Tunisia, Slow Progress in a Turbulent Region
- Autores: Francis Ghiles
- Localización: Notes internacionals CIDOB, ISSN-e 2013-4428, Nº. 181, 2017, págs. 1-4
- Idioma: inglés
- Enlaces
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Resumen
Tunisian leaders need to re-establish the authority of the state which has been badly damaged since 2011.
Those who are corrupt are happy to keep the many state controls which characterise the management of the Tunisian economy because they offer them myriad opportunities to collect bribes. The more control, the easier corruption sets in. Thus is the way of the Arab world which many Tunisians are keen to break out of.
While Algeria has helped its smaller neighbour confront terrorism, the country’s interplay with Libya has been altogether more complex.
The Islamist are keen on free enterprise but that does not means modern capitalism – a bazaar economy suits them fine and many entrepreneurs play both sides in order to keep their businesses afloat.
In seven Tunisian banks the report surveyed, Libyan deposits amounted to 12% of total deposits. They are funded by wages, including payroll transfers from the Central Bank of Libya.
Depriving a long chain of wealthy intermediaries, most of whom have strong relays in Nidaa Tunes, the lay coalition party founded by President Essebsi in 2012 and which runs the government and the Islamist Ennahda, its junior partner, is an uphill battle. If it is lost, the future of democracy in Tunisia is dark indeed.
