PARIS — After its recent slide toward authoritarianism, Tunisia's latest turn in the spotlight has come courtesy of anti-immigrant rhetoric from its president.
Tunisia was the very country that started the Arab Spring in December 2010, when street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself ablaze. Democratic governance survived there long after other Arab upheavals melted into civil strife, armed jihad or military dictatorship. Populist candidate Kais Saied won the presidential election in October 2019 by a landslide, in reaction against a corrupt and inefficient parliament.
