The writing of this book was completed in late May 2021. Subsequent events, some significant, are therefore not reflected in the writing, except when acknowledged in endnotes if we thought they were essential. The political events in Tunisia in July 2021 are well known and documented. While it is not clear at this point where these will lead, some may argue that it negates the existence of a ‘Tunisian exception’ when it comes to democratization and pluralism in the MENA region. Yet Tunisia is a country known for its resilience, and historically has been known to weather major storms in unexpected ways. Therefore, we kept the narrative as it was during the two years we worked on this research project, which we believe is fair to our respondents. The discontinuation of the EDB indicator is another such event. Part of this book’s narrative is about the power of global performance indicators and their influence, and we believe that the notion that global performance indicators have, increasingly, an impact on decision makers and civil servants remains intact. The growing number and diversity of performance indicators, and the way these are discussed and used globally, is evidence that this is a trend and tendency that goes beyond individual performance indicators.
Coming back to the introduction, stories on the demise of globalization have been written many times over. However, the trends of our times, whether they are about global solutions to the COVID-19 pandemic or climate change, show that even if many are deeply concerned about the impact of globalization, most of the fundamental issues facing us today transcend boundaries. Therefore, one of the most important takeaways from our study may be that building civil service systems that are based on that awareness and are fit to face global issues is a ‘must’ for our future.
