History of Tunisia :Bourguiba the GRAETEST leader but DICTATOR
Presidency

Bourguiba set about shaping the new republic in accordance with his
personal vision. In 1959 the Neo-Destour won all 90 seats in the new
National Assembly, and a constitution was introduced that made the
assembly solely responsible for rule and order in the country. The role
of
Islam
in Tunisian identity was recognized, although the workings of
government were to be exclusively secular. Women’s rights were
recognized in the 1956 Code of Personal Status, an extraordinarily
radical document for its time that, among other things, banned
polygamy, gave women virtual legal equality with men, enabled women to initiate
divorce,
introduced a legal minimum age for marriage, and gave women the right
to be educated. Education was extended throughout the country, and the
curriculum was modernized to reduce religious influence. The military
was firmly subordinated to civilian government, and the administration
underwent a process of “Tunisification” to replace French workers with
Tunisian counterparts.
An experiment with a collectivist form of socialism was abandoned in 1969. The
World Bank
had refused to fund the program, significant sections of the
agricultural community had resisted it, and the experiment failed to
produce the desired increases in output; in addition, Bourguiba became
convinced that the program’s primary advocate, Ahmed Ben Salah, was
using it to enhance his own ambitions. During the 1970s Bourguiba
oversaw an export-oriented policy, fueled by domestic oil revenues,
labour remittances, and foreign borrowing. When all three sources dried
up in the 1980s, the country was deeply in need of investment finance.
The private sector, which had been partially subsidized by the
government but equally excluded from certain areas of production and
price setting, was unable to fill the gap, and the country spiraled into
debt-ridden crisis, finally turning to the
International Monetary Fund for a structural adjustment program in 1986.

Bourguiba’s foreign policy reflected his preference for pragmatism over
ideology.
He looked to the West for economic and military assistance, but that
did not prevent him from engaging non-Western countries in pursuit of
export markets and bilateral trade. He aspired to maintain a special
relationship with France, believing that there were positive economic,
cultural, and social legacies of colonialism to be exploited. Despite
major crises over Tunisian support for the Algerian liberation struggle,
a Tunisian attack on the French base at
Bizerte,
and the expropriation of settlers’ lands, Bourguiba generally managed
to secure a
Palestine Liberation Organization a base when it was expelled from Lebanon in 1982.
lasting and cordial friendship between the two countries. He
also worked tirelessly to develop good relations with the United
States, being eager to link Tunisia in to the technologies of
modernization. To the chagrin of the Arab world, he advocated a moderate
and constructive position toward Israel; nonetheless, he supported the
rights of the Palestinians and offered the
The Neo-Destour, renamed the Destourian Socialist Party (Parti
Socialiste Destourien) in 1964, retained its monopoly over domestic
politics. National organizations allowed for some popular mobilization
and representation, but by the 1970s liberals within the party became
impatient with Bourguiba’s tendency to centralize power in himself. As
dissidents within the party broke away to form their own underground
political movements in the 1970s, Bourguiba became more authoritarian
and detached from the party’s base. Promises of political liberalization
failed to materialize. By the 1980s he was convinced that an Islamist
revival threatened the country, and, following a series of bomb attacks
by Islamist elements on his beloved hometown of Monastir, he ordered a
ferocious assault on the leadership and ranks of the
Islamic Tendency Movement
(Mouvement de la Tendance Islamique). A trial ensued, exposing abuses
by the country’s security forces, and Tunisia stood at the brink of
political and economic crisis, prompting a constitutional coup that
removed Bourguiba on the grounds of ill mental health.
Later years
A charismatic personality, Bourguiba largely remained the father
figure who led Tunisia to independence, although his own popularity had
waned when he became increasingly authoritarian. By actively preventing
the emergence of a successor, he essentially forced his election as
president-for-life in 1975; yet, that his own removal was conducted in a
peaceful and constitutional manner has been seen by both Tunisians and
scholars of the country as a testament to the moderacy and desire for
stability with which he imbued Tunisian politics. At the time of his
ouster, Bourguiba was already age 84 and, despite his failing health,
had ruled the country for 30 years. After his removal from office,
he was confined to his house in Monastir by the new regime and was
permitted only infrequent visitors. His death at home in 2000 after a
period of prolonged illness was marked by a subdued but nonetheless
respectful period of national mourning, and he was buried in his family mausoleum in Monastir.
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