Tunisia

Politics

Nowadays, I think that Tunisia is best known as the country where the Arab spring began.

On 17 December 2010 Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26 years old street vendor, set himself afire in protest of the confiscation of his goods and the humiliation by a female police officer. What followed were massive protests and the well-known Tunisian revolution which led to the resignation of the long time leading president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. After democratic elections  Ennahda gained political power. As Ennahda is an Islamic group the main fear of the secular parties was that Ennahda would include the Sharia in the constitution but they maintained the secular nature of the state and no Islamic laws were introduced.

Economy

The main challenge for the new president is the high unemployment rate, especially among the young.  Tunisia has a very diversified economy ranging from agriculture, mining, manufacturing, and petroleum products, to tourism. In the last decade it managed to establish a growth of 5% but this growing economy also suffered from corruption during that decade. Despite of this corruption Tunsia has managed to attract plenty of foreign companies such as Hewley-Packart.

Language

Arabic is the official language and Tunsian Arabic is the local language. While travelling through Tunisia you won’t have any language difficulties.  Like Algeria, Tunisia was also occupied by the French and the French language is still very important in Tunisian education. From the age  of 8 children are taught French and from the age of 12 they are taught English.Since 1991 a basic education for children between 6 and 16 is obliged.

Tourism

Tourism plays a huge role in today’s Tunisian economy. Tunisia has plenty to offer. It has a rich history, beautiful beaches and a magnificent dessert . Tunisia is a very modern Arab country due to the occupation of the French and  the adoption of a gender equality law in the constitution by the former president Ben Ali.(perhaps one of the few things the former president Ben Ali has done good for his country) 

Sources:
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/03/27/203529.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunisiahttps://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ts.htmlhttp://www.hrw.org/world-report-2012/world-report-2012-tunisia