2000s in Tunisia

Quickly Ben 'Ali was overthrown and left the country, his political party the Rassemblement Constitutionnel Démocratique was disbanded.

[3] The change in leadership "took place in complete calm" and the new regime inherited "a well-established party nomenclatura".

[6] A widely supported human rights movement had emerged, initiated by trade unionists, lawyers, and journalists, in addition to being joined by aggrieved Islamists.

[7] The government refused to cease its repression of the Islamist opposition party, due to prior terrorist activity.

An association agreement with the European Union, signed in 1995, was scheduled to move Tunisia toward full free trade with the EU by 2008.

"[11] From the perspective of the first decade of the 21st century, Tunisia pursued a moderate strategy in its foreign relations, actively associated with the west, yet nurturing its ties to the developing world.

[13] "Within the regional Maghrebi context, Tunisia has been relatively efficient in instituting economic reforms, and its economy was the strongest in terms of growth, stability, and integration into a wider global market."

[14][15] Although many Tunisians disliked the regime's authoritarian repression, in compensation there was the government's ability to develop the country.

"[16] Yet under Ben 'Ali, the modernizing privatization of state enterprises became corrupted at its root, benefitting insiders and family members.

The second city of Sfax, a Mediterranean port to the south, a commercial and industrial center, numbered approximately 250,000.

[19][20] Left out of the recent prosperity were many rural and urban poor, including small businesses facing the world market.

The nation's domestic economy was based primarily on light industry (food processing, textiles, footwear, agribusiness, mining commodities, construction materials) and on agriculture (olives, olive oil, grains (wheat and barley), tomatoes, citrus, sugar beets, dates, almonds, figs, vegetables, grapes, beef dairy), as well as livestock (sheep, goats) and fishing.

The economy grew at 5% per year during the 1990s (the best in North Africa), but hit a 15-year low of 1.9% in 2002 (due to drought and a decline in tourism following world terrorist attacks).