Orientalism, that is, the point of view with which the West examined the Arab world, was taken by surprise in 2011 when the so-called "Arab Spring" began in Tunisia. Since the process of independence of the countries of the region, the logic of the authoritarian regimes that dominated them had been assumed as part of an inevitable idiosyncrasy, of a culture that made it difficult for the delicate flower of democracy to germinate in their soil. The most optimistic possibility contemplated authoritarianism as a path towards processes of opening up in an indefinite but distant future.
 

These cultural schemes of understanding the other explain the surprise of analysts, governments and Western public opinion at the beginning of 2011, when a protest movement began in Tunisia and quickly spread throughout the area, from the Maghreb to the Middle East and the Arabian Peninsula. After the democratizing waves of the 1970s (Iberian Peninsula)
After the democratizing waves of the 1970s (Iberian Peninsula) and 1990s (former Eastern European bloc), a possible third wave was looming. However, and despite the widespread unrest that provoked them, the initial steps of this upheaval were deflated and ended up in most cases far removed from the democratizing hope that motivated them. discussion Among other situations, Egypt witnessed a succession of conflicts until the arrival of the army to power; Syria is still in a bloody civil war and Libya is still trying to overcome the division into factions that took place after the overthrow of Gaddafi.
 

Only Tunisia seemed to preserve the initial spirit, although the difficulties also threatened the stability of what had been achieved, first with a common paradox: the democratic installation of a government led by the Islamists of Ennahda in the face of the division and disorganization of the secular parties. These only united in the face of the assassinations of opposition politicians and the threats against those who proposed alternatives to the Islamist government, but without managing to advance in processes of democratic normalization.

It is in this context that civil society (the germ of democracy, as Tocqueville said in 1835) took a step forward, probably in the country where it was most solid and active. The General Union of work (UGTT), the Union of Industry, Trade and Crafts (UTICA), the National Lawyers of Tunisia association and the Tunisian League of Human Rights (LTHD) formed a quartet that lobbied political forces for an orderly process of democratic transition, with a consensual constitution and a neutral government to culminate the civil outbreak of 2011. With a roadmap in place, negotiations came to fruition in early 2014 and since then a constitution has been drafted, a new parliament has been voted in and a new government elected. In addition, the process has extended to social dialogue and finding solutions for the economic status .
 

Despite the difficulties, only Tunisia has managed to democratically culminate the process initiated in the Arab Spring of 2011, and what is significant is that much of its success has been supported by the civil initiative embodied by the Quartet. The Nobel Prize that has just been awarded to them supports the process and above all the initiative of a society whose organizations have taken challenge over the disputes of the political parties. sample also supports a path that is no less worthy of marking a model for the future, despite the challenges and threats.