The Nobel peace prize celebrates Tunisian progress

IN MOST of the Arab world the hopefulness of the Arab Spring quickly gave way to chaos, blood and democratic setbacks. But one country has fared better than the rest. Tunisia, the first of the Arab countries to oust its dictator, has managed to stay on a democratic path even as the region around it crumbles.

One of the biggest contributors to this progress was rewarded on October 9th, when the National Dialogue Quartet was given the Nobel peace prize. The work of the quartet, a coalition of civil-society organisations, in rallying the public behind the constitutional process was “an essential factor for the culmination of the revolution in Tunisia in peaceful, democratic elections last autumn”, the prize committee said. “The broad-based national dialogue that the quartet succeeded in establishing countered the spread of violence in Tunisia and its function is therefore comparable to that of the peace congresses to which Alfred Nobel refers in his will.”

But the prize is more than just an acknowledgment of the quartet’s brave and dedicated efforts. It also serves to highlight Tunisia’s remarkable progress, and encourage other countries in the region to follow its lead. That progress has often looked shaky, as Islamist and secular forces faced off over the relationship of religion and state. When disagreements and political assassinations threatened to plunge Tunisia into chaos in 2013, the quartet stepped in to lower the temperature. The then-ruling Nahda (“Awakening”) party, an Islamist outfit which itself deserves great credit for its moderation, agreed to relinquish power in 2014. Against the regional trend, voters then handed power to a secularist coalition known as Nidaa Tounes in a relatively peaceful transition. A new, enlightened constitution was also adopted last year.

The four organisations that shared the prize are the Tunisian General Labour Union, the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts, the Tunisian Human Rights League and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers. The trade union, and in particular its leader, Houcine Abassi, played a crucial part in persuading Nahda to step aside and allow fresh elections to take place.

Tunisia still faces many challenges. Its citizens are among the largest groups of foreigners joining Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. Tunisia itself has been hit by two big terrorist attacks this year. And its economic system is plagued by corruption and cronyism. But it is for good reason that the Tunisians won the prize over other favourites, such as Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, John Kerry, America’s secretary of state, Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, or Pope Francis. The country offers a rare example of progress in an otherwise wretched region. It deserves encouragement. And the rest of the Arab world deserves a little cause for hope amid all the anger and bloodshed.