After independence was granted, the Neo-Destour Party (from 1964 to 1988 the Destourian Socialist Party; from 1988 the Democratic Constitutional Rally [known by its French acronym RCD]) ensured that Tunisia moved quickly with reforms, most notably in the areas of education, the liberation of women, and legal reforms. Economic development was slower, but the government paid considerable attention to the more impoverished parts of the country. In 1961 Ahmad Ben Salah took charge of planning and finance. His ambitious efforts at forced-pace modernization, especially in agriculture, were foiled, however, by rural and conservative opposition. Expelled from the party and imprisoned in 1969, Ben Salah escaped in 1973 to live in exile. His fall brought a move in the government toward more conservative alignment.

In 1975 the Chamber of Deputies unanimously bestowed the presidency for life on the sick and aging Habib Bourguiba, who centralized power under his progressive but increasingly personalized rule. Hedi Amira Nouira, noted for his financial and administrative skills, became prime minister in November 1970, but his government failed to resolve the economic crisis or address growing demands for reform from liberals in his own party. A decade later, the ailing Nouira was replaced by Muhammad Mzali, who made efforts to restore dissidents to the party and by 1981 had granted amnesty to many who had been jailed for earlier disturbances. In addition, he persuaded Bourguiba to accept a multiparty system (although only one opposition party was actually legalized).

The outcome of the elections in November 1981 was disappointing to those who sought political liberalization. The National Front, an alliance of the Destourian Socialist Party and the trade union movement, swept all 136 parliamentary seats, a result received with cynicism and dismay by the opposition. Meanwhile, an Islamist opposition was developing around the Islamic Tendency Movement (Mouvement de la Tendance Islamique [MTI]). By 1984 Bourguiba had perceived an Islamist hand behind riots and demonstrations protesting rising prices. In response, he sent in the army and initiated a fierce campaign against the MTI. Bourguiba’s long rule, widely popular in its early years except among traditionalist groups, had provoked an increasing but passive opposition among Tunisians. Bourguiba, long in declining health, became unable to mask his autocratic tendencies. National elections in 1986 were boycotted by the major opposition parties, and the National Front once again carried the vote. In November 1987, amid widespread unrest and growing Islamist support, Bourguiba was declared mentally unfit to rule and was removed from office. He was succeeded by General Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, whom he had appointed as prime minister a month earlier.

President Ben Ali promised political liberalization and a transition to democracy. His early reforms attempted to restore a national consensus; one of these, the National Pact signed in 1989, drew together the ruling party, the legal opposition, the Islamists, and all the national organizations. Many political parties were legalized, with the exception of the MTI (renamed al-Nahḍah [“the Renaissance”] Party in 1988; also spelled Ennahda), but the 1989 national elections still failed to introduce a multiparty competition. The president gained 99 percent of the vote, and the RCD won all 141 seats in the legislature. Local elections in 1990, boycotted by opposition parties, were also swept by the ruling party. Following early local electoral victories by Algerian Islamists in 1990 and Islamist opposition to the Persian Gulf War (1990–91), the government began to crack down on Islamist political activity.

Although the government initially eased press controls and released political prisoners, the opposition soon became disillusioned with the new regime. Subsequently the government turned against secular opposition, and it has since been criticized for its abuse of human rights and its reliance on military and security forces. Piecemeal electoral reforms have failed to produce any genuine form of power sharing or transfer of power away from the president or his party (Ben Ali won reelection in 1994, 1999, 2004, and 2009, each time by an overwhelming margin). Similarly, the media and national organizations and associations have lost much of what little autonomy they had wrested from the state, and Ben Ali’s regime became increasingly subject to accusations of authoritarianism. The government, for its part, has claimed that democratization must be a gradual process that cannot be allowed to destabilize or inhibit the processes of economic liberalization and social consolidation. The implementation of a bicameral legislature in 2005 was given as a step toward political liberalization.

Foreign relations

Foreign relations under Habib Bourguiba were dominated by his personal conviction that Tunisia’s future lay with the West and, in particular, with France and the United States. There were, nonetheless, some early crises, including a French bombing raid on the Tunisian village of Sakiet Sidi Youssef (Sāqiyat Sīdī Yūsuf) in 1958, during which France claimed the right to pursue Algerian rebels across the border; the Bizerte incident of 1961, concerning the continued military use of that port and airfield facility by France; and the suspension of all French aid in 1964–66 after Tunisia abruptly nationalized foreign-owned landholdings. These difficulties aside, Tunisia’s relations with France have been improving, as have relations with the United States, despite some tensions with the latter over its involvement in the Persian Gulf War and its policies toward the developing world. Alignment with the West was never allowed to interfere with positive trade policies with developing countries and what was then the Soviet bloc. Rather than balance East against West, Bourguiba maximized Tunisia’s advantages by maintaining good relations with both and thereby reduced the country’s dependency on either one. Bourguiba’s pragmatism also extended to the Arab world. Rejecting ideological constraints, he argued for the Arab recognition of Israel and Arab unity based on mutually advantageous cooperation rather than political integration.

Under Ben Ali, Tunisia followed much the same path. The need for regional security and the desire to advance economic interests, especially trade and foreign investment, guided foreign policy. With the uncertain future and stability of the Arab Maghrib Union, Tunisia increasingly concentrated efforts on developing bilateral economic agreements with other Arab states, on promoting the Arab League’s Arab Free Trade Area, and in advancing regional economics. An agreement with the European Union, which came into effect in 1998, also tied Tunisia’s economy and security to the Mediterranean community. Attempts to diversify trading links led to closer ties with the East and Southeast Asia, and strong ties with the United States remained a linchpin in Tunisia’s ability to present itself as a stable, reliable, and moderate state. Tunisia has been keen on supporting international organizations, in particular the United Nations, which it has viewed as the protector of smaller states and the defender of international law.