ABSTRACT
Despite many significant policy changes over time, Tunisia remained relatively stable politically during its first 55 years following independence. But it was the first country to go through the phenomena which have come to be known as the ‘Arab Spring,’ but more appropriately called the ‘Arab Uprisings,’ and Tunisia has come to be the country which has gone through it more completely than other MENA countries. This chapter is devoted more exclusively to this experience from 2010 to 2019. First, it reviews the major reasons and explanations for the collapse of the long-existing authoritarian regime. Then, it goes on to assess the impact of the political transition on Tunisia's economic performance and development. This assessment contributes very substantially to the overall comparisons between Tunisia and both other MENA countries and the East Asian sample countries (China, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand), and leads to new questions about the explanations behind Tunisia's relative success or failure compared to other countries. Finally, in the last part of the chapter, it goes on to a discussion of the prospects that Tunisia's improved democracy scores may be expected to lead to improved economic performance and greater well-being or ‘happiness.’
