Tunisia: Ben Ali - the Autocrat Who Laid the Foundations for His Own Downfall

[The Conversation Africa] Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia's former long-time president who died in mid-September, will probably be remembered best as the first autocrat to fall during the popular uprisings that spread across the Middle East in early 2011. He ruled Tunisia with an iron fist for 23 years until he fled into exile in Saudi Arabia in January that year. This followed popular and mostly spontaneous and peaceful demonstrations in the country.