ABSTRACT
French businesspeople seemed interested in investing in the industrial development of North African states if they could be assured of a regional Maghribi market. Thus whereas the pluralist or balance-of-power model of inter-Maghribi relations maintains a kind of stability within the North African subsystem of states, the integrationist model maintains a balance within the larger framework of the Arab and the Mediterranean regions. The Arab Maghribi Union (UMA) is meant to be an economic integration on the model of the European Community. For Tunisia, the UMA provided greater freedom of action and more security. The chapter describes the UMA into a historical context and analyzes the conditions under which it was created. It explores some of the reasons behind the formation of the union as well as the benefits each state will derive from it. The chapter examines the political and economic implications of this new attempt at integration within the wider regional and international context.
