The political economy of structural adjustment in Tunisia and Algeria

Abstract

This analysis of the economic reform programmes launched in Tunisia and Algeria from the late 1980s seeks to account for their divergent outcomes, namely that the Tunisian exercise has met with a large measure of success, whereas Algerian efforts have not. Attention is focused on international factors, economic institutions and domestic political dynamics. Briefly stated, four factors appear to have had a major influence on the relative success of economic reform: (1) the nature of ties to international financial markets; (2) the timing and sequence of economic reforms; (3) the nature of the state reform coalition; and (4) the nature of organised political opposition.