Author name:
رغداء عبد الامام فايز يوسف
Supervisor name:
عمار فاضل حمزة العابد
Abstract:
This study addresses the personality of Mohammed Mzali and his political and cultural impact in Tunisia 1925 - 1986, by which the study sheds the light on various aspects of the contemporary history of Tunisia. 1925 chronicles the year of Mohammed Mzali's birth, while 1986 chronicles his dismissal by the Tunisian President, Bourguiba, from all his duties in the country and his sentence to prison. Mzali descends from a tribe of barbaric progeny inhabiting Sous from the side of Agadir, the stronghold of Ait Mzal. In Monastir, he was educated through his primary stage at the Quranic School, then he continued his secondary study in the Sadiki School (1940 - 1947). After, he received his higher education at the Faculty of Arts (La Sorbonne) at Paris, where he earned the Bachelor of Philosophy Degree in a matter of three year. Mohammed Mzali engaged early in the Patriotic Movement because of the historical circumstances that gripped his time, as his early youth age witnessed the escalation of political struggle against the colonial power and the exacerbation of clashes. In addition, his birth and brought up in Monastir, the birthplace of the Tunisian leader, Al - Habib Bourguiba, as well as familial kinship contributed to Mzali's involvement in the political struggle. Mzali studied in the same school where Bourguiba studied in when the first moved to the capital. After gaining the Baccalaureate, he traveled to Paris to study Philosophy. Mzali continued political activism which did not stop in France at the core of the Tunisian and the Maghreb student activity. In 1955, he issued Al - Fikr magazine that was still being issued till 1986 despite the major tasks that he was in charge of. Mzali was well - known to defend Arabic language and culture. While being a lecturer in the Sadiki School and a leading figure in Al - Hur new constitutional party, the first responsibility given to Mzali after Independence was his assignment to establish a general administration for youth and sport, so he had the honor of establishing a national youth policy, structures, organizations, and institutions which he will be working on consolidating them to form what is known as Ministry. So he took over the management of the first Ministry. He joined the structures of the modern national state since the beginning of independence and was appointed the head of the Ministry of Education Office 1956 - 1958. After that, he was appointed the director of the Youth & Sport Management in 1958 and continued in this place till 1964. Then he was appointed at the head of General Directorate of Radio and Television in 1964 as he introduced the Tunisian Television firstly - broadcasted in 1966. At his time, the Radio was also developed in terms of programs and broadcasting space. Since the beginning of 1968, he took over several ministerial positions; the first of which being the Minister of Defense on March 18, 1968, which is the first key ministry. Mzali took over the Ministry of National Education for 8 years starting from December 1969 till March 1980, punctuated by carrying out roles in the Ministry of Health during the period (1973 - 1976). The most important achievement he made in this ministry is Arabization. He succeeded Arabizing the early stages of primary school starting from the first to the fourth grade where teaching is conducted with Arabic language. Then after the fourth grade, French comes into use in addition to Arabic; to that time Tunisian student then had deeply - reflected the native language and had gotten in touch with it. He took over the Ministry of Public Health (1973 - 1976) where he did a lot of work in the field of free health care, as well as its circulation and strengthening its components, given that the national state in Tunisia was founded on three basis : the reformation, circulation, and strengthening of modern public education. In 1980, Mohammed Mzali took over the position of the prime minister as he gave a lot to Tunisia in various fields. Culture, Intellect, and Art had the opportunity to witness a remarkable development through the establishment of robust cultural institutions in addition to the existing ones, like the establishment of Translation & Investigation Institution (Bait Al - Hikma in Carthage), and the National Theatre, as well as developing the existing theatres and the advancement of national festivals. He continued working in his position till getting sacked by Bourguiba in July 1986. Among his works are : Democracy, From the Inspiration of Thought, Attitudes, Studies, The Tunisian House, Perspectives, In the Paths of Thought, Open Letter to Bourguiba, and others. The sresearch deals with the study and analysis of the multiparty system experience applied in Tunisia on October 1981 following the appointment of Mohammed Mzali as the Prime Minister at the head of the Tunisian government in April 1980, who made the democratic openness policy the slogan of his stage. The research then sheds the light on the conditions and factors of experience in addition to its results and the most important parties approved to participate in the elections, and their positions in some of the Tunisian political developments, especially the subject matter of legislative elections that took place in October 1981.
