Tunisia might be the most progressive country in the MENA region -- guaranteeing gender equality and women's rights -- but all that happened under the former pr

Tunisia might be the most progressive country in the MENA region -- guaranteeing gender equality and women's rights -- but all that happened under the former president, Habib Bourguiba. The ousted president, Ben Ali, did very little for progressivism; under his reign, he enacted neoliberal economic reforms that while may have made the country wealthier as a whole, lessened living standards for the average Tunisian. Economic growth masks the fact that buying food is an issue, the education system is inept, and unemployment levels are at all time highs. The people's discontent with the secular government can be seen in the political polarization of the country: in recent elections, the Ennahada party -- Islamist in belief -- captured half of Parliamentary seats; their voter base all came from the rural inner region of Tunisia. When you have a group of disillusioned youth, combined with a pervalent Islam sentiment in the country, I don't think the popularity of jihad would be a paradox.