Global Challenges Facing Portugal and How to Act

Author: António Neto da Silva
Event: Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa – October 20, 2026

Introduction: A Changing Global Order and Portugal’s Strategic Choices

Since 2024, the international environment has undergone a profound transformation, marked by increasing militarization and direct strategic confrontation across economic, technological, informational and diplomatic spheres. The global balance of power is increasingly shaped by coercive instruments, as states resort to protectionist measures, sanctions, export controls, investment screening and increasingly stringent supply-chain security requirements to defend their national interests.

At the same time, information and normative warfare have become central features of international competition. Disinformation campaigns, social polarization, the extraterritorial application of national legislation and the strategic use of regulatory compliance are increasingly employed to influence sovereign decision-making and weaken national autonomy.

This changing landscape calls for a fundamental reassessment of the relationship between economic interdependence and national sovereignty. The global economy can no longer be regarded as a neutral space governed exclusively by the rules of free trade. For a country such as Portugal, sovereignty cannot be taken for granted: it must be actively protected, strategically developed and adequately funded. Failure to do so risks leaving the country increasingly dependent on external decisions and ultimately exposed to strategic irrelevance.

Portugal must therefore move beyond the role of a passive recipient of European subsidies or external policy directives. Its ambition should be to establish itself as a central geopolitical and economic hub in the Atlantic, leveraging its geographical position, historical connections, maritime resources and international partnerships.

Achieving this objective requires a comprehensive national strategy built around three interconnected priorities: strategic geopolitics and security; demographic renewal and human capital; and economic competitiveness, technological innovation and the development of strategic resources.

1. Strategic Geopolitics and National Security

The first priority is to strengthen Portugal’s capacity to defend its territory, interests and strategic autonomy in an increasingly unstable international environment. The resurgence of major-power rivalries, growing pressure on Atlantic maritime communication routes, hybrid cyber threats targeting critical infrastructure and persistent instability along Europe’s Southern Flank, particularly in North Africa and the Sahel, all represent significant challenges to Portuguese security.

In this context, national defence must become a long-term strategic commitment rather than a budgetary variable subject to political fluctuations. Portugal should establish a binding commitment to NATO’s defence spending target of 2% of GDP, accompanied by a comprehensive modernization of its Armed Forces and the development of capabilities adapted to contemporary security challenges.

Particular attention should be given to cybersecurity. The creation of a unified national Cyberdefence Command would provide Portugal with the institutional capacity to protect its digital infrastructure, secure critical networks and attract highly qualified talent from both the private sector and academia. Data, communication networks and digital infrastructure must increasingly be regarded as essential components of national sovereignty.

Portugal’s Atlantic identity should also translate into concrete defence capabilities. Modernizing naval forces and strengthening ocean-projection capabilities are essential to ensuring effective surveillance and protection of the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), one of its most important strategic assets.

Finally, national security must be supported by a coherent network of international partnerships. Portugal should deepen its Euro-Atlantic relations, particularly with the United States and the United Kingdom, while reinforcing its diplomatic and economic engagement with the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP). Economic diplomacy should become a central instrument of this strategy, strengthening Portugal’s international influence and opening new avenues for cooperation.

2. Demographic Renewal, Human Capital and State Cohesion

National sovereignty also depends on the strength and cohesion of society. Portugal, like much of Europe, faces a serious demographic challenge resulting from population ageing, persistently low fertility rates and the emigration of highly qualified young professionals. This brain drain threatens long-term economic growth, the sustainability of the social security system and the capacity of essential public services, particularly the National Health Service (SNS).

Addressing this challenge requires a coherent policy designed to retain talent, encourage family formation and restore confidence in the country’s future. Fiscal policy should play a more active role in achieving these objectives through progressive tax relief for families, with income taxation adjusted according to the number of children, as well as a cap on personal income tax (IRS) for young adults up to the age of 35. Such measures would help make Portugal more attractive to young professionals and encourage them to build their careers and families in the country.

Immigration policy must also be approached from a strategic perspective. Rather than relying on unregulated migratory flows, Portugal should establish a structured system of immigration quotas aligned with the actual needs of the labour market. Such a framework should combine economic requirements with clear standards for legal entry, integration, public security and respect for national laws.

At the same time, the State must strengthen the human resources upon which its essential functions depend. Military personnel, police officers, teachers and doctors are fundamental pillars of national sovereignty and social stability. Improving their salaries, working conditions and social recognition is therefore not simply a matter of public-sector management, but a strategic investment in the country’s institutional resilience and cohesion.

3. Economic Competitiveness, Technology and Strategic Resources

The third pillar concerns Portugal’s economic foundations. Political and geopolitical sovereignty cannot be sustained without financial independence. Chronic public debt restricts national decision-making, reduces the capacity to respond to external shocks and ultimately weakens the country’s strategic autonomy.

A competitive and productive economy is therefore indispensable. Portugal should undertake structural tax reform, significantly reducing corporate income tax (IRC) and personal income tax (IRS), with the objective of positioning the country among the most competitive OECD economies for productive private investment. A more attractive fiscal environment would encourage entrepreneurship, stimulate innovation, attract international capital and create the conditions for sustainable economic growth.

However, competitiveness must also be built on the strategic development of Portugal’s natural, geographical and technological assets. The country’s maritime dimension offers considerable opportunities within the Blue Economy. The sustainable industrial development of ocean resources, combined with the responsible exploitation of strategic minerals such as lithium and rare earth elements, as well as emerging energy resources such as hydrogen, could position Portugal as an important supplier and strategic partner for Europe.

Its geographical position also provides a unique opportunity to develop into a major energy, logistics and digital hub connecting Europe, the Americas and Africa. This ambition should be supported by investment in infrastructure, connectivity, energy production and digital services, allowing Portugal to transform its Atlantic location into a tangible economic and geopolitical advantage.

Equally important is the need to strengthen the relationship between universities, industry and defence. Portugal should develop an integrated Knowledge Triangle inspired by successful international models such as DARPA, linking academic research, industrial development and national security requirements. University funding and research incentives should increasingly encourage patented innovation and dual-use technologies with both civilian and military applications. Such an approach would help retain scientific talent, strengthen domestic technological capabilities and create new high-value economic activities.

4. Global Megatrends and the Long-Term Outlook

These national priorities must be understood within the context of broader global transformations. Demographic trends, wealth concentration and growing international inequalities will profoundly influence the economic and geopolitical environment in the decades ahead.

Global population reached approximately 8 billion in 2022, with nearly 60% of humanity living in Asia. According to United Nations projections, the world population could peak at around 10.3 billion in the mid-2080s before beginning to decline. However, this overall trend conceals significant regional differences. Rapid population growth in less wealthy regions, combined with persistently low fertility rates in more developed economies, is likely to intensify migration pressures and create new challenges for labour markets, public services and international stability.

At the same time, the concentration of global wealth remains a major source of structural inequality. According to the UBS Global Wealth Report, 16.8% of adults hold approximately 87.2% of global wealth. Such disparities contribute to social instability, economic frustration and migratory pressures, reinforcing the need for more resilient national policies and stronger international cooperation.

For Portugal, these developments underline the importance of anticipating rather than merely reacting to global change. Demographic policy, economic competitiveness, technological development and national security must be approached as interconnected dimensions of a single long-term strategy.

Conclusion: A National Pact for Sovereignty and Competitiveness

Portugal stands at a strategic crossroads. Its future will depend not only on its ability to adapt to an increasingly competitive and uncertain international environment, but also on its willingness to define and defend a clear national ambition.

The challenges outlined above cannot be addressed through isolated measures or short-term political programmes. They require continuity, institutional stability and a shared understanding of the country’s fundamental interests.

This is why Portugal needs a broad, multi-partisan Regime Pact for Sovereignty and Competitiveness, capable of transcending electoral cycles and providing a consistent framework for national development. Such a pact should combine stronger national defence, demographic renewal, a more competitive economy, technological innovation and the strategic development of Portugal’s natural and geographical assets.

It should also reflect a renewed commitment to political courage, greater economic freedom, a more efficient and less interventionist State, and the resolute defence of Portugal’s national identity and interests.

Ultimately, the objective is not simply to preserve Portugal’s position within an evolving international order, but to enable the country to shape that order to its advantage. Portugal has the geographical position, historical connections, resources and international relationships to become a significant Atlantic power. What is now required is the strategic vision, political determination and national consensus to turn that potential into reality.

Antonio Neto da Silva

Chairman of MDI

Ambassador to Portugal of INSEAD Directors Network (“IDN”) – An INSEAD Global Club of International Board Directors at INSEAD

Antonio Neto da Silva

Chairman of MDI

A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary

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In the face of France’s identity divides and fruitless debates about Islam, this essay proposes a third way. From Clitomachus to Youssef Seddik, via Augustine, Ibn Khaldun, and Camus, it reinterprets the Maghreb and Mediterranean borderlands as the cradle of a mosaic-like way of thinking, useful for reflecting on our contemporary complexities

I. Paris Burns, London Celebrates

On the evening of May 30, 2026, Paris Saint-Germain won the Champions League. It was a victory that should have been a national celebration: the second consecutive European title for a club at the peak of its powers. A few days earlier, in London, Arsenal had celebrated its English Premier League title after a twenty-year wait. Hundreds of arrests, dozens of injuries, images circulating around the world. Once again, the same question arises: Why can’t France celebrate its great victories without chaos anymore?
The answer is uncomfortable, because it forces us to confront what the country often prefers to avoid. It’s not just a matter of public safety; it’s a matter of social cohesion.

This isn’t just a matter of hooliganism; it’s a matter of belonging. Some French youth do not experience these victories as moments of national unity, but as opportunities to symbolically settle scores with a country in which they do not fully recognize themselves.
France is divided. And at the heart of this divide lies an issue that neither the left nor the right knows how to address honestly: that of Islam in France, its place in the national identity, and, even more profoundly, the narrative into which the millions of French people of Maghreb and Muslim world descent can fit.

The False Debate

The usual response takes two equally unproductive forms. The usual response takes two equally unproductive forms. On the one hand, there is the apologetic response: Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance; Muslims in France are citizens just like everyone else; and stigmatization is unfair. All of this is true, but politically insufficient. The far right will always respond with images of violence, cherry-picked statistics, and facts—whether real or fabricated.

When it comes to reputation, the battle is lost before it even begins for anyone who wants to defend Islam against its caricatures.
On the other hand, there is the repressive response: more checks, more surveillance, a tougher stance. While this may sometimes address public order concerns, it does not resolve the underlying issues.

On the contrary, it reinforces, among some young people in working-class neighborhoods, the idea that their presence is primarily perceived as a threat. Both of these responses share the same flaw: they treat Islam in France as a problem to be managed rather than as a sense of belonging that is part of a shared history.

The Third Way

There is a third way—one that is more intellectually demanding and politically fruitful. It does not consist of convincing people that Islam is “acceptable.” It consists of showing that Islam, Christianity, and Judaism share the same Mediterranean roots, a common historical depth, and ancient connections that predate modern categories of identity and transcend them.

Not Islam versus France. Not Islam tolerated by France. But Islam, Christianity, and Judaism as three expressions of the same Mediterranean world, of which Carthage was, for centuries, one of the most fertile testing grounds. It is this project to restore a shared memory that we refer to here as “mosaic thought.”

The Unfair Trial

One might object that Carthage is too localized to address crises as vast as those of contemporary Islam. A young person from Clichy-sous-Bois will not spontaneously feel a connection to Clitomachus of Carthage. An Indonesian from Surabaya has no genealogical ties to Carthage. Jihadism, Salafism, and the divisions in French suburbs stem from historical, social, and theological dynamics on an entirely different scale.

The objection is correct in what it states, but incorrect in what it assumes. Mosaic thinking does not claim to be a comprehensive cure for political Islam. It offers something more modest and more solid: a proof of concept. It reminds us, through actual history, that a certain way of navigating plurality has existed, that it has produced major works, that it has spanned languages, religions, and centuries, and that it can therefore once again become an intellectual resource.

Mosaic thinking does not merely assert in the abstract that plurality is possible; it shows that it has already occurred.

II. What Braudel Allows Us to Say

Fernand Braudel has shown that mountains, seas, roads, and trade shape ways of living, trading, and thinking over the long term. Geography does not explain everything. It does not dictate ideas. But it creates frameworks for experience, constraints, patterns of movement, neighboring communities, and tensions that make certain forms of thought more likely.

It is in this spirit that Carthage must be understood: not as the source of an exportable doctrine, but as a historical center where a certain way of inhabiting the Mediterranean world and of conceiving its complexity took shape.

Carthage is not a source of ideas. It is a crucible of intellectual experiences.

This Braudelian perspective is decisive, as it allows us to reconcile two seemingly contradictory assertions: Carthage is unique, rooted in a specific geography, history, languages, and proper names; yet it is universally instructive, because the structure of experience it reveals—plurality, circulation, conflict, hybridization without fusion—is found elsewhere, in other forms.

It is not, therefore, a matter of claiming that there is a continuous Carthaginian tradition, transmitted without interruption from Clitomachus to Camus. That would be historically excessive. Rather, the aim is to identify an intellectual constellation: different thinkers, separated by centuries, but all grappling with the same fundamental problem: how to think from a pluralistic standpoint without dissolving into relativism or taking refuge in dogmatism.

Paul Valéry wrote that the Mediterranean is the only sea that has enriched so many different minds with the same light. The phrase is poetic, but it captures something essential: certain places do not determine ideas; they simply expose them to the same light.

III. Carthage as an Epistemological Laboratory

Why Carthage rather than Athens, Rome, or Alexandria?

Because Carthage occupies a unique position. Founded by Phoenicians from Tyre in the 9th century BCE on Berber soil, it quickly became the major commercial and cultural hub of the western Mediterranean. Neither East nor West, neither Asia nor Europe, it was a point of tension and exchange between worlds.

It traded with the Greeks while resisting them, engaged in dialogue with Rome while challenging it, and coexisted with the Berber populations of the interior while integrating them.

This position creates a unique epistemological condition. Anyone thinking from the perspective of Carthage cannot easily take refuge in absolute certainty. They see too many competing truths asserted with equal conviction. Thus, through experience—even before turning it into a doctrine—they develop a tolerance for uncertainty.

This is the heart of mosaic thinking. Like the mosaic itself—this art of assembled fragments—this way of thinking does not merge differences. It does not dissolve the tesserae into a uniform mass. It keeps them distinct, with their color, their hardness, their origin, but arranges them in such a way as to produce an image that no single fragment contained on its own.
The mosaic is neither purity nor confusion. It is composition.

And this is where Valéry’s phrase takes on its full meaning. But Mediterranean light is not a light that homogenizes. It does not erase contours; it accentuates them. In this light, each tessera retains its own color, its hardness, its origin. It is not the light of fusion, but that of clear distinction; the light that allows us to see, precisely, that the fragments are different, and that it is their combined difference that produces the image.

That is why Mosaic thought is not syncretism. It does not dissolve religions into a vague spirituality, languages into a cultural Esperanto, or identities into an abstract “Mediterranean-ness.” It keeps the tensions visible. It works with contrasts rather than smoothing them over.

IV. The Tesserae: Five Figures of a Constellation

Clitomachus of Carthage — The Foundational Suspension

Clitomachus of Carthage, born Hasdrubal, arrived in Athens in the 2nd century BCE with an already solid philosophical background. A disciple of Carneades, he became the first non-Greek to lead the Academy. His central contribution was the formalization of epochē: the suspension of judgment regarding matters that cannot be affirmed or denied with certainty. But Clitomachus does not stop at skepticism. He shows that one can act on probabilities without claiming to possess absolute truth.

He thus establishes a lucid probabilism: neither dogmatism nor paralysis, but action in the face of uncertainty. This stance comes from a man educated in multiple languages and systems of thought. For him, suspending judgment is not an intellectual retreat. It is a commitment to the complexity of reality. Clitomaque is the foundational tessera: without it, the constellation has no center of gravity.

Augustine of Hippo — Doubt as a Path to Inner Life

He has been hailed as the Father of the Church, the theologian of grace. And he is. But before that, Augustine was a Berber from Thagaste who explored Manichaeism, academic skepticism, Neoplatonism, and then Christianity. This journey is not merely anecdotal: it is the very structure of his thought. The Confessions recount a consciousness that navigates contradictory truths, refuses to settle too soon, and maintains an open-ended uncertainty.

For Augustine, truth does not come as an external, dogmatic boundary. It is sought within the very movement of the subject. Augustine read and discussed academic skepticism; while this is not enough to establish a continuous tradition, it does show that a textual exchange did indeed exist between ancient Carthaginian philosophy and North African Christian thought. It is the piece of the puzzle that proves this constellation spans the centuries and denominations.

Ibn Khaldun — The Science of the Evolution of Civilizations

Ibn Khaldun was born in Tunis in the 14th century to an Andalusian family that had settled in North Africa. With the Muqaddima, he established a philosophy of history that rejects both simplistic providentialism and monocausal explanations. His concept of ‘asabiyya—social cohesion, group solidarity—directly addresses the central question of any mosaic society: what holds disparate fragments together ?

The answer is not the essence, but the bond. A civilization does not endure because it is homogeneous; it endures because its groups manage, for a time, to forge a bond strong enough to transcend their divisions. Ibn Khaldun is the most political thinker in this constellation: he transforms the mosaic intuition into a science of historical becoming. He is the piece without which the constellation remains philosophical without becoming political.

Albert Camus — The Absurd as a Modern Epoché

A Frenchman from Algeria—neither wholly European nor fully Algerian—raised in poverty in Belcourt and trained in Greek philosophy by Jean Grenier, Camus thinks from a place of rupture. His concept of the absurd can be interpreted as a modern reformulation of the epoché: faced with a world that does not answer the questions posed to it, he rejects resignation, nihilism, and the leap into artificial certainty alike. We must imagine Sisyphus as happy, not because his condition is a good one, but because lucidity is already a form of freedom.

Camus adds an irreplaceable ethical dimension to the mosaic of thought: the rejection of false syntheses, dogmatic consolations, and narratives that offer overly simplistic solutions. For him, plurality is no longer merely a historical condition; it becomes a morality of moderation.

Youssef Seddik — The Contemporary Link

A Tunisian philosopher and Islamic scholar, Youssef Seddik offers an interpretation of the Quran as an open, polyphonic text permeated by layers of meaning. He rejects both literalism, which freezes the text, and Orientalism, which reduces its depth.

His approach is a mosaic-like reading of Islam: it acknowledges the layers, tensions, and openings, and keeps the text alive by refusing to confine it. Seddik does not mechanically follow in the footsteps of Clitomachus, Augustine, or Ibn Khaldun. Rather, from within the same historical context, he revives a shared intellectual approach: reflecting on faith, the text, and identity from the perspective of plurality rather than in opposition to it. He is the missing piece without which the constellation would remain a thing of the past; the one who proves that this intellectual disposition is still alive, still possible, still necessary.

V. The Binding Force: What Forms a Constellation

These figures do not constitute a school in the strict sense. They have not all read one another’s work. They do not belong to a continuous, institutionalized tradition. What connects them, therefore, is not a linear transmission, but a recurrence: that of certain intellectual attitudes produced by the same type of historical experience.

Four traits recur with particular force.

First, the rejection of dogmatic closure. Clitomachus suspends judgment. Augustine seeks before believing. Ibn Khaldun rejects simplistic explanations. Camus is wary of systems. Seddik keeps the text open.

Second, action in the face of uncertainty. None of these thinkers is content merely to doubt.

All are seeking a way to act in the face of the world’s instability: Clitomachus’s probabilism, the Augustinian quest, Ibn Khaldun’s ‘asabiyya, and Camus’s revolt are all responses to uncertainty.
Third, stratification as a source of richness. These thinkers do not seek to erase earlier layers. Augustine retains within himself the Manichaean, the skeptic, and the Neoplatonist he once was. Camus carries within him Greece, France, and Algeria. The mosaic does not melt its tesserae together; she arranges them.

Finally, moderation in the face of excess. In opposition to fanaticism, nihilism, and excess, this constellation upholds a form of Mediterranean wisdom centered on boundaries. Not lukewarmness, but clarity. Not resignation, but a rejection of deadly absolutes.

VI. The Actual Scope: Local and Universal

Mosaic thinking does not resolve Indonesian jihadism, does not by itself address the internal tensions within global Sunni theology, and will not spontaneously transform a young person from the French suburbs. To claim otherwise would be a sham.
Its primary scope is local: to restore to Tunisians, North Africans, and more broadly to North African societies a historical depth that has been taken from them twice.

Through the colonial narrative, which exploits Augustine to portray him as a mere outpost of the West and erases the distinctly Berber contribution to universal thought. And through the Islamist narrative, which tends to make history begin with the Arab conquest of 647, as if everything that came before were insignificant or impure.

Mosaic thinking offers something else: a layered identity rather than a besieged one. It reminds us that this land has produced, both before and after the advent of Islam, forms of thought of universal richness. It allows North African societies to view themselves not as peripheries of the East or the West, but as historic centers of intellectual production.

Its universal significance is indirect. If Tunisia—and, more broadly, the Maghreb—reclaim this constellation and use it as a foundation to build a coherent intellectual modernity, they can become a visible precedent. Not a model that can be mechanically exported, but a living demonstration: a Muslim and Mediterranean society can embrace its Islamic heritage without erasing its Christian, Jewish, Berber, Punic, Greek, and Roman layers.

That is its strength: not to proclaim pluralism, but to embody it. And it is precisely this embodiment that is lacking today, three thousand kilometers from Carthage.

VII. The Bridge: From Carthage to the Champs-Élysées

These three thousand kilometers bring us back to the Champs-Élysées—not as a metaphor, but as a matter of logic. If the divide visible on the streets of Paris on the evening of May 30 is a narrative divide rather than a security divide, then the question is not: How can we contain the violence? It is: What narrative can replace the one that is missing? This narrative will not come from Brussels or from Place Beauvau.

If it comes at all, it will stem from the ability of Mediterranean societies themselves to produce a worthy genealogy—that is, one that is historically accurate, intellectually rigorous, and not reducible to the ways in which Salafism or the far right might exploit it.
The problem of Islam in France is not merely one of security, social issues, or administration. It is also a narrative issue.

Many young French people of North African or Muslim descent today have little more than a limited and polarized sense of identity.

On the one hand, Salafism offers them a clear sense of identity: you belong to a pure, universal, millennia-old tradition that transcends national borders and social humiliations. It doesn’t matter if you face discrimination, live in poor housing, or are looked down upon—you are the heir to a civilization.

This appeal is powerful because it addresses a real need: to belong to something greater than oneself.
On the other hand, official republican Islam often puts forward a defensive, almost bureaucratic narrative: proving one’s loyalty, reassuring others, condemning, and apologizing for one’s very existence. Between the closed genealogy of Salafism and the defensive integration of official Islam, there is a void.

Mosaic thinking can help fill this void. It draws on a different lineage: not a pure, closed, or literalist one, but a pluralistic, Mediterranean, and historically rooted one. It tells a young French person of North African descent: your intellectual ancestors are not only the companions of the Prophet or the jurists of Medina; they are also Augustine the Berber, Clitomachus the Carthaginian, Ibn Khaldun the Tunisian, and Camus the Algerian. They have reflected on a world of tensions, transitions, and diverse languages and beliefs. They did not view this as a wound to their identity, but rather as a philosophical strength.

This genealogy does not erase Islam. It places it within a longer, richer continuum that is more difficult for literalists to exploit. It offers a sense of belonging that is compatible with republican complexity. Of course, a narrative does not eliminate unemployment, discrimination, racial profiling, or urban divides. These realities demand political, social, and economic responses. But societies are not held together solely by public policies. They are also held together by shared narratives.

A young person who sees himself as the heir to a closed and besieged tradition will more readily perceive France as a foreign land. A young person who sees himself as the heir to a mosaic-like cultural matrix—where Islam coexists with Berber Christianity, North African Judaism, Greek philosophy, and Mediterranean history—can more easily ground his sense of French belonging in a depth that does not diminish it.

This isn’t naivety. It’s cultural policy in the most serious sense of the term: the battle over narratives that precedes and shapes many other battles.

Why doesn’t this narrative exist yet? Because no one has actually constructed it. Salafism has had access to funding, networks, mosques, satellite channels, and digital platforms. The French far right has an interest in keeping Islam in a state of perpetual otherness. The republican elites, for their part, have too often reduced the issue to an abstract defense of secularism, without understanding that a nation is not transmitted solely through principles but also by a shared heritage.

To restore mosaic thinking, then, is to fill a narrative void with something real: names, places, dates, texts, and a homeland.
Carthage won’t heal the Champs-Élysées in a single generation. But it can offer a portion of French youth of Maghrebi descent what they sorely lack: a dignified, pluralistic, and unyieldingly Mediterranean heritage.

VIII. Conclusion

The land does not dictate ideas. But certain places create the conditions that make certain forms of thought possible. They offer a horizon of shared experiences, encounters and common problems which, across the centuries, are found in the works of very different authors.

Carthage is one such place. Not the source of a single doctrine. Not a continuous tradition in the strict sense. A matrix: a historical cradle where, on several occasions, a particular way of inhabiting Mediterranean plurality was developed, without turning it into either a wound or a dissolution.

Clitomachus, Augustine, Ibn Khaldun, Camus and Seddik do not all say the same thing. They do not form a school of thought. But they trace out a constellation: that of a way of thinking which rejects dogmatic confinement, embraces uncertainty, acts in the face of doubt, preserves the layers of identity, and seeks moderation in the face of excess.

This constellation is not a utopia. It has already produced works. It has spanned religions, languages and centuries without becoming fixed in any one of them. This is precisely what utopias cannot claim about themselves.

But a proof of concept only becomes a political resource on one condition: that a decision is made to pass it on. Salafism has had access to funding, networks and platforms. It is in the far right’s interest to keep Islam in a state of perpetual otherness. Between these two symmetrical endeavours to exclude, mosaic thinking has nothing more to offer than what it has always had: the truth of its soil, the richness of its names, and the quiet strength of things that have already taken place.

The Carthage mosaic is not waiting to be invented. It is waiting for those who will pass it on.

(Article published by Ghazi Ben Ahmed in “Le Club de Mediapart”)

Ghazi Ben Ahmed

Founder of MDI

Think tanker, leader; thinker; strategist; maker; communicator. Expert in International trade and regional integration.

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Founder of MDI

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It is “on the forgotten shore where the thought of measure was born” that Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical “finds its deepest roots”, writes Ghazi Ben Ahmed, founder of the Mediterranean Development Initiative and a scientific collaborator at the ULB. With this text, the Pope summons Saint Augustine to the bedside of the twenty-first century.

By the theological intensity and urgency of its cry, the new encyclical Magnifica Humanitas already establishes itself as a pivotal text. Faced with the res novae of our age — the advent of artificial intelligence, the temptation of transhumanism, and the dematerialisation of consciousness — the Supreme Pontiff does not adopt the posture of a technical censor. As a great heir to Saint Augustine, he returns to the sources of Christian anthropology in order to offer a diagnosis of absolute modernity.

Behind the concepts of algorithms and robotics, it is the gigantic shadow of the Bishop of Hippo that looms over every line of this text. But this genius has a face, and that face is Mediterranean: it is from Carthage — that long-forgotten African shore, cradle of the thought of measure against excess — that Augustine learns to doubt before he hopes, to understand limitation as the condition of greatness. The Pope does not merely quote Augustine; he thinks with him. And in order to disarm the traps of contemporary technonarcissism, it is once again from this deep Mediterranean that the light reaches him.

Babel 2.0: The Resurgence of the Libido Dominandi

From the very introduction, the framework is established: humanity hesitates between “erecting a new Tower of Babel or building the holy city”. Here we find ourselves once again plunged into the heart of the masterful dialectic of The City of God.
For Saint Augustine, human history is the theatre of a struggle between two loves: love of self unto contempt of God, and love of God unto contempt of self. By transposing this myth into the digital age, the Pope brilliantly identifies the secret engine of the technocratic paradigm: the temptation of self-sufficiency, the dream of a technical power capable of abolishing the creaturely condition of lack; the madness of mastery, with AI erected not as an instrument of emancipation but as an instrument of control and pure performance.

What the text calls the “culture of power” is nothing other than the Augustinian libido dominandi — that passion for domination which today dresses itself in lines of code and delegates to machines the power over life and death.

“There is no algorithm capable of making war morally acceptable” — Magnifica Humanitas, Chapter V — an echo of Augustine’s words: “Take away justice, and what are kingdoms but great bands of robbers?”

The Praise of Limitation in the Face of the Posthuman Mirage

The most audacious contribution of the encyclical lies in its rehabilitation of human vulnerability. Where the prophets of Silicon Valley see the biological body as a defect to be corrected, the Pope reminds us that the human being does not flourish in spite of limitation, but often through it.

This thought was not born in a Cambridge laboratory, nor in a Palo Alto start-up. It was born on the southern shore of the Mediterranean. Carthage, that metropolis of the ancient world, was the place where the tension between the hybris of power and the wisdom of finitude was first forged. Augustine was both its heir and the one who transcended it. By stressing that AIs “do not live through experience, possess no body, know neither joy nor pain”, the Pope draws an impassable anthropological boundary: the machine calculates; only the human being experiences meaning.

This is precisely what the Mare Nostrum has always known: that greatness is not measured by the power of armies or the sophistication of tools, but by the capacity to inhabit one’s own finitude with lucidity. From Clitomachus to Augustine, from Carthage to Hippo, this African shore of the Mediterranean forged a thought of measure that neither conquering Rome nor triumphant Silicon Valley has ever managed to produce.

The Great Return to Inwardness

In an age of absolute externalisation — where our memories are archived in the cloud and our decisions entrusted to command prompts — Magnifica Humanitas concludes with a fervent call to divine indwelling. To invite humanity to rediscover the place “where God desires to dwell” is to reactivate the most famous secret of the Confessions: Tu eras interior intimo meo — “you were more inward to me than my innermost self”.

This formula is not the conclusion of a mystic withdrawn from the world. It is the culmination of a life that began amid the agitation of Carthage, passed through doubt and excess, and ultimately found in embraced limitation the path to truth. It is from this Mediterranean experience — made of crossings, ruptures, and intense flashes of light against the backdrop of the sea — that Augustine still speaks, through the encyclical, to our disoriented century.

Ultimately, Magnifica Humanitas is not a text of retreat, but a compass of hope. By summoning the wisdom of the son of Carthage, Leo XIV reminds us that the true magnificence of the human being will never be measured by the power of his servers, but by his capacity to remain human, fragile, and profoundly connected to the other.

Faced with the dizzying promises of artificial intelligence, the two shores of the Mediterranean may be rediscovering that they share the same anxiety and the same hope. For in the face of the technological powers reshaping our human condition, no civilisation will make the crossing alone. Faced with the desert of silicon, it is once again from this African shore of the Mediterranean — where Augustine learned to doubt before he hoped — that the light we need reaches us.

Ghazi Ben Ahmed

Founder of MDI

Think tanker, leader; thinker; strategist; maker; communicator. Expert in International trade and regional integration.

Ghazi Ben Ahmed

Founder of MDI

A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary

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5,500 Tunisian dinars per month (equivalent to approximately 1,618 euros).

In 2026, this is the monthly wage – adjusted for inflation – that a Tunisian family comprising two parents and two children would need to live comfortably, without having to resort to a bank loan.

This was stated by the academic and economist Ridha Chkoundali on Jawhara FM radio on Tuesday 9 June, following studies that assessed the real cost of living in Tunisia, thereby highlighting the significant gap between a household’s actual income and its necessary daily expenditure.

5,500 dinars per month are required to cover the cost of living, compared with a Tunisian guaranteed minimum wage (SMIG) of 554 dinars per month. That is roughly 10 times the value of the SMIG: does this mean one would have to work 10 times as hard to reach a decent standard of living?

The answer is simple: no.

It is becoming increasingly clear that Tunisia’s trajectory regarding consumer credit is a cause for concern. Whilst inflation has finally stabilised to some extent since the post-Covid period, there is no guarantee that this trend will continue in the years to come. Rising energy prices or production costs could quickly reignite inflationary pressures.

“According to Ridha Chkoundali, the effects of the geopolitical crisis in the Middle East are not yet fully reflected in the current statistics. He stated, however, that Tunisia could face imported inflation in the coming months as a result of the disruptions affecting global energy and commodity markets.” (Business News)

The economist points out that a rise in energy costs in Europe will automatically feed through to production costs and fuel domestic inflation in the Tunisian economy, which is itself heavily dependent on imports of raw materials and other European products.

Against this backdrop, rising household debt, combined with a persistent erosion of purchasing power, risks becoming particularly dangerous for the country’s economic and social stability; it should also be noted that Tunisian purchasing power has fallen by 25 per cent over the last three years …

Sources: Jawhara FM, Business News, La Presse Tunisie, Tuniscope.com.

Ahmed Lagha

Cofounder and Treasurer

Ahmed Lagha

Cofounder and Treasurer

A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary

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L’article 5,500 Dinars to Live Decently, 554 Dinars to Survive est apparu en premier sur mdi-international.

The price visible on trading screens reflects transactions already executed; it does not fully incorporate routes disrupted, insurance premiums recalculated, and supply chains placed under geopolitical constraint. Markets continue to treat oil primarily as a commodity. Yet in the Strait of Hormuz, it is increasingly subject to geopolitical leverage.

For Tunisia, this shift is not theoretical. It has direct macroeconomic consequences.

A Budget Assumption Under Strain

Tunisia’s 2026 Finance Law is built on an assumed average oil price of $63.3 per barrel. Current levels stand well above that reference. The deviation is economically significant.

Each additional dollar in the price of oil adds approximately 164 million dinars to compensation expenditures. This mechanism is automatic: higher import costs expand subsidy requirements, widening the fiscal deficit unless offset by higher revenues or expenditure restraint.

At $80 per barrel, fiscal pressure intensifies. At $90, adjustment becomes considerably more difficult. At $100, the budgetary impact is substantial and sustained.

Tunisia enters this phase with elevated public debt, rigid expenditure structures dominated by wages, subsidies, and debt servicing, and limited access to international capital markets. In such a configuration, the scope for discretionary counter-cyclical policy is structurally constrained.

Inflation Through Production and Imports

The oil shock extends beyond public finances. Energy is a core input in transport, electricity generation, agriculture, and manufacturing. Petroleum derivatives are embedded in plastics, packaging, fertilizers, and numerous industrial processes. Tunisia also imports finished goods from economies where energy prices are not subsidized, meaning higher oil prices are transmitted directly through import costs.

The consequence is imported inflation.

According to Capital Economics, a prolonged conflict pushing oil to $100 per barrel could add between 0.6 and 0.7 percentage points to global inflation. For Tunisia, such an increase would translate into higher consumer prices, further compressing purchasing power at a time when households are already adjusting to elevated living costs.

Inflation in this context is not merely a statistical outcome; it has distributive effects, disproportionately affecting lower- and middle-income households whose consumption baskets are more sensitive to energy and transport costs.

External Balances and Logistical Pressures

As a net importer of hydrocarbons, Tunisia’s trade balance is structurally sensitive to oil prices. A sustained rise in the energy bill deepens the current account deficit and places additional strain on foreign-exchange reserves; a key buffer for exchange-rate stability and external confidence.

Logistics compound this vulnerability. Maritime insurance premiums have increased amid instability affecting transit routes, particularly through the Suez Canal. Rerouting and security surcharges raise freight costs, affecting both consumer goods and intermediate inputs used in domestic production.

Meanwhile, JPMorgan Chase has noted that dozens of empty oil tankers are currently waiting near the Gulf region. Storage capacity in producing countries is limited to only a few days of output. Should disruptions persist, logistical bottlenecks could evolve into production constraints, reinforcing upward pressure on prices and prolonging market tightness.

Under such conditions, what begins as volatility risks becoming structural imbalance.

A Dual Shock in a Constrained Policy Environment

The present oil surge constitutes a dual shock for Tunisia:

• Fiscal, through rising compensation costs and widening deficits;
• Economic, through imported inflation, higher production expenses, and increased transport costs.

These channels interact. Larger subsidies expand borrowing needs; higher import bills weaken external balances; inflation erodes real incomes; slower growth limits revenue mobilization. The cumulative effect narrows policy options further.

Tunisia’s vulnerability is structural. The economy remains heavily dependent on imported hydrocarbons to sustain transport, electricity generation, and industry. Export diversification remains limited, and foreign-currency earnings are insufficient to offset large energy import bills. Fiscal rigidities reduce flexibility precisely when flexibility is most needed.

Without structural reform – including accelerated investment in renewable energy, improved energy efficiency, enhanced export competitiveness, and a credible medium-term fiscal consolidation strategy – exposure to external energy shocks will persist.

Regional Context, Asymmetric Exposure

Tunisia is not alone in its sensitivity to oil prices. Morocco, also a net oil importer, faces similar exposure to prolonged price increases and imported inflation.

By contrast, Algeria, as a hydrocarbon exporter, benefits from higher prices in the short term. Yet its fiscal and external balances remain closely tied to energy revenues, and regional instability carries its own financial and security risks. Energy shocks reshape North African macroeconomic dynamics, albeit asymmetrically.

A Narrow Margin for Absorption

The Strait of Hormuz lies far from Tunis geographically, but its stability influences Tunisia’s fiscal trajectory, inflation path, reserve adequacy, and growth outlook. In an interconnected energy system, distance offers no insulation.

If oil prices stabilize quickly, Tunisia will face a demanding but manageable adjustment. If elevated prices persist, the convergence of fiscal expansion, external deterioration, and inflationary pressure could significantly constrain macroeconomic stability.

In this context, the gravest risk is not simply fiscal slippage or higher inflation, but a broader breakdown of economic stability;  one that could weaken the dinar, exhaust foreign-exchange reserves, and trigger acute shortages. Such a configuration would not remain confined to macroeconomic indicators; it would carry profound social and political consequences in a country where economic strain has historically translated into systemic upheaval.

A further vulnerability lies in Tunisia’s increasingly constrained diplomatic positioning. External financial support cannot be assumed. In previous crises, Gulf countries provided liquidity backstops or budgetary assistance. Today, geopolitical alignments are more fragmented, and Tunisia’s ambiguous positioning in regional tensions may reduce the likelihood of rapid financial relief from traditional partners.

Should regional polarization intensify, economic repercussions could extend beyond capital flows. Labor mobility, remittance channels, and bilateral economic ties may become exposed to political recalibration. For countries such as Tunisia and Algeria, whose citizens maintain economic linkages across the Gulf, the risk is not only financial but also socio-economic.

In such a scenario and to conclude, the convergence of constrained external financing, accelerating dinar depreciation, reserve exhaustion, entrenched inflation, and disrupted remittance inflows would not merely intensify macroeconomic stress; it could transform what is currently treated as speculative risk into the premature unraveling of an already fragile economic system. An economy structurally dependent on external financing, weak in productive diversification, and unable to generate sustained growth or macroeconomic stability cannot indefinitely absorb cumulative shocks.

Under prolonged pressure, the outcome would not be a cyclical adjustment, but the materialization of a risk long feared yet seldom articulated: that sustained economic breakdown could once again trigger systemic political rupture. If left unaddressed, the consequences may extend beyond institutional instability to social fragmentation and lasting damage to the state itself. The question is no longer whether reform is necessary, but whether there is still time to act.

Ghazi Ben Ahmed

Founder of MDI

Think tanker, leader; thinker; strategist; maker; communicator. Expert in International trade and regional integration.

Ghazi Ben Ahmed

Founder of MDI

A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary

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L’article An Oil Shock Tunisia Cannot Absorb Without Structural Reforms est apparu en premier sur mdi-international.

Dear fellow citizens, devoted patriots,

As we enter the new year of 2026, my dearest wish is for the salvation of our homeland.

Tunisia stands at a crossroads: we must, above all, save it from bankruptcy, but also rid it of the poison of hatred and polarisation that divides us.

The Tunisian people deserve infinitely better than what they are enduring today. It is unacceptable that a people with a thousand-year-old heritage should be reduced to suffering the humiliation of shortages, the scourge of mass unemployment and the blight of pollution that chokes our cities. Let us finally choose practical action over sterile ideology. The recovery of our economy must no longer be a campaign promise, but our sole and only guiding principle.

Our vision is of a bold and competitive Tunisia. We have talents shining all over the world; it is time to create the conditions for them to build here, at home. We call for an economic revolution based on innovation, the energy transition and the unleashing of initiative.

Let us spare a special thought for our regions, such as Gabès, where the environment and the health of our fellow citizens have for too long been sacrificed on the altar of neglect. Environmental justice is the foundation of dignity. Let us stop diverting regional wealth; let us finally devote it to the priority development of those who produce and protect it.

Now is the time for unity and absolute autonomy.

Tunisia must no longer beg for its bread or sell off its sovereignty to anyone. We emphatically state that our country is not for sale and that its security cannot be delegated: our sovereignty will never be surrendered to Algerian interests or to any foreign power. Let us rely on our own strengths, on our creative genius and on unwavering solidarity with the most vulnerable. We will leave no one by the wayside.

The economic solutions to create wealth and decent jobs for all Tunisians are well known and within our grasp. We possess the necessary skills and our own resources to implement these solutions, so that we may seize our independence with our own hands. We no longer need to remain at the mercy of any country, nor wait for ‘aid’ that condemns us to live forever in the submission and humiliation of dependence.

We must choose our dignity, our ambition and genuine solidarity. Enough of empty slogans, and enough of this rhetoric of “toxic fraternity” which has brought us nothing but alienation. The time has come to stand shoulder to shoulder and rebuild our country, together.

May 2026 be the year of restored sovereignty, economic excellence and social justice. Let us make this the year in which Tunisia stops suffering and starts building again.

Long live Tunisia, free, prosperous and proud!

Ghazi Ben Ahmed

Founder of MDI

Think tanker, leader; thinker; strategist; maker; communicator. Expert in International trade and regional integration.

Ghazi Ben Ahmed

Founder of MDI

A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary

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L’article Happy New Year 2026 from the MDI team! est apparu en premier sur mdi-international.

Habib Bourguiba himself embodied this ambivalence. In the early years of independence, he favoured a unifying discourse centred on Arab-Muslim belonging, even distancing the Amazigh dimension, which he perceived as a potential threat to national unity. Yet, at the same time, he was profoundly aware of the richness of Tunisia’s ancient past and did not hesitate to symbolically place himself in the lineage of figures such as Hannibal or Saint Augustine. It is from this plural historical foundation that he paradoxically helped forge the basis of a modern Tunisianity: rooted in its historical depth, yet open to the Mediterranean and the wider world.

It is within this intellectual continuity that it becomes both relevant and necessary today to consider the integration of Clitomachus of Carthage into the Tunisian pantheon.

Clitomachus of Carthage: a Carthaginian at the heart of ancient philosophy

Clitomachus of Carthage, whose Carthaginian name was Hasdrubal, is one of the most fascinating yet most overlooked figures of ancient philosophy. Born in Carthage around 187 BC, he left his native city for Athens after the destruction of Carthage, where he became a disciple of Carneades and, later, the head of the New Academy.

His work forms part of the tradition of Academic scepticism, in opposition to the dogmatism of the Stoics and the Epicureans. Clitomachus rejected the idea of absolute certainty and proposed that our judgements be founded on what is probable rather than what is certain. After the death of Carneades, he did not merely defend his master’s ideas: he deepened, organised and extended them, giving Academic scepticism its most accomplished form.

None of his writings has survived directly, yet his influence permeates Greco-Roman philosophy, notably through the works of Cicero. Clitomachus thus embodies an erudite ancient Tunisia—discreet, yet essential to the history of universal thought.

A philosophy of the probable for a world of uncertainty

Clitomachus’s thought rests on two pillars:

• the rejection of absolute certainty;
• the adoption of probability as a criterion for judgement and action.

For him, our perceptions and reasoning are always susceptible to error. Unlike the Stoics, who believed that completely reliable knowledge was attainable, Clitomachus held that we can never reach such a level of certainty.

Confronted with this fragility, he did not advocate withdrawal from the world, but rather an art of decision-making amid uncertainty. He distinguished several degrees of probability—simple, confirmed, then confirmed and coherent—which allow one to act without falling into dogmatism. What matters is not “knowing once and for all”, but accepting that our judgements must be continually reassessed in light of new information.

Clitomachus thus stands at the heart of an ancient debate—between fate and freedom, certainty and doubt—which resonates with particular force today. His critique of Stoic fatalism and of the astrological beliefs of his time echoes our contemporary struggles against conspiratorial narratives, mass disinformation and ready-made truths.

Formulated more than two thousand years ago, his principles speak to our era saturated with information and rumours:

• beware of easy certainties;
• accept uncertainty as a normal condition;
• act on the basis of what is most probable, without claiming to possess ultimate truth.

Clitomachus’s probabilistic scepticism is not a philosophy of paralysis, but a school of vigilance, prudence and responsibility.

A missing pillar of the Tunisian pantheon

In the Council of Ministers’ chamber at the Carthage Palace, the Tunisian president placed, like four sentinels of Tunisianity, the tutelary figures watching over the young Republic: Hannibal the strategist, Jugurtha the resister, Ibn Khaldun the thinker, and above all Saint Augustine, the Carthaginian who managed to hold together faith and reason.

But this pantheon still lacks a purely philosophical figure, born of its soil, embodying the strength of critical thought and rational dialogue: Clitomachus. His philosophy reminds us that the search for truth is a path, not a fixed block; that it requires doubt, the confrontation of arguments, and the refusal of overly simple answers.

In a world where truth often seems elusive, where extremist narratives and media manipulation proliferate, Clitomachus offers us a precious antidote:

• constructive doubt rather than cynicism;
• enlightened inquiry rather than blind belief;
• reasonable probability rather than fanatical certainty.

Just as fruitful connections were once drawn between Saint Augustine and Plato, Clitomachus can extend another synthesis: that of faith, reason and rational inquiry—an integral part of the Mediterranean’s deeper identity. To add him to the Tunisian pantheon would be to assert loudly that Tunisia is defined not only by the sword or dogma, but also by the mind, debate, enlightened doubt and the pursuit of truth.

An act of cultural reappropriation

Far from representing an inward-looking identity claim, the recognition of Clitomachus would strengthen the image of Tunisia as a crossroads of civilisations—open and conscious of the richness of its past. It would in fact extend Bourguiba’s most fertile intuition: to situate Tunisia not within a narrow identity, but within a plural, Mediterranean and universalist historical continuity.

Granting Clitomachus an explicit place within the Tunisian pantheon would be an essential gesture of cultural reappropriation. It would amount to affirming that critical thought, philosophy and knowledge are not merely imported from elsewhere: they were also produced here, in Carthage, by a Tunisian before the word existed.

Such a gesture would help rebalance a Tunisian collective imagination too often turned towards external references, even though Tunisia possesses an immense, under-exploited intellectual heritage of its own. Instead of citing only the poets of the jāhiliyya or distant figures, it would mean placing at the centre our own thinkers, our own sages—those who spoke from this land.

Restoring Clitomachus and other Carthaginian or Mediterranean figures to our symbolic horizon does not fragment the nation; on the contrary, it reconfigures our past in the sense described by Paul Ricoeur: changing the meaning of that past by rereading it differently. It is not about resurrecting rival identities, but about stitching back together what has been torn apart: recreating a common narrative, strengthening the sense of belonging and fostering a deeper cohesion among Tunisians, united around a plural history that is fully assumed and fully claimed. Only under these conditions will we be able to face together the challenges of development and finally offer young people a future worthy of their aspirations.

Translated from the article written in French on the Tunisian media outlet Business News.

Ghazi Ben Ahmed

Founder of MDI

Think tanker, leader; thinker; strategist; maker; communicator. Expert in International trade and regional integration.

Ghazi Ben Ahmed

Founder of MDI

A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary

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L’article Clitomachus of Carthage, the Tunisian philosopher our Republic needs! est apparu en premier sur mdi-international.

Ghazi Ben Ahmed

Founder and President

Ghazi Ben Ahmed

Founder and President

A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary

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L’article Tunisia: a possible US – facilitated recovery? est apparu en premier sur mdi-international.

The popular uprisings that followed his self-immolation marked the starting point of the Arab Spring, inspiring widespread protest movements across the Maghreb and the broader Arab world.

In Morocco, the monarchy managed to anticipate, absorb, and neutralize the unrest while preserving its image as the nation’s stabilizing arbiter.

However, today, with the rise of the “Generation Z 212” movement, some analysts see what they describe as a delayed spark of the Arab Spring: a new form of revolt, without leaders or political parties, expressing a similar frustration—this time in the digital age.

Since late September 2025, Morocco has been experiencing an unprecedented wave of protests driven by young people determined to make their voices heard. In several cities—Rabat, Casablanca, Tangier, Marrakech, and Agadir—thousands of youths gather to demand dignity, social justice, and better living conditions. Born out of a tragedy at the Agadir hospital, where several women lost their lives during childbirth, the movement has evolved into a collective cry against inequalities that have become unbearable.

This generation, nicknamed “Generation Z 212,” organizes itself without leaders or parties: everything happens online, through Discord or TikTok, where decisions are made collectively. The digital sphere is no longer just a space for expression but a real political arena and a shared space of consciousness.

Their demands are clear: access to education and healthcare, the fight against corruption, public transparency, and a reorientation of national priorities. Many denounce the contrast between massive investments in sports infrastructure ahead of the 2030 World Cup and the deterioration of public services.

But beyond immediate demands, it is a quest for dignity that drives these young people. They are fighting not only for jobs but for recognition and social justice. Despite arrests and moments of tension, the movement’s maturity and its ability to remain peaceful command respect.

What is happening in Morocco today goes beyond a national protest: it signals the emergence of an Arab and African youth that refuses silence, invents new forms of participation, and redefines the relationship between the governed and the governing.

Ahmed Lagha

Cofounder and Treasurer

Ahmed Lagha

Cofounder and Treasurer

A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary

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L’article Morocco’s Generation Z 212: A New Echo of the Arab Spring est apparu en premier sur mdi-international.

In 2022, 1,816,833 Tunisians—representing 15.4% of the population—were registered as TRE (Tunisians Residing Abroad), which amounts to roughly one out of every seven citizens.

The conclusion is clear: Tunisian migration has intensified over the past decade, especially among young people. A genuine brain drain is underway, and engineering and medicine—sectors in high demand worldwide—are the most affected by this outward migration.

According to an official statement by the Dean of Tunisian Engineers, Kamel Sahnoun, in 2025, 39,000 engineers out of 90,000 registered with the Order of Engineers have left Tunisia to settle abroad. The country trains approximately 8,000 engineers each year, and on average, 20 engineers emigrate every day, further worsening the shortage of qualified labor in several key sectors.

Even more alarming, in 2025, out of a graduating class of 1,900 Tunisian doctors, 1,600 left Tunisia to work abroad.

The Tunisian brain drain reveals a deep imbalance between the country’s human potential and its national ability to retain and utilize it.

Tunisia invests substantially in training its engineers, doctors, and researchers, but the benefits of this investment materialize abroad, in countries that are better equipped to absorb and value this talent.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM – UN Migration), the majority of young Tunisians who emigrate cite as their main motivations: lack of professional opportunities, low salaries, and limited career prospects.

For example, Tunisia is now the leading provider of foreign doctors in France, after Morocco. And without significant economic and social improvements, these numbers are likely to rise in the future.

Ahmed Lagha

Cofounder and Treasurer

Ahmed Lagha

Cofounder and Treasurer

A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary

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L’article A nation drained: The alarming rise of Tunisian migration among youth est apparu en premier sur mdi-international.