With the world's spotlight now shining on the climactic events in Libya, the struggle for meaningful transformation in neighboring Tunisia, whose authoritarian president was ousted by demonstrations some eight months ago, has largely been left in the dark.
Tunisia's youth uprising has widely been credited with sparking the greater Arab Spring. But the nation has yet to form an assembly to reform its constitution, and its economy has suffered increasingly this summer amid a near collapse in the nation's tourism industry.
There is, however, reason to feel optimistic, according to Emad Shahin, a Middle East specialist at Notre Dame's Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, who says a cessation of violence in Libya would stand to have a measurably positive impact in Tunisia during the months ahead.