In pre-revolution Tunisia small-scale corruption was not the issue but large-scale corruption committed by the ex-president and his cronies sucked the country's resources. After the revolution things are changing, as small-scale corruption is on the rise due to deteriorating economic conditions while large-scale graft is getting hard to commit due to public and media scrutiny. Yet, it's a vicious circle: if the new government doesn't deal with corruption and increase transparency and accountability the people, especially the youth, will get frustrated, turn to a radical form of religion (or crime) as a panacea for all world's injustices. Tunisia has many things going right and is slowly moving on the right track but without dealing with the real cause that set off the Tunisian revolution, transition will have mixed results.
The Los Angeles Times has an article about the lack of action by the new Islamist government in dealing with corruption cases against Ben Ali cronies. Excerpt below:
Image: By Stefano@Benetti
