Overturning the cradle of the Arab Spring

THE FRUIT VENDOR Mohamed Bouazizi's self-immolation 14 years ago inspired Tunisians to topple their longtime dictator and kicked off the 2011 Arab Spring. Of all the countries in the region that caught the revolutionary bug, Tunisia was the only one that managed to build a multiparty democracy with separation of powers and freedom of expression, for a while becoming the poster child of successful democratization.

- IAN BREMMER

Then came President Kais Saied, an uncharismatic constitutional lawyer, who was elected in 2019 on a populist anti-corruption platform that played to Tunisians' postrevolutionary disillusion with political gridlock and economic stagnation. Five years later, the birthplace of the Arab Spring has become the scene of alarming democratic backsliding.