Bourguiba, Habib

born August 3, 1903, Al-Munastīr, Tunisia

died April 6, 2000, Al-Munastīr

in full Habib ibn Ali Bourguiba architect of Tunisia's independence and first president of Tunisia (1957–87), one of the major voices of moderation and gradualism in the Arab world.

Bourguiba was born—the seventh child of Ali Bourguiba, a former lieutenant in the army of the bey (ruler) of Tunisia—in a small fishing village. At an early age, he was sent to Tunis, where he received a good education in Arabic and in the foundations of Islam, as well as in French and in Western thought.

Between 1924 and 1927 Bourguiba studied law and political science at the Sorbonne, in Paris, where he established contacts with a number of French liberals and with Algerians and Moroccans who were working for the independence of their countries.

For seven years after his return to Tunis in 1927, Bourguiba practiced law, and in 1932 he founded a nationalist newspaper in French. In 1934, when it became apparent that the leading nationalist political group, the Destour (Constitution) Party, was unable to make headway in the struggle for Tunisian independence from France, Bourguiba and his younger colleagues established the Neo-Destour Party, with Bourguiba as its secretary-general. He would become its president 14 years later.

After 1934, Bourguiba was the central figure in the Tunisian national struggle. A pragmatist, he believed in doing things in stages, and his gradualist policy came to be known as “Bourguibism.” It was he who in one word formulated the demands of the Tunisians: independence. Under him the people came to identify with the national movement that had been almost a monopoly of the urban elite. An exceptionally able organizer, Bourguiba not only established branches of the party in out-of-the-way villages but, realizing that the French government would resort to repressive measures, also saw to it that a new set of party executives would always fill the vacuum created by arrest or exile. Between 1934 and 1952 nine such groups succeeded one another, thus keeping the struggle alive; Bourguiba himself spent about 10 years in detention during this period (1934–36, 1938–42, 1952–55).

Imprisoned in Vichy, France, at the outbreak of World War II, Bourguiba refused to throw in his lot with the Axis powers unless they declared Tunisian independence first. He was convinced that the Allies would win the war and strove to keep Tunisia neutral. In 1945–46 and 1951 Bourguiba traveled extensively in the Middle East, the United States, East Asia, and Europe, publicizing the cause of Tunisian independence.

When, in 1952–54, the Tunisian nationalists increasingly took to terrorism, the French government became seriously concerned. Repression ceased to be effective, and in 1954 the government of Pierre Mendès-France began negotiations with Bourguiba; in April 1955 he secured autonomy for his country from Edgar Faure, Mendès-France's successor. Foreign affairs and defense were reserved for France.

On March 20, 1956, Bourguiba, following his policy of gradualism, concluded—with Guy Mollet, the French premier—a treaty giving Tunisia its independence. In 1957 agreement in principle for the evacuation of the French forces from Tunisia, except Bizerte, was reached. After the abolition of the monarchy in 1957, Bourguiba was elected president of Tunisia. Two years later he gave Tunisia a constitution that, while retaining Islam as the state religion, abolished polygamy, controlled divorce, and attempted to make certain that the month-long Fast of Ramadan did not curtail workers' productivity.

Bearing in mind the need to economize, as well as the danger from military coups, Bourguiba kept the Tunisian army small. Tunisia's defense expenditures never exceeded 10 percent of the budget, while education and agriculture usually received 25 percent each and health even a little more. One of the most successful of his projects was the settlement of about 50,000 nomads in southern Tunisia, which under French rule had been governed by a military administration. Bourguiba divided the country into 14 provinces under civilian administration with modern administrative laws.

Because Tunisia depended for its development on foreign aid from various sources, Bourguiba observed a policy of neutrality. Intellectually, culturally, and educationally, however, Tunisia leaned toward France. Yet after independence two incidents imperiled Tunisia's close ties with that country.

In 1961, probably in response to pressures by other Arab leaders, Bourguiba asked France to evacuate Bizerte, which, according to the agreement on independence (1956), was to remain a French military and naval base. When the French did not immediately respond, he ordered an attack on their forces, who returned the fire. Bizerte was finally evacuated more than two years later but at the cost of more than 1,000 Tunisian lives. The nationalization of all land still owned by French settlers in 1964 further strained relations with France. The evacuation of Bizerte caused economic loss to Tunisia by cutting off a source of revenue from France, but Bourguiba gained in prestige.

For many years Bourguiba was a controversial figure in Arab politics, primarily because he took a courageous and independent stand against “unanimous” decisions or dictates by the Arab League but also possibly because he cut a figure on the international scene far bigger than in his own country. Bourguiba believed in a moderate form of socialism. In the mid-1960s Tunisia tried a strict form of agricultural cooperatives and state control of trade and industry, but the result was disastrous, and Bourguiba returned to his more deliberate methods. In 1975 the Tunisian National Assembly made him president for life.

Bourguiba's health began failing in the 1970s, and with this the question of his succession emerged. In 1986 the elderly leader began acting erratically, dismissing close advisers and his handpicked successor, Prime Minister Mohammed Mzali. In early 1987 he appointed Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, the minister of the interior, to the prime ministry after the latter had firmly suppressed Islamic fundamentalists who had planned to overthrow the government. In November 1987 Ben Ali removed Bourguiba from the presidency on the grounds that the aged leader had become too ill and senile to effectively govern the country any longer.