Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet Awarded Nobel Peace Prize

07:16

October 09, 2015

President of the Tunisian employers union, Wided Bouchamaoui, in her office in Tunis after she was awarded the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize with other members of Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet. (Fethi Belaid/AFP/Getty Images)

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded today to the National Dialogue Quartet in Tunisia for "its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011," said Nobel Committee Chairwoman Kaci Kullmann Five.

In 2010, a street vendor set himself on fire, sparking an uprising that toppled the country's authoritarian president. It also sparked the political upheaval that swept the Middle Eastern region and became known as the Arab Spring.

The quartet is made up of labor union and business leaders, human rights lawyers and activists. William Lawrence of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy joins Here &Now's Robin Young.

Guest

William Lawrence, director of Middle East and North Africa programs at the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy in Washington, D.C.

This segment aired on October 9, 2015.