"More developed, more urban, more literate and more globalized than Egypt, Tunisia had a more diverse civil society than Egypt's — stronger labor unions, civic associations, professional groups — so there was relative parity between Islamists and their opponents. Though Islamists did well in Tunisia's first elections, so did non-Islamists."

- Fareed Zakaria opinion in WaPo

 

"Materially inhospitable contexts can still yield democracy given appropriate leadership, institutional endowment, timing, and luck. And materially favorable contexts can sustain authoritarian regimes long after one might expect them to depart."

- POMEPS explanation of why Egypt and Tunisia differed

 

"...technologists have been trying to use the Uber product as the exact roadmap to disrupt the entire service economy. We see this happen in an ever-increasing number of industries, from tutoring to dog walking to home cleaning to lawncare and more. But something is amiss, since we are also seeing an increasingly growing number of "Uber for X" failures."

- Y Combinator blog