Presidency of Habib Bourguiba

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 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 Palestine Liberation Organization a base when it was expelled from Lebanon in 1982 (see Palestine: The dispersal of the PLO from Lebanon).

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.