A Comparative Political Economy of Tunisia and Morocco

Gregory White

Description

This book examines the profound impact of European integration on two North African countries, Tunisia and Morocco. Confronting the theoretical literatures on the "entanglements" of the domestic and international realms, and the intricate role played by the middle-income state in the international arena, White provides the first detailed comparison of Tunisia and Morocco's post-independence political economies, especially in the context of the "Euro-Mediterranean Partnerships" signed with the European Union in the late 1990s.

North African states must act, on the one hand, as entrepreneurs seeking to encourage trade and attract foreign investment within the domestic economy, in the process of crafting foreign economic policy with the European Union. On the other hand, such states are constrained by domestic pressures such as imperatives to secure job creation and maintain internal security. Countries on the periphery are therefore faced with two distinct questions: first, how does a middle-income state balance its conflicting roles and manage its relations with a regional power; and second, how does the relationship with the outside world affect key domestic actors? Answering these questions is one of the primary challenges facing Tunisia and Morocco in the new decade.

Acknowledgments

Preface

Introduction

Part I: Theoretical Framework

Chapter 1 Middle-Income Countries and the Politics of Economic Change

Chapter 2 A Political Economy of Tunisia and Morocco

Part II: The International Realm and Maghribi Political Economy

Chapter 3 Euro-Maghribi Relations: The International Context of Maghribi Domestic Development

Chapter 4 Tunisia's Infitah to Europe: The “Tunisia Model”

Chapter 5 Morocco's Deferred Adjustment

Part III: State-in-Society and State-in-the-International-Economy

Chapter 6 Who's Winning? Tunisia and Morocco's Competition for Partnership with the European Union

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Sujets

• África
• Political economy
• History of Africa
• Central
• Africa
• National

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 26 juillet 2001
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791490280
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

A Comparative Political Economy of Tunisia and Morocco

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A Comparative Political Economy of Tunisia and Morocco

On the Outside of Europe Looking In

Gregory White

State University of New York Press

© 2001 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, elec- trostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, address State University of New York Press, 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany, NY 12207

Production by Michael Haggett Marketing by Anne M. Valentine

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

White, Gregory, 1960– A comparative political economy of Tunisia and Morocco / Gregory White. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7914-5027-9 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-7914-5028-7 (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. Industrial policy—Tunisia. 2. Industrial policy—Morocco. 3. Tunisia— Foreign economic relations—European Union countries. 4. European Union countries—Foreign economic relations—Tunisia. 5. Morocco—Foreign economic relations—European Union countries. 6. European Union countries—Foreign economic relations—Morocco. I. Title.

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HD3616.T83 W48 2001 338.961—dc21

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Preface ix

Introduction

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Part I: Theoretical Framework Chapter 1 Middle-Income Countries and the Politics of Economic Change 11 Chapter 2 A Political Economy of Tunisia and Morocco

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Part II: The International Realm and Maghribi Political Economy Chapter 3 Euro-Maghribi Relations: The International Context of Maghribi Domestic Development 49 Chapter 4 Tunisia’sInfitahto Europe: The “Tunisia Model” 79 Chapter 5 Morocco’s Deferred Adjustment 121

Part III:

State-in-Society and State-in-the-International-Economy Chapter 6 Who’s Winning? Tunisia and Morocco’s Competition for Partnership with the European Union 145 Notes 173 Bibliography 213 Index 239

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Acknowledgments

A project that has taken this long to complete and has been worked on in Tunis, Rabat, Casablanca, Brussels, Paris, Madison, Cambridge, and Northampton prompts great appreciation to many people and institutions for their assistance. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, special thanks goes to Crawford Young, who served as advisor for the dissertation from which the book initially emerged. Thank you also to Michael Schatzberg and Donald Emmerson for their support and guidance. In addition, I am grateful to Michael Barnett, Jeff Cason, Andy Davison, Leon Lindberg, and Denis O’Hearn for their comments on various draft chapters, funding proposals, and papers. Barbara Stallings and David Trubeck of the Global Studies Research Program were immensely help- ful, as was Mark Tessler, then at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Finally, Megan Ballard provided invaluable friendship and support in the early stages of this project. Many people in Tunisia were generous and supportive. In Tunisia I espe- cially wish to thank Jeanne Jeffers Mrad of the Center for Maghribi Studies in Tunis (CEMAT). Jeanne’s presence in Tunisia has been a blessing to countless researchers. I am forever grateful. In addition, I am appreciative to the staff at the Center for the Study of Economy and Society (CERES) at the University of Tunis. I am also indebted to several members of the staff at Citibank, Tunis for their advice and conversation. I especially wish to thank the families of Mouna and Rajai Manai (and Zed), Selmi Adel, and Fatma Kinzari for their hospitality, kindness, and friendship. Rhys Payne and Lynette Rummel provided priceless camaraderie. Finally, thanks to Madame Marie and the guys at the pizza joint on the corner in Carthage-Dermech. In France, I am indebted to Beatrice de Saenger and the staff of the Institute for the Research and Study of the Muslim World (IREMAM) in Aix- en-Provence. Judith Miller of the University of Wisconsin-Michigan Junior Year Abroad Program in Aix-en-Provence was also very helpful and kind. In Morocco, I am indebted to the staff of the Moroccan-American Commission for Education and Cultural Exchange in Rabat, which was re-

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Acknowledgments

sponsible for administering the Fulbright-Hayes Serial Grant that funded re- search during the summers of 1994-1996. In particular, Saadia Maski offered superior friendship and support. I am also grateful to the Faculty of Law and Economic Sciences at the University of Mohammed V in Rabat, as well as Susan Ossman and the Institut de Recherche sur le Maghreb Contemporain (IMRC). In Rabat, I am thankful to many people, including Andreas Beckermann, Ali Boubid, Larabi Jaidi, Jim Lowenthal, Abdelhäy Moudden, and Souraya Sebti. Confidentiality requires that I not list people I interviewed, but I wish to thank officials, staff, and academics who offered their insight and assistance at the University of Tunis’ Faculty of Law, the Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture, USAID/ Tunis, the EC Delegation to Tunisia, the Tunisian Embassy in Brussels, Center for European Policy Studies in Brussels, the OECD in Paris, USAID/Rabat, the University of Mohammed V in Rabat, the EU Delegation to Morocco in Rabat, the Cabinet Royal in Rabat, the MENA Summit in Rabat, the Centre Marocain de Conjoncture in Casablanca, and the Moroccan Ministry of Maritime Fisheries in Rabat. I thankfully acknowledge generous financial and institutional support pro- vided by: a Fulbright-IEE Research Grant to Tunisia and France; the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Scholars Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; the European Community Studies Association’s Ford Foundation Dissertation Award for 1992; a Fulbright-Hayes serial grant to Rabat; the Jean Picker Faculty Research Fellowship and the Office of the Dean of the Faculty at Smith College; and Susan G. Miller and the Center for Middle East Studies at Harvard University. I am grateful for criticisms from two anonymous readers, as well as critical readings by Chris Alexander, Michael Clancy, John Damis, Mary Geske and Dirk Vandewalle of chapters and papers on which this book is based. Laurie Brand deserves special appreciation for her sharp reading and advice. I am also thankful to research assistance from Marilyn Rackley, Jennifer Zaslow, and Martha Johnson. Most of all, I am grateful to my family, especially the love of Tricia. Emmett and Sydney, for their part, have agreed to accept all responsibility for errors in the manuscript. Finally, I fondly dedicate this work to three people: a gardener, my grandfather, George Hamilton White, Sr.; his wife, my grand- mother, Sydney Baird White; and a teacher, their daughter, my aunt, Eleanor Ann White.

Preface

The last decade dawned in North Africa as Iraq invaded Kuwait and as a U.S.- led coalition amassed a military response in the Persian Gulf. Ultimately, the 1991 Gulf War revealed Tunisia and Morocco’s vulnerability to the external international economy and, in particular, their reliance on the European Union (EU, formerly the European Community [EC]). Located on the southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea between Algeria and Libya, Tunisia is a small country in terms of its population, natural resource endowment, land mass, and the size of its economy. Tunisia’s official diplomatic stance during the crisis in the Gulf—opposition to Iraq’s invasion but even stronger disapproval of Western intervention—and the perception that an Arab country would not be safe for tourists, led European tour operators to choose other destinations for their customers. European importers also can- celed subcontracts for textiles and orders for citrus. Tunisia’s exports plum- meted, tourists stayed away, and Tunisian officials agonized about the prospects 1 for growth. Morocco is situated to the west of Algeria—only eight miles from Spain at the closest crossing point—and it possesses an extensive Atlantic seaboard. Moreover, it is much larger than Tunisia in most respects. For its part, Morocco supported the U.S.-led coalition during the Gulf War, sending troops to the Gulf and denouncing the Iraqi invasion. Despite its larger size and its more pro-Western stance, however, Morocco’s economy also suffered, with tourist 2 receipts dropping dramatically. The problems experienced during the Gulf War, however, were only symp- toms of a larger problem the countries of North Africa—known as al-Maghrib 3 in Arabic—have experienced throughout the postindependence era. This book argues that Tunisia and Morocco’s contemporary economic difficulties are an outgrowth of the countries’ position on the immediate periphery of an eco- nomic space dominated by Europe. This position was well illustrated in July 1995 when Tunisia signed a Partnership Agreement with the European Union, with Morocco signing a similar Agreement in November 1995. “European

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