State infrastructural power in a neopatrimonialist democratization context: Why Tunisian sustainable land management fails

Abstract

Sustaining agricultural production in arid and semi‐arid regions is of paramount importance to food security, geo‐political independence, and social stability. In this context, it is vital to understand the effectiveness of policies. In this article, we aim to answer the question of what role the state and its policies play for soil protection in rainfed agriculture in Tunisia, and why. Beyond evaluating soil protection, this work contributes to explaining the role of the Tunisian state throughout the current phase of democratization for natural resource protection. That way it enhances our understanding of policy implementation in democratizing countries and contribute to theorizing of the policy process. We use qualitative methods and literature to understand the state infrastructural power of the Tunisian state in regard to soil protection. Land degradation in Tunisia remains a large problem. We explain the weak role of the state in effectively protecting soils as a result of subnational variation, and interrelated capabilities and weight of the state. Besides the overarching fiscal crisis that becomes worse over the years, neopatrimonial traits of the Tunisian state facilitate discrimination of rural areas, marginalization of parts of the farming population, and rainfed agriculture. Thereby, willingness and abilities of farmers and administrations to implement sustainable land management are undermined. Together with institutional uncertainty in administrations as a result of the current open‐ended democratization process, neopatrimonialist traits weaken administrative capacities.