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This week on Babel,\xa0Jon speaks with Dr. Monica Marks, a professor of Middle East politics at NYU Abu Dhabi who has been thinking about Tunisia for almost 15 years. They discuss Tunisian President Kais Saied's recent moves to consolidate power, why Tunisians seem to support him, what's at stake for Tunisia's democracy, and what role Western donors and institutions can play in the country. Then, Jon, Will Todman, and Caleb Harper continue the conversation about the nature of popular authoritarianism and how we should think about popular despots in Tunisia and the rest of the Arab world.\xa0\n\nMonica Marks, \u201cAn Interview with\xa0Hamma\xa0Hammami\xa0of the Tunisian Worker\u2019s Party,\u201d\xa0Jadaliyya, August 20, 2021.\xa0\xa0\n\nWill Todman, "A Coup in Tunisia?" CSIS, July 27, 2021.\n\nWill Todman, "Challenging Authority in Post-Revolution Tunisia," CSIS, January 22, 2020.\n\nMonica Marks, \u201c'Letting go of every principle': Tunisia's democratic gains under threat,\u201d Middle East Eye, July 24, 2017.\n\nMonica Marks, \u201cTunisia\u2019s Unwritten Story,\u201d\xa0The Century Foundation, March 14, 2017.\xa0\n\nEpisode Transcript, "Tunisia's Popular Authoritarian," CSIS, September 21, 2021.