It’s a noble idea to hand this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to someone truly deserving. This year’s Nobel Peace Prize went to Tunisia’s National Dialogue Quartet “for its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy… in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011.” Their work greatly contributed towards the prevention of Tunisia sliding into civil war after the “revolution,” that gave rise to the Arab Spring.
The Quartet comprises of four organizations- the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts, the Tunisian Order of Lawyers, The Tunisian General Labor Union, and the Tunisian Human Rights League. They came together in 2013, and were seen as a key to the county’s transition from dictatorship to democracy.
Juan Cole commented about the unique strength in these four groups and also the stance of the small military that were never tightly aligned to the Ben Ali government. Rather, the military commanders opted away from the turmoil.
At this point, the political conflict surrounding Tunisia moved from what could have easily been an armed confrontation into a step-down from current government for a replacement with a “technocratic” caretaker government. Political forces were organized with the aid of the National Dialogue Quartet, and the remarkable was witnessed: Al-Nahda withdrew from governing and was replaced. A new, secular constitution was written, parliamentary elections were held in 2014, followed by presidential elections a month later. In the current context of the Middle East upheavals, the Quartet are well-deserving of their achievement.
A past winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999, Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) saw their hospital destroyed earlier this month. On the other hand, Barack Obama received his prize in 2009 “mostly for not being George W. Bush.” It’d good to see the prize go to someone for a real effort in keeping the peace.
Tunisia continues to face economic and political complications. The teething troubles are a natural progression of a ‘new’ government. Yet, with that in mind, for now it also has something very exceptional among the Arab Spring countries: an seemingly stable, functional, and democratic government.
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