The Tunisia of Ahmad Bey, 1837-1855

Under the energetic but confused prodding of the activist ruler Ahmad Bey, Tunisia made its first effort to institute European-inspired political and military reforms. L. Carl Brown's book on the reign of Ahmad Bey is thus a case study in modernization as well as a historical survey of Tunisia in the mid-nineteenth century. Professor Brown explains the workings of the traditional political system, an elaborate blend of Hafsid and Ottoman governmental ideas and practices. He explores the ways in which the changes imposed on Tunisia by the West made this system unworkable. Turning to the modernization movement itself, the author argues that the first phase of modernization was almost exclusively in the hands of the existing political elite, whose background, education, career pattern, and self-image he examines. This elite, working within a political climate characterized by a close interweaving of domestic and diplomatic concerns, developed an operating style described as collaborationist modernization. In addition to recapturing in a narrative history the age of Ahmad Bey and the political class over which he ruled, Professor Brown fits the Tunisian story of these years into the broader historical context of change imposed by the West on the rest of the world. Originally published in 1975. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905. Under the energetic but confused prodding of the activist ruler Ahmad Bey, Tunisia made its first effort to institute European-inspired political and military reforms. L. Carl Brown's book on the reign of Ahmad Bey is thus a case study in modernization as well as a historical survey of Tunisia in the mid-nineteenth century. Professor Brown explains the workings of the traditional political system, an elaborate blend of Hafsid and Ottoman governmental ideas and practices. He explores the ways in which the changes imposed on Tunisia by the West made this system unworkable. Turning to the modernization movement itself, the author argues that the first phase of modernization was almost exclusively in the hands of the existing political elite, whose background, education, career pattern, and self-image he examines. This elite, working within a political climate characterized by a close interweaving of domestic and diplomatic concerns, developed an operating style described as collaborationist modernization. In addition to recapturing in a narrative history the age of Ahmad Bey and the political class over which he ruled, Professor Brown fits the Tunisian story of these years into the broader historical context of change imposed by the West on the rest of the world. Originally published in 1975. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905 Frontmatter LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS (page ix) PREFACE (page xi) NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION AND THE USE OF ARABIC AND TURKISH TECHNICAL TERMS (page xiii) ABBREVIATIONS USED (page xiv) TABLE OF PRINCIPAL DATES (page xv) INTRODUCTION (page 3) PART ONE: The Traditional Folitical Culture I Tunisia: Mediterranean, Muslim and Ottoman (page 19) II The Political Class (page 41) III The Web of Government (page 93) IV The Religious Establishment (page 146) V ...And the Ruled (page 184) PART TWO The Westernizing World of Ahmad Bey Introduction (page 207) VI Ahmad Bey (page 209) VII Tunisia and an Encroaching Outside World (page 237) VIII Military Reforms (page 261) IX Marks of Modernity (page 313) X The Fatal Flaw (page 335) Conclusion: The Meaning of it all (page 353) APPENDIX I Husaynid Marriage Patterns (page 369) APPENDIX II Provincial Qaids (page 372) APPENDIX III A Note on Population (page 375) GLOSSARY (page 379) BIBLIOGRAPHY (page 383) INDEX (page 399)