Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0372/03720.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 37KB | 641 lines

$Unique_ID{COW03720}
$Pretitle{289}
$Title{Tunisia
Front Matter}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Harold D. Nelson}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{national
political
tunisia
bourguiba
percent
social
government
foreign
tunisian
country}
$Date{1986}
$Log{Global Map*0372001.scf
Figure 1.*0372002.scf
}
Country:     Tunisia
Book:        Tunisia, A Country Study
Author:      Harold D. Nelson
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1986

Front Matter

Foreword

     This volume is one of a continuing series of books prepared by Foreign
Area Studies, The American University, under the Country Studies/Area
Handbook Program. The last page of this book provides a listing of other
published studies. Each book in the series deals with a particular foreign
country, describing and analyzing its economic, national security, political,
and social systems and institutions and examining the interrelationships of
those systems and institutions and the ways that they are shaped by cultural
factors. Each study is written by a multidisciplinary team of social
scientists. The authors seek to provide a basic insight and understanding of
the society under observation, striving for a dynamic rather than a static
portrayal of it. The study focuses on historical antecedents and on the
cultural, political, and socioeconomic characteristics that contribute to
cohesion and cleavage within the society. Particular attention is given to
the origins and traditions of the people who make up the society, their
dominant beliefs and values, their community of interests and the issues on
which they are divided, the nature and extent of their involvement with the
national institutions, and their attitudes toward each other and toward the
social system and political order within which they live.

     The contents of the book represent the views, opinions, and findings of
Foreign Area Studies and should not be construed as an official Department of
the Army position, policy, or decision, unless so designated by other official
documentation. The authors have sought to adhere to accepted standards of
scholarly objectivity. Such corrections, additions, and suggestions for
factual or other changes that readers may have will be welcomed for use in
future new editions.

Director
Foreign Area Studies
The American University
5010 Wisconsin Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20016

Acknowledgements

     The authors are grateful to those individuals in various international,
governmental, and academic organizations who gave of their time, data, special
knowledge, and authoritative perspective on Tunisia. Gratitude is also
extended to members of the Foreign Area Studies support staff who contributed
directly to the production of this book. These persons include Catherine L.
Connor, Denise R. Barber, and Andrea T. Merrill, who edited the manuscript and
the accompanying figures and tables; Harriett R. Blood and Gustavo Adolfo
Mendoza, who prepared the graphics; Ernest A. Will, publications manager;
Wayne W. Olsen, administrative assistant; Gilda V. Nimer and Karen Leitch,
librarians; and Jesse L. Williams and Lisa C. Young, who keyboarded the
manuscript. The book was indexed by Kathryne Kozak and phototypeset by
Margaret Quinn.

     The aesthetic touches that enhance the book's appearance are the work of
Mr. Mendoza, whose illustrations appear on the cover and the title pages of
the chapters. The inclusion of photographs has been made possible by the
generosity of various individuals and public and private agencies. Special
appreciation is extended to those persons who contributed original camera work
not previously published.

Preface

     This third edition of Tunisia: A Country Study replaces the second
edition, which was researched and written in late 1978 and published in 1979.
At the time the second edition was finished, Tunisia was at the beginning of
its third decade of independence from French administrative domination. Under
the charismatic leadership of President Habib Bourguiba, the young republic
had gained a significant international reputation as an Arab state seeking to
achieve national development goals through a pragmatic course that borrowed
liberally from the concepts of free and centrally planned Western societies.
Now, seven years later, the third edition views the results that have been
achieved as Tunisia nears the end of its third decade of sovereignty.

     Like its predecessor, the third edition seeks to provide a compact and
objective exposition of Tunisia's dominant social, economic, political, and
national security institutions and, hopefully, to give the reader some
appreciation of the forces involved in contemporary national life. In
presenting this new study, the authors have relied primarily on official
reports of governmental and international organizations, journals, newspapers,
and material reflecting recent field research by scholarly authorities.
Detailed information on many aspects of the society, however, was not always
readily available, and gaps in the data as well as varying interpretations
existed among some of the sources consulted. Where appropriate, these gaps and
inconsistencies have been cited in the text. Should readers require greater
detail on core area topics, the authors have noted the availability of
amplifying materials in bibliographic statements at the end of each chapter.
Full references to these and other sources used or considered are included in
the detailed Bibliography.

     The literature of Tunisia is frequently confusing because of the tendency
to mix English and French transliterations of Arabic words, phrases, personal
names, and place-names. For the most part, the authors of this study have
attempted to reduce this confusion by adhering to the system of French
transliteration, inasmuch as that is the form generally used in Tunisia, where
half of the people speak French in addition to the official language, Arabic.

     Arab personal names are often particularly confusing to the Western
reader. A man's name includes his paternal genealogy and sometimes also
indicates his family name, his tribal affiliation, and his village or region
of origin. For example, a man named Abd al Rahman ibn (or ben) Qasim ibn
Mohammed (or Mohamed) El (or Al) Hamma would be recognized as the son of
Qasim, the grandson of Mohammed, and a native of the town of El Hamma. The man
would be addressed as Mister (or his title, if any) Abd al Rahman. In spoken
Arabic, names are elided, so that in this instance the name would be
pronounced as if it were spelled Abdur Rahman. On many occasions the Western
press spells such names as Abdel (or Abdul) Rahman, implying incorrectly that
the man's first name is Abdel and that his last is Rahman. Many Arabic names,
such as the one in this example, are designations of the attributes of God
(Allah). Abd al means a slave or servant of, and Rahman means merciful; thus,
the name literally means the slave or servant of the Merciful (God).

     Where foreign and technical words and phrases have been used in this
study, they have been defined briefly where they first appear in a chapter, or
reference has been made to the Glossary, which is included at the back of the
book for the reader's guidance. The dictionary used was Webster's Ninth New
Collegiate Dictionary. All measurements are presented in the metric system,
which is used in Tunisia. A conversion table will assist those readers who are
not familiar with metric equivalents (see table 1, Appendix).

Country Profile

[See Global Map: Map of Tunisia on the Globe.]

Country

     Formal Name: Republic of Tunisia.

     Short Form: Tunisia.

     Term for Citizens: Tunisian(s).

     Capital: Tunis.

     Flag: Rectangular red field with white circular portion in center; red
crescent encircles red five-point star within white center.

Geography

     Size: About 164,000 square kilometers; 1,600 kilometers of coastline.

     Topography: Dominant natural feature Dorsale mountain chain, wh