ABSTRACT
Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia exhibit three distinctive patterns of control over their respective economies that more nearly resemble those of their Middle Eastern neighbors than each other. This chapter examines the few distinctive trajectories of these core Maghreb units and identifies the strengths and weaknesses of each political economy in light of the common challenges they face. Algeria, the weakest of the three states, also has the greatest economic potential. Economic integration would benefit all three countries if its weakest link could effect a simultaneous political and economic transformation. Political change is much needed in Tunisia and could have a salutary impact on its Maghreb neighbors. In the 1960s, Tunisia offered a paradigmatic illustration of a little country about to "take off", following the prevailing conventional wisdom about economic development popularized by Walt Whitman Rostow. The Tunisians achieved slightly less rather than more economic growth than their Maghreb neighbors.
