Tunisia’s Referendum Serves as a Requiem for the Arab Spring

Frida GhitisAug 4, 2022

A Yemeni walks past graffiti that reads “Freedom is made by people” on a street where protestors demanded the trial for the former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in Sanaa, Yemen, March 2, 2012 (AP photo by Hani Mohammed).

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Last week, a dozen years after the start of the Arab Spring, Tunisia held a referendum that sealed the fate of its democratic experiment. The vote confirmed that the euphoria of those heady days—the ardent belief that change was on the horizon—was not enough to overcome the obstacles to democratization.

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