This In Focus examines the background to the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Tunisia’s National Dialogue Quartet.
Tunisia’s Nobel Peace Prize (129 KB , PDF)
On 9 October 2015, Tunisia’s National Dialogue Quartet was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Formed in the wake of the ‘jasmine revolution’ in the country, the National Dialogue Quartet helped secure Tunisia’s transition to democracy, including the ratification of a new constitution. This paper examines those developments and what arguably were the reasons for the Quartet’s success, as well as the future challenges still facing the country.
Tunisia’s Nobel Peace Prize (129 KB , PDF)
2025 marks the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day and Victory over Japan Day, events which in 1945 brought an end to the second world war. On those days 80 years ago, celebrations erupted across Britain. However, world leaders and domestic politicians were aware of the numerous problems still to be tackled, such as reconstruction, demobilisation and the legacy of the development and use of the atomic bomb.
Between the 1970s and 1990s, the Gaddafi-led Libyan regime supplied the Provisional IRA with weapons, finance and military training. This included shipments of the explosive Semtex, which was used in several bombings where a number of people died and many more were injured. Campaigners have called on the UK government to use Libyan assets frozen in 2011 to compensate victims. However, successive governments, including the current Labour government, have declined to do so, arguing it would break international law.
On 8 May 2025, the country will mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day, the end of the second world war in Europe. Many of the commemorations will take place in cemeteries where those who died during the conflict are remembered. This briefing focuses on the organisation behind these cemeteries, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. It looks at how the commission developed and recent work on one of its key principles: equality in death.
