When I arrived in Tunisia this month, I found a country in disarray.
Factories had been burnt to the ground during the mass protests that ousted Zine el Abidine Ben Ali from the presidency in January. Shattered store windows were a common sight on the main Bourguiba Street in downtown Tunis. Tourism had ground to a halt. The political system was a shambles, with elections for a constitutional congress slated for July but little in the way of an order in place.
As the conditions make abundantly clear, the future for Tunisia's economy and business environment remains uncertain. Yet today's unsettled, chaotic atmosphere masks what I came to see as the country's possible long-term promise. Believe it or not, little Tunisia could set an example that other countries where protests have flared may find hard to follow. While the dust has yet to settle, the Tunisian situation also illustrates that economic outcomes for countries caught up in the wave of Arab unrest could vary widely.
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