A Tunisian coalition of workers, employers, human rights activists and lawyers have won the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet was hailed for pulling the country that sparked the Arab Spring back on to a path towards democracy and preventing it from descending into civil war.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee praised the quartet’s “decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy” following its 2011 revolution.

“It established an alternative, peaceful political process at a time when the country was on the brink of civil war,” the committee said in its citation.

The prize is a huge victory for Tunisia, whose young and still shaky democracy suffered two extremist attacks this year that killed 60 people and devastated the tourism industry.

Tunisian protesters sparked uprisings across the Arab world in 2011 that overthrew dictators and upset the status quo. But it is the only country in the region to painstakingly build a democracy, involving a range of political and social forces in dialogue to create a constitution, legislature and democratic institutions.

The National Dialogue Quartet is made up of four key organ-isations: the Tunisian General Labour Union, the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts, the Tunisian Human Rights League, and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers.

Houcine Abassi, leader of the Tunisian General Labour Union, said he was “overwhelmed” as he found out about the award.

“It’s a prize that crowns more than two years of efforts deployed by the quartet when the country was in danger on all fronts,” he said. He said he hopes the award will help “unite Tunisians to face the challenges presenting themselves now - first and foremost, the danger of terrorism”.