ABSTRACT
Tunisia's government must also attend to more mundane but equally vital efforts to increase economic growth and hold local elections, which have yet to take place since the revolution. Successive rulers under the Islamic empires, and the French—and later Tunisian—governments left state structures and patronage networks largely intact, culminating in the development of a strong, centralized state that allowed the country to escape civil conflict after the ouster of Ben Ali. In an effort to protect investments in Tunisia and shield Algeria from Italian and British ambitions, French forces marched across the Algerian border in 1881 and forced the bey to accept treaties that turned Tunisia into a French protectorate. A French adviser stood behind each Tunisian minister, and France maintained control over Tunisia's foreign policy, although the French did not destroy local economic, political, and social institutions to the degree that they did in Algeria. Bourguiba's progressive philosophy also contributed to Tunisia's commitment to education.
