Habib Bourguiba

President of Tunisia (1956-1987)

• Born: August 3, 1903
• Birthplace: Monastir, Tunisia
• Died: April 6, 2000
• Place of death: Monastir, Tunisia

Bourguiba organized Tunisians to confront French rule and was the catalyst for independence, leading his people to nationhood in 1956. For thirty-one years, Bourguiba served as Tunisia’s only president, until he was toppled from power in a bloodless coup d’état in 1987.

Early Life

Habib Bourguiba (hah-BEEB bewr-GEE-bah) was born in Monastir, Tunisia. Monastir, located on the north-central coast of Tunisia, was the site of a large, ancient Islamic fortress that was a constant reminder of Tunisia’s ties to Islam. Bourguiba’s family was one of modest means, being members of the lower-ranking civil service. When Bourguiba was five years old, his mother died, and his father then sent him to Tunis to reside with his elder brother Muhammad. There was no question about the young Bourguiba’s intelligence, and after training in the local Qur՚ānic schools, he went to the elementary school of Sadiki College. Later, he attended the college itself, an important center of Tunisian learning, as well as the Lycee Carnot. It was at Sadiki College and the Lycee Carnot that Bourguiba learned the best of both the French and the Tunisian worlds. Sadiki College would prove to have a profound impact on the young Habib Bourguiba and a dramatic impact on the course of Tunisian history.

Founded in the 1860’s, Sadiki College trained generations of Tunisians who would become the leaders of the nationalist movement. These young Tunisians sought to blend a modern Tunisian nationalism with Arab, Islamic values, and with the best that France had to offer. It was into this environment that Bourguiba entered as a student. Never in good health, Bourguiba had bouts of illness that slowed his studies, but eventually he went on to Paris to study law in 1924.

While in Paris, Bourguiba saw and adopted many French and Western European ideas, and before returning to Tunisia in 1927, he married a French woman. As a young intellectual, deeply impressed by life in the sophisticated French capital, Bourguiba was not simply content to practice law in Tunis. In 1922, he joined the Tunisian Destour (constitution) Party. Although composed of forward-looking young Tunisians, the Destour Party did not have a coherent program or specific ideology. Although it admired things French and modern, praising traditional French ideals (which were so often forgotten in the imperialist scheme of things), Destour looked backward to a supposed golden age of reform before the establishment of the 1881 protectorate.

Life’s Work

Bourguiba and his circle of friends rejected the program of the Destour Party as the way to independence, and in 1933 they prepared the groundwork for the establishment of a new organization, the Neo-Destour Party. In 1933, Bourguiba and others founded the newspaper L’Action Tunisienne, which was highly critical of the Destour leadership, calling for stronger action to end the French protectorate, an action designed to provoke the French. At Kasr Hillal in March, 1934, the mavericks formed a vigorous new party, the Neo-Destour, with Bourguiba as its leading light. Many of the Neo-Destourians were from small towns, and a large number were from the ranks of Sadiki College graduates. From 1934 to 1936, Bourguiba and many of his Neo-Destour colleagues found themselves in jail for anti-Protectorate agitation. From 1938 to 1943, Bourguiba was again in jail. Following a series of riots in Tunis in April, 1938, the Neo-Destour was outlawed, and its leadership was arrested and incarcerated by the French.

The French Republic had good reason to fear unrest in Tunisia. Fascist Italy, with which France had had decent relations up to 1938, began a concentrated effort to extend its control over several French holdings, including Tunisia. Italian colonial claims to Tunisia in 1881 were substantial, and the young Italian government suffered a deep humiliation when Tunisia was added to the French Empire. The issue surfaced again in 1896 and, again, briefly, after the end of World War I. Benito Mussolini, with his dreams of a revitalized Roman Empire and feeling secure in his newfound friendship with Adolf Hitler, began to pressure the much-weakened Paris government over Tunisia. The result was repression in Tunisia. After the fall of France in 1940, Tunisia came under the rule of Vichy France and fascist Italy exerted more influence over the protectorate. With the heavy fighting in North Africa, the Germans allowed nationalists to operate with little interference. Italy, on the other, sought to use the nationalist movement for its own ends. With the defeat of Axis forces in North Africa, French rule was restored and repressions followed.

There can be little doubt that Bourguiba regarded fascism as he did Marxism. The shrewd North African could see no future with either the Roman fasces or the Russian hammer and sickle. Pressured by the fascists during his incarceration in Rome in 1942 and 1943, Bourguiba continued to urge support for France but warned that support did not mean an end to Neo-Destourian agitation for an end to the protectorate. Once liberated from fascist imprisonment, Bourguiba went back to work as an organizer.

By 1948, Bourguiba was the most popular nationalist leader in Tunisia, with a great following among those Tunisians who had served in the allied armies against the Axis and among young, well-educated Tunisians in general, but there seemed to be no relief from the short-lived de Gaulle government (1944-1946). France found it necessary to ease restrictions of nationalist activities. It appeared that in 1950 and 1951 France and the Neo-Destour had reached agreements for internal reforms. However, when Tunisian nationalists appealed to the United Nations for assistance, France quickly moved to reinstitute repression. With many leaders such as Bourguiba in jail, an armed resistance was created. The situation festered, and the once-peaceful protectorate was in a state of virtual siege. The change finally came in 1954, when France, reeling from the loss of the Indo-Chinese War and facing continual problems (but not yet full-scale revolution) in Algeria, changed its imperialist policy. In that year, French premier Pierre Mendès-France visited Tunisia and on July 31, 1954, proclaimed the self-government of Tunisia within a French union. Even Bourguiba, back in prison, hailed the French move and praised the French for keeping faith with their own revolutionary heritage. For two years, negotiations took place between Tunisia and the French, looking forward to the 1956 target of independence. In 1955, Bourguiba returned to Tunis and was given a hero’s welcome by the people. By the time of independence in 1956, there was no more popular figure in Tunisia than Bourguiba.

Bourguiba’s tenure as Tunisia’s first president represented moderation. He rejected virulent Arab nationalism, cautioned against Tunisia being too deeply embroiled in the Arab-Israeli conflict (even though that conflict had not yet drawn distinct lines), urged nonalignment in the area of international diplomacy, promoted a Tunisian brand of Arab socialism (the Neo-Destour Party changed its name in 1964 to the Parti Socialist Desturien), encouraged French help (assistance among equals), and tried to come to grips with the thorny and ever-present problem of state-Islam relations. Bourguiba did give sanctuary to the Algerian rebels, who were locked in a bloody life-and-death struggle with France, but he feared the rampant nationalism of the Algerians. He worried lest the Algerians infect Tunisian youth who saw the Algerian Front de Liberation Nationale and their army as a set of true North African heroes.

Bourguiba’s relationship with Islam was a rocky one. While the 1956 constitution proclaimed Islam as the religion of the state, there was a continual contest between Bourguiba and Islam. In 1960, this contest came to a head when Bourguiba prescribed the dates for Ramadan, the month of fasting, one of the five great pillars of the Muslim faith. The month of Ramadan tries the patience of the believers and could seriously hinder commerce and industry. Also, the end of Ramadan is marked by al-Futur, a feast of celebration, which can also tax the faithful. Bourguiba, citing national goals, tried hard to curtail Ramadan, without success. Bourguiba had shown, however, a tendency to interpret Islam in the context of the modern nation-state. In 1960, this was an issue, but by the 1980’s, with Islam flexing a strong and militant muscle, the picture would be different indeed.

As early as 1957, Bourguiba officially began to address the needs of Tunisian women in the modern world. He personally attacked the veil as a relic of the past that was not rooted in Islam. In 1957, over strong objections by traditionalists, he encouraged the formation of the Union des Femmes de la Tunisie (UNFT), and he continued his support of Tunisian women by assuring them the vote in municipal elections in 1957 and in all subsequent national and local elections. More than forty thousand women were enrolled in the UNFT by 1960, and the future seemed bright for Tunisian women. By the 1980’s, however, the bright banner of the UNFT had become tarnished, as had many once so promising national institutions, because of the lack of direction from the rapidly aging Bourguiba.

In creating modern Tunisia, Bourguiba built a one-party state with power resting mainly in his hands and, to a much lesser extent, in the hands of the Neo-Destour cadres. If Bourguiba had had to rely only on his own position as president or on his role as head of the party, it is doubtful that he could have lasted thirty-one years. His charisma, his role in the Tunisian independence movement, and his basic moderation, keeping Tunisia relatively free of embroilment in the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict and stemming the tide of Islamic fundamentalism, made Bourguiba the figure of stability and continuity for Tunisia. After independence, Bourguiba began a collective economic policy, but it became clear that this policy caused economic stagnation and discontent. By 1970 a new, liberal policy was adopted, and the Tunisian economy showed signs of an economic recovery. In addition to finding a solid economic system for Tunisia, Bourguiba began ambitious plans to modernize health care, making it free and available to all. Given his educational background, Bourguiba planned to eradicate illiteracy and upgrade the entire Tunisian educational system.

Bourguiba never did come to grips with the question of an orderly succession, nor did he, throughout the 1970’s and early 1980’s, encourage the emergence of new leadership within the party. While the future looked good for Tunisia, there were troubling signs, such as rising unemployment and an economic slowdown. Four major problems would come to plague Bourguiba’s last few years in power: Bourguiba’s declining health and the succession issue, the atrophy of the one-party state, Islamic fundamentalism, and relations with Tunisia’s North African neighbors, Algeria and Libya.

In the early 1980’s, rumors emanated from Tunis that Bourguiba was suffering from a number of ailments and that old age had begun to take its toll on the leader. Bourguiba’s son had been named as a likely successor, but this was not to be. No one seemed to be sure what Bourguiba had in mind, and there were reports that his behavior was becoming more erratic.

In 1983, the Bourguiba government froze wages, but inflation continued until, in 1984, there were food riots that shook the foundation of the government. There were signs of an Islamic revival movement. The Movement de la Tendance Islamiste became something of a force in the towns and on campuses. Labor problems beset the government. Muhammad Mzali, the prime minister and the man selected by Bourguiba to succeed him at some unspecified time, found it difficult to deal with the rising tide of religious, political, and economic discontent.

Libya continued to be a clear threat to Tunisia, and neither Bourguiba nor Mzali seemed able to curb the open enthusiasm for Libya’s anti-Western posturing. Libya’s position fitted well with the Muslim revivalists and with those who called for radical change in Tunisia.

In November, 1987, in a bloodless coup, Tunisian security chief (appointed by Bourguiba) Zine El Abidíne Ben Ali removed the ailing, eighty-four-year-old president. The new leader simply stated that Bourguiba was “mentally unfit” to remain in power, and he was placed in house arrest near Tunis. For all practical purposes, Bourguiba, a sick, aged man, passed from the political scene.

Significance

Despite Bourguiba’s removal from power there remained his legacy: an independent Tunisia. His accomplishments were many, and they will, in the long run, overshadow the last years of his rule. Bourguiba’s first and greatest accomplishment was the nurturing of the ideal of independence, which grew into the reality of a bloodless transition from colonial status to new nationhood. He helped bring Tunisia to independence without the bitter ideological baggage that weighed down so many new states of the developing world. Bourguiba’s second feat was to steer a moderate course when other African and Arab states were mired in wars and successive, destructive coups d’état. It was always clear that Bourguiba led an Arab, Islamic state, but his reasonable approach brought him respect from all sides, and he was able then to suggest answers and compromises to feuding factions.

In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, however, Bourguiba, frustrated with the course of Arab-Israeli relations, did involve Tunisia more and more with the Palestine Liberation Organization, allowing it to maintain offices and camps, especially for orphaned and traumatized children, in the Tunis area. Ironically, this evidence of Tunisia’s Arab status brought violence in the form of an Israeli air raid and assassinations. As Bourguiba reasoned, it was perhaps inevitable that the conflict would touch even the most moderate Arab state.

Bourguiba also left behind one of the most prosperous North African states, with concrete achievements in education, wage-earning levels, and women’s rights. By the last half of the 1970’s Bourguiba’s prestige was at its highest, but as he aged this prestige began to slip away. Perhaps Bourguiba believed that only he, the man who gave life to independent Tunisia, had the insights to keep it on its course. As Bourguiba’s force waned, so did the basic direction of the state, and this led to his removal in 1987. On April 6, 2000, Habib Bourguiba died at Monastir, Tunisia, where he had been in internal exile. Bourguiba had ruled Tunisia with an enlightened hand from 1957 to 1987, but like many leaders of strong purpose and ideology, he failed to provide for a smooth transition. His legacy was great, and Bourguiba has often been compared to the great Turkish modernizer Atatürk. He will be remembered as one of the outstanding modern statesman of North Africa and the Arab-Islamic world. Despite the inglorious end to his career, his achievements cannot be tarnished.

Bibliography

Brown, Leon Carl. The Tunisia of Ahmad Bey, 1837-1855. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1974. This is a study critical to understanding the reform period that deeply affected the Tunisian nationalists of the twentieth century.

Micaud, Charles A. Tunisia: The Politics of Modernization. New York: Praeger, 1964. Despite its date, this work contains valuable information on the course of Tunisian politics and society after independence.

Moore, Clement Henry. Politics in North Africa: Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia. Boston: Little, Brown, 1970. This useful volume compares the politics of the three former French North African states since independence. It is detailed and makes serious comparisons.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Tunisia Since Independence. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1965. This book remains one of the better studies on the emergence of Tunisian elites after independence.

Murphy, Emma C. “The Roots of Crisis: Economic Policy Under Bourguiba, 1956-1987.” In Economic and Political Change in Tunisia: From Bourguiba to Ben Ali. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999. This history of Tunisia since independence includes a chapter examining Bourguiba’s economic policy.

Perkins, Kenneth J. A History of Modern Tunisia. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000. This history of twentieth century Tunisia includes information about Bourguiba, examining how the country became independent and how Bourguiba’s government and subsequent administrations built the nation.

Sylvester, Anthony. Tunisia. London: Bodley Head, 1969. Sylvester’s work is a serious study of the fabric of Tunisian history. What this work does is relate the developments of the twentieth century to Tunisia’s past. Well written, this book helps the reader to see the whole history of Tunisia in a usable, compact form.

Zartman, I. William, ed. Political Elites in Arab North Africa. New York: Longman, 1982. This important work includes the former French colonies and also Libya and Egypt. The scholarly, well-researched articles by leading authorities tie together all of Arab and Islamic North Africa, regardless of former colonial status. While focusing on the elites, this book sheds great light on the complexities of inter-North African diplomacy and relations.