Tunisia analysis: Dr Frederic Volpi, expert in Middle East politics

Tunisia was one of the more autocratic regimes in North Africa - all the political, economic and military powers were concentrated in Ben Ali's close circle.

It's slightly different elsewhere.

If you look westwards to Algeria and Morocco, the situation is more fragmented. There is no single figure who can be the object of all the public's hatred.

Even in Algeria, where the president - Abdelaziz Bouteflika - is old and tired, he does not have the same control that Ben Ali had in Tunisia.

Bouteflika is one among many, so it is difficult to see the same kind of rebellion, while Morocco is even more plutocratic.

So these countries are less likely to see the same kind of revolutionary upsurge, because their systems are more open.

However, if you look eastwards, towards Libya and Egypt, you have a very similar situation, where control of a country is in the hands of a very few people, so you could have some type of political unrest targeting specific leaders and thus creating a revolutionary uprising.

But it's important to realise that the Ben Ali regime gave up power relatively easily. We are not talking about violent riots stretching over weeks, it was just days, and the police force and military are still repressing the population. So there was a choice for Ben Ali.

If you are making comparisons with other countries, then the attitude of the leaders is extremely important - whether they decide it's time for them to go or to fight for the country, to retain power.

People like Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in Libya and President Hosni Mubarak in Egypt have been, over the years, far more inclined to clash violently with any opposition in order to retain control. So it seems that these kinds of political leaders will be far more likely to put up a fight.

Predicting a revolution is not a science, but in structural terms Egypt is very similar to Tunisia, or even worse economically.

In Egypt, the situation is quite dire and ordinary Egyptians are really feeling the pinch of the economic crisis in the same way as the Tunisians have.

Libya is much more cushioned by its oil reserves, and the regime has much more room for manoeuvre, and can make sure a large number of people do not feel the pinch.

The key characteristic of the Ben Ali regime has been very strict control of the political field, which means there are very few opposition figures who can actually claim to be leading the opposition movement.

Remaining members of the ruling elite are now trying to engineer their own succession - first the prime minister, Mohammed Ghannouchi, then the speaker of the house - saying they can lead reforms.

In many ways, they are trying to engineer a swift transition, with talk about presidential elections in three months, which will benefit the existing political elite as the opposition movement will not have much time to organise themselves.The short time span will favour those already in power.

The real question is whether the opposition will be able to have a voice in the reorganisation of the Tunisian political system.

For the ruling elite, it's a matter of political skill - how much will the existing political leaders be able to present themselves as genuine reformers.

• Dr Frederic Volpi is an expert in Middle East politics at the School of International Relations at the University of St Andrews