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Independent North Africa
has wide latitude to make decisions on the spot--something
which has been capital in handling the large public works un
employment program--but he cannot get too much our of
hand because the smallness of Tunisia, and its facile communi.
cations allow for frequent consultation with the capital and the
shadow of the central government is kept at just about opti-
mum intensity.
All the governments of the new Maghrib states could legiti-
mately be considered reform governments, for each has made
significant changes in the legal, judicial, and social structure of
its countries, buc in Tunisia reform has been perhaps the most
notable among many accomplishments. Many of the details are
discussed later under the heading of social change, but men-
tion 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 Per-
sonal Status Code went into effect in 1957 Tunisia became the
only Arab state in which polygamy was unconditionally abol-
ished and women granted full equality with men in all do
mains. 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 Muslims and
Rabbinical courts for Jews were abolished, placing everyone
under the same secular jurisdiction. These reforms were com-
pleted 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 secularization of the law, and the removal of inequality
between citizens were probably the most important steps taken
by the Tunisian state along the path to becoming an integrated,
modern nation.
In Tunisia it is common to hear it said that the government is
party, and vice versa. "We are all Destourians' is a standard
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