The Roots of Crisis: Economic Policy under Bourguiba, 1956–1987

Like many of his nationalist contemporaries in the Arab World, Bourguiba did not come to power with a comprehensive economic strategy for the development of Tunisia, and for the period of his rule economic policy was essentially reactive. Four stages can be identified in the country’s post-independence economic life under Bourguiba: an initial stage of attempted economic decolonization; an ideological but ultimately disastrous stage of socialist transformation; an attempt at statemanaged, private-sector-funded industrialization; and finally the stabilization programme of the mid-1980s. The first of these stages represented a reaction to the exploitative economic policy of the colonial French government, the second a response to internal political demands for an ideologically motivated economic strategy in tune with both domestic concerns for social justice and the general wave of Arab socialism of that era. The third stage involved development of policy around external factors ofWestern oil demand and high prices for that commodity, European and Arab demands for migrant labour, the availability of low-interest international finance, the search by private foreign capital for investment opportunities in labour-rich countries, and finally the establishment of EEC tariff and customs unity. The fourth stage was the early but inadequate response to a rapidly deepening economic crisis.