Eastern politics, African politics, and political science in general, this accessible introduction to Tunisia will also be of interest to anyone wishing to learn more about this significant region.
This book assesses Tunisia's transition 'inside and out' from four angles: Tunisian polity and politics which provide the framework for its foreign policy since the Arab Spring; bilateral relations before and after the Arab Spring; Tunisia's activism in international organisations as well as their presence in Tunisia; and transnational issues.
The book traces growing state intervention in the rural areas of Tunisia and Libya in the middle 1800s and the diverging development of the two countries during the period of European rule. State formation accelerated in Tunisia under the French with the result that, with independence, interest-based policy brokerage became the principal form of political organization. For Libya, where the Italians dismantled the pre-colonial administration, independence brought with it the revival of kinship as the basis for politics. Originally published in 1986. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
Tunisia became one of the largest sources of foreign fighters for the Islamic State—even though the country stands out as a democratic bright spot of the Arab uprisings and despite the fact that it had very little history of terrorist violence within its borders prior to 2011. In Your Sons Are at Your Service, Aaron Y. Zelin uncovers the longer history of Tunisian involvement in the jihadi movement and offers an in-depth examination of the reasons why so many Tunisians became drawn to jihadism following the 2011 revolution. Zelin highlights the longer-term causes that affected jihadi recruitment in Tunisia, including the prior history of Tunisians joining jihadi organizations and playing key roles in far-flung parts of the world over the past four decades. He contends that the jihadi group Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia was able to take advantage of the universal prisoner amnesty, increased openness, and the lack of governmental policy toward it after the revolution. In turn, this provided space for greater recruitment and subsequent mobilization to fight abroad once the Tunisian government cracked down on the group in 2013. Zelin marshals cutting-edge empirical findings, extensive primary source research, and on-the-ground fieldwork, including a variety of documents in Arabic going as far back as the 1980s and interviews with Ansar al-Sharia members and Tunisian fighters returning from Syria. The first book on the history of the Tunisian jihadi movement, Your Sons Are at Your Service is a meticulously researched account that challenges simplified views of jihadism’s appeal and success.
