State-Society Relations and Sustainable Industrial Growth: The Case of Post-Revolution Tunisia

This paper investigates the effect of state-society relations (SSRs) in the industrial sector on sustainable economic growth in post-revolution Tunisia. The empirical part of the paper mainly relies on qualitative data collected from fieldwork interviews with the most important actors and publications of civil society organizations (CSOs). The paper suggests the presence of state capture as the defining characteristic of SSRs in post-revolution Tunisia. The combination of having powerful tycoons, a weaker state, and ineffectively organized social actors produced conditions that harmed sustainability. These circumstances allowed tycoons to violate environmental regulations and prevented the adoption of green innovation and green technologies. Two important industrial sectors with a notorious record of environmental pollution are studied: the textiles sector and the phosphate extraction industry. In the textiles sector, the comparative power of tycoons and multinational corporations (MNCs) allowed them to neglect regulations against health and safety hazards (HSH). The low value-added of the industry placed tycoons under low pressure to use more environmentally friendly technologies. The relatively lower commitment of international developmental organizations toward environmental hazards reduced the power of environmental CSOs’ resistance in the sector. The more labor-saving nature of suggested green technologies could have resulted in less enthusiasm toward these technologies. The prominence of a less dominant and incapable state in the phosphate extraction industry has, on the other hand, enabled environmental CSOs to be more effective in facing environmental violations. The lack of trust and different ranking of priorities between the UGTT and some environmental CSOs prevented the realization of a more productive outcome that would have led to more sustainable operations in the sector.