Sarah Yerkes is a senior fellow in Carnegie’s Middle East Program, where her research focuses on political, economic, and security developments in Tunisia, as well as state-society relations in the Middle East and North Africa. Yerkes is a former member of the State Department’s policy planning staff, where she focused on North Africa. Diwan interviewed her on June 27 to get her perspective on the rapidly developing situation in Tunisia, after President Qaïs Said suspended parliament, dismissed the prime minister, and declared himself to be the county’s general persecutor.