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about
Sarah Yerkes is a senior fellow in the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Her research focuses on democracy and governance, U.S. foreign policy towards the Middle East and North Africa, and political and economic reform in Tunisia.
She is the editor of Geopolitics and Governance in North Africa (Edinburgh University Press, 2023) and the author of a forthcoming book examining the role of external actors in influencing the first decade of democratic transition around the globe.
Yerkes has been a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution and a Council on Foreign Relations international affairs fellow and has taught in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University and at the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University.
She is a former member of the State Department’s policy planning staff, where she focused on North Africa. Previously, she was a foreign affairs officer in the State’s Department’s Office of Israel and Palestinian affairs. Yerkes also served as a geopolitical research analyst for the U.S. military’s Joint Staff Strategic Plans and Policy Directorate (J5) at the Pentagon, advising the Joint Staff leadership on foreign policy and national security issues.
affiliations
education
Ph.D. Georgetown University, M.A. Harvard University, B.A. Emory Universitylanguages
Arabic, English, French, Hebrew, SpanishAll work from Sarah Yerkes
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Not long ago, Tunisia was considered one of the biggest success stories in the Middle East and North Africa. But last month, for the first time in fourteen years, Tunisia held a sham presidential election.
A conversation about the recent elections in Tunisia, their lack of credibility, how they have been received by U.S. and other foreign officials, and what they say about the trajectory of democracy, both in Tunisia and elsewhere in the Middle East.
Kais Saied has chipped away at a decade of progress, but a few factors offer hope for the country’s democratic future.
Sarah Yerkes, a senior fellow in Carnegie's Middle East Program, joins Sophia to discuss the recent re-election of President Kais Saied and what it means for Tunisia's democracy.
As Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed embarks on his second term, he is facing an increasingly hostile public that is growing more impatient with his inability to address the country’s myriad economic challenges.
In the longer term, officials can take various steps to help restore Tunisia’s economic growth, stability, and security.
Dozens of Tunisians expressed interest in running, but almost all have been disqualified or jailed under the president’s legal changes.
Tunisia President Kais Saied announced on Sunday a broad cabinet reshuffle of 19 ministers, nearly the entire government, ahead of the October 6 presidential election.
The essence of the EU-Tunisia partnership can be summed up in three words: halting migration flows
An effective approach in Tunisia would emphasize economic stability and a healthy civic space along with fending off Russian and Chinese influence—all of which could serve American interests and lay the ground for a revitalization of Tunisia’s democratic project.