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Independene North Africa
than minor sanctions. Quite recently there has been noticeable
tightening of authority and an increased severity in punishments. Whether this is a temporary phenomenon or nor will be
more clearly seen when the present tern of the President comes
o an end in 1969--- time when many of the problems men
tioned above: anthorinarianism, the conflict of age and power
groups, and the results of economic sacrifices, seem likely to
come to a head. The present paternalism can be justified, and
seems to be accepted by the people, on the grounds that the
President's energy and vision have pushed and cajoled the
country into progress which it would not have made on it
own. The people tend to be inert, something which is at once a
strength and weakness, but the danger is that continuing
paternalism will make them more inert. On the other hand,
Tunisia has been buttressed by other mure values. los long-
standing social cohesion has been translated into political unity,
and, as the result of long and patient indoctrination since the
mid-1930's by a highly organized political formation, national
values have permeated all important sectors of the country,
Time has also been useful; Tunisia had a generation to ripen
before plunging into independent life and this maturity now
shows. For these reasons, although it is likely that a period of
uncertainty is ahead in the not-too-distant future, when one
considers the proved Tunisian capacity for accommodation and
the ability to subordinate perty problems of the moment to the
pursuit of the principal goal, there is much reason to be hopeful.
In Morocco, a large and more complex country than Tunisia,
the transition period just after independence was more unser-
cled but since then there has been more variety and movement
in the texture of political life. Until 1953 two forces had shared
the leadership of the nationalist movement: the palace and the
Istiqlal Party. After their rempomry effacement, a third force
came on the scene, the so-called "resistance," made up by the
various terrorist groups in the cities and the Liberation Army
in the countryside. The story of independent Morocco reduced
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