Nobel Peace Prize for Quartet Rewards Tunisia’s Democratic Efforts
On October 9, the Nobel Peace Prize “for the greatest benefit to mankind” was awarded to Tunisia’s National Dialogue Quartet. The country, in transition since the fall of the autocratic regime of Zine Ben Ali on January 14, 2011, had been struggling to maintain cohesion and peace before the Quartet stepped in. The Jasmine Revolution, which started the Arab Spring in 2011, nearly came to an abrupt and chaotic end just two years after ousting Ben Ali. Tensions between the center-left, secular party, Nidaa Tounes, and the Islamist party Ennadha, coupled with an increase in terrorist attacks, led the country to the verge of chaos. In October 2013, four unions representing labor, industry, human rights, and lawyers called for direct and improved negotiations between the government and the opposition, in an effort to ensure the democratic future of Tunisia. The call was answered by all the political parties of Tunisia and negotiations took place under the guidance of the Quartet. Shortly after the beginning of the negotiations, the Ennadha-led government resigned, leaving the technocrat Mehdi Jomaa in power until the next elections.
In January 2014, the efforts of the Quartet resulted in the adoption of a progressive constitution, the fruit of a compromise between Ennadha and the secular opposition. The constitution warrants individual freedom, the establishment of democratic institutions, equal rights for men and women, and full religious freedom. This is only Tunisia’s third constitution, and its first stemming from a concept of pluralism, making Tunisia the only country in which the Arab Spring ideals were legally enshrined.
Elections, held for the first time under the new constitution in December 2014, resulted in the victory of the center-left party Nidaa Tounes and its leader Béji Caïd Essebsi, who became, according to Libération, the first democratically elected president of Tunisia. As a result, Freedom House attributed the status of Free to Tunisia. This is the first time in 40 years that a Middle Eastern country has reached this status (Lebanon pre-civil war).
The Nobel Prize is received with pride and triumph in Tunisia. “The Tunisian experiment of national dialogue based on consensus is extremely special and will remain a model, especially when looking at what is happening in the rest of the region, “ stated Wided Bouchamoui, one of the leaders of the Quartet and president of the Tunisian Union of Industry, Trade, and Handicrafts (UTICA), in an interview with Le Monde. Every party in the Tunisian political system applauded the work of the Quartet. "The example of Tunisia underscores the value of dialogue and [the] sense of national belonging in a region marked by conflict," tweeted Ennadha, on its official Twitter account.
Of course not all is bright in a country which has suffered from two particularly deadly terrorist attacks earlier this year, that targeted tourists at the Bardo National Museum in Tunis and at Sousse Beach in the north. Annual growth is still shy of the promised 1% for 2015, and according to the IMF, youth unemployment is twice as high, reaching 34%. However, the country’s democratic transition from an autocratic regime has been admirable, and the Nobel Peace Prize for the Quartet emphasizes and exemplifies the efforts of an entire country to unify and avoid succumbing to chaos and civil war.