For about a decade, Tunisia was talked about as a success story. Not because of what it had achieved after overthrowing a despot and embracing multiparty democracy, but because of the ideals that continued to animate the small North African nation as it fitfully worked toward consolidating that democracy.
Tunisia was the first blossom of the 2011 Arab Spring – and the only bloom to have not sadly withered on the vine as pro-democracy uprisings gave way to civil wars and brutal autocratic counter-revolutions across the region.
Now, Tunisia’s fledgling democracy looks finished, while the country is entering a dark phase of authoritarian consolidation. Far from a
