Centre for Civil Society, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa A 2008 incident in Carthage spoke volumes about power politics and economic ideol- ogy. As he was given the country’s main honour, the Order of the Tunisian Republic, on account of his ‘contribution to the reinforcement of economic development at the global level’, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn returned the favour, offering Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s dictatorship a warm embrace. ‘Economic policy adopted here is a sound policy and is the best model for many emerging countries,’ said Strauss-Kahn. ‘Our discussions confirmed that we share many of the same views on Tunisia’s achievements and main challenges. Tunisia is making impressive progress in its reform agenda and its pro- spects are favourable’ (Phillips 2011, p.1).