Rethinking unsustainability in Tunisia's sustainable development

Abstract

This article problematises sustainable development in Tunisia through the lens of regional (under)development. Decades of accumulated imbalances between the country's coastal (Sahel) and southern/interior regions stand as barriers to 'inclusive citizenship.' Spatially transposed imbalances in service provision and economic goods (income and employment) are compounded by unequal burden-sharing of costs of development by people and environment of the central and southern regions. While institutional democratic gains since the 2011 revolution have been substantial, regional disparities in Tunisia have only been exacerbated in recent years. This calls for critical rethinking, in scholarship and policy, of the interplays between sustainable and unsustainable development (e.g. in the tourism industry).