The Other Side of a Neoliberal Miracle: Economic Reform and Political De-Liberalization in Ben Ali's Tunisia

Abstract

Employing a Gramscian framework this analysis argues that economic liberalization in Tunisia under Zine El Abidine Ben Ali allowed for a deeper penetration of state power into society, introducing novel modes of control during a climate of economic uncertainty which, labelled an ‘economic miracle’, was to be defended at all costs. It examines two institutions central to the reform process – the Tunisian Solidarity Bank and the National Solidary Fund – making the argument that, by associating the ‘miracle’ discourse with a variety of pre-existing narratives, the regime ensured compliance, invalidated dissent and prolonged its repressive grip on power.

Acknowledgements

I am indebted to Laleh Khalili, Triantafyllos Gkouvas and Nancy A. Khalil for their generous comments on the manuscript. I also wish to thank Sahla Aroussi, Raphael el Ghraibi, Corinna Mullin, Ian Somerville and Charles Tripp for important insights. An early draft was presented to a conference organized by the German Council on Foreign Relations where Dina Fakoussa, Béchir Bouraoui and fellow conferees kindly provided valuable feedback.

Notes

¹ The regime's reliance on violence has been well documented. See Ismail (2003: 138–59); Khiari (2003).

² For a more focused analysis, see Harvey (2005).

³ For a discussion on how this impacts upon identity creation, see Massad (2001: 1–17).

⁴ Official rates were significantly lower to accommodate for the country's ‘economic miracle’.

⁵ Interviews, October 2011.

⁶ On how neoliberal policies resulted in the state takeover of Tunisian media outlets see Garon (2003: 42–46).

⁷ Interviews, October 2011.

⁸ Interviews, October 2011. A more recent example would be Tunisia's leading role in the 2011–12 revolts.

⁹ This analysis will not go into a discussion of the term ‘Islamist’. It is employed here to discuss the ‘Ennahdha Movement’ or, as it was known before 1989, the ‘Movement of the Islamic Tendency’.

¹⁰ Sha'ban has also been professor of public law and political science at the University of Tunis.

¹¹ The lack of viable alternatives to Ben Ali was, of course, true since the 1988 National Pact and the violent silencing of political opposition (Anderson, 1991).

¹² Interviews, October 2011.