has wide laitude to make decisions on the spot-something which has been capital in handling the large public works unemployment program-but he cannot get too much out of hand because the smallness of Tunisia, and its facile communications allow for frequent consultation with the capital and the shadow of the central goverument is kept at just about optimum intensity.
All the governments of the new Maghrib states could legitimately be considered refom govemments, for each has made significant changes in the legal, judicial, and social structure of
its countries, but in Tunisia reform has been perhaps the mos notable among many accomplishments. Many of the details are discussed later under the heading of social change, but mention should be made here that Tunisia has made a sweeping renovation of the legal basis of society which far exceeds that
of any other North African or Arab country. When the Personal Status Code went into effect in 1os7 Tunisia became the only Arab state in which polygany was unconditionally abolished and women granted full equality with men in all domains. Marriage and divorce were reformed and regulated by new civil laws, while summary repudiation of the wife by the husband was terminated. Religious tribunals for Muslirns and Rabbinical courts for Jews were abolished, placing everyone under the same secular jurisdiction. These reforns were completed by a Civil Status Law which made registration of births and deaths obligatory for the first time and insisted on a specific identity for each individual to replace the anarchic anonymity which prevails in many Arab countries where people do not have surnames. All things considered, the reform of justice, the secularizaion of the law, and the removal of inequality between citizens were probably the mosc important steps taken by the Tunisian stare along the path to becoming an integrated,
moderm nation.
In Tunisia it is comnon to hear it said that the government is the party, and vice versa. "We are all Destourians" is a standard
|