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| Volume IX, June 2002, Number 2 |
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| EXCERPT: French Foreign Policy and Tunisia: Do Human Rights Matter? |
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| Pia Christina Wood |
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Dr. Wood is director of international studies and associate professor of political science at Wake Forest University.
The French government under
President Jacques Chirac
presents itself as a staunch and
vocal supporter of democratization, human rights and political freedoms. In January 1999, Chirac outlined his foreign-policy agenda, which included "the principle of freedom, to ensure everywhere democracy and respect for the universal declaration of human rights."1 But have the French government's actions followed its rhetoric? Has France taken any action against autocratic regimes with which it has close ties but who have poor records on human rights? If so, under what circumstances and to what extent, and if not, why not? An examination of French foreign policy towards Tunisia provides a starting point to answer these questions.
France and Tunisia have strong economic, political and historical ties. Not only is Tunisia a former French colony, but its leading economic partner is France; the Tunisian community in France numbers 440,000; and France considers Tunisia still to be in its sphere of influence. In the past decade, however, France's relationship with Tunisia has been characterized by ups and downs, mainly due to Tunisia's record on human rights and its intolerance of dissent. Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, president since he took over from Habib Bourguiba in a peaceful coup d'état in 1987, moved quickly to crush the Islamist movement in Tunisia. Not only did the Ben Ali government ban the Islamist party al-Nahda, led by Rachid Ghannouchi, but it sharply curtailed political and press freedoms and harassed and jailed hundreds of political opponents. The French press, along with numerous French and international human-rights groups, has been extremely vocal in condemning the Tunisian government and President Ben Ali. They have also criticized the French government's unwillingness to condemn more forcefully abuses of human rights and to apply greater pressure on Ben Ali to allow more political freedom. This domestic pressure has at times been instrumental in persuading the French government to voice criticisms, albeit discreetly, of the Ben Ali government.
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