toppled by the military. another factor behind tunisia's relative success is the foresight of its civilian leaders. three years ago, tunisia had a similar trajectory to egypt. both nations voted for islamist leaders whose movements have either been suppressed, banned or exiled. look at what happened next. in egypt, when a fresh space ei of protests began, president morsi refused to reach out to his detractors. he was removed by force. in tunisia the coalition government actually stepped aside off its own accord, handing power to a temporary government. now that is how democracy is supposed to work, by making painful compromises. in cairo, people didn't make those kinds of concessions. egypt's islamists wanted to push through a constitution that would be unacceptable to liberals and then to rule by presidential decree.