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Middle East and North Africa

Egypt: US should support democratic reform or risk stoking radicalism

By Michael Allen on September 1, 2010

Egyptian democracy advocates today warned that the Obama Administration will jeopardize prospects for Middle East peace and boost the region’s “dark forces” if it colludes in the dynastic succession of President Hosni Mubarak’s son.
The U.S. should press Mubarak to accept the constitutional reforms demanded by Egypt’s democratic opposition, advocates told a meeting at Washington’s National [read full story]

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Iraqi democracy: glass half-empty or half-full?

By Michael Allen on August 31, 2010

The jury is still out on the prospects for Iraq’s fragile democracy, judging by the commentaries preceding President Obama’s speech on the end of U.S. combat engagement in the country.  
Obama should err on the side of caution, writes the Brookings Institution’s Michael O’Hanlon, as the U.S. has unfinished business in resolving the political impasse [read full story]

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Democracy: Iraq’s vital ingredient?

By Demdigest on August 30, 2010

 
Our friends at POMED draw our attention to  an op-ed in The Guardian by Hayder al-Khoei, a researcher at London’s Centre for Academic Shi’a Studies, which disputes the consensus that Iran has emerged as the strategic victor following the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
To the contrary, he argues, Iraq is the ultimate winner since there is [read full story]

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Debating Islamists, ideology and democracy

By Demdigest on August 27, 2010

Are the Middle East’s Islamists committed to democracy or does their historical association with totalitarian movements provide cause for concern? Is political Islamism “inimical to the spirit of compromise and tolerance” that genuine democracy demands or do groups like the Muslim Brotherhood provide an alternative to more violent forces?
The issues are debated in the latest [read full story]

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Basij catching them young: Iranian insights from Persian Letters

By Demdigest on August 26, 2010

Iran’s domestic turmoil and Green opposition appears to have moved beyond the mainstream media’s goldfish attention span.
But Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty continues to offer insightful reporting on Iran, not least from their blogger, Golnaz Esfandiari, whose latest item examines the new “Family Protection Bill” – a misnomer if ever there was one –  that allows [read full story]

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Iraq: a ‘myth’ that U.S. withdrawal leaves behind broken political system?

By Demdigest on August 20, 2010

As the last cohort of U.S. combat troops departs Iraq seven years after the invasion that deposed the Ba’athist dictatorship, the country’s rival political blocs have agreed to restart talks aimed at resolving the impasse that has left a dangerous vacuum of authority and prompted a renewal of political violence.
But it is a “myth” that [read full story]

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Yes, our leaders are corrupt and useless, say Syrian citizens

By Demdigest on August 19, 2010

A secretly-conducted groundbreaking survey of Syrian public opinion confirms that the country’s citizens are dissatisfied with the status quo and doubt the ruling Baathist elite’s ability to address the country’s problems.
Most Syrians believe the state is corrupt and incapable of confronting the country’s deep-seated political and economic malaise. A majority believe that the state of [read full story]

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Promoting democracy – a realist approach

By Michael Allen on August 19, 2010

The legacy of the Bush administration’s Freedom Agenda has prompted renewed skepticism towards democracy promotion, particularly amongst liberal Democrats.  But some Republicans are also hostile to promoting democracy, portraying it as an idealist departure from the party’s realist foreign policy tradition and from conservative resistance to social engineering.
A July 2009 poll found that a slim [read full story]

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Yemeni women alienated by political parties

By Demdigest on August 18, 2010

Whether Yemen is a fragile and flawed democracy or a weak but not failing state,  it is unlikely to address its systemic problems without the active engagement of half of its citizenry.  Yet a deep-seated distrust and suspicion of political parties is impeding female participation in politics, a new study suggests.
Half of eligible females registered [read full story]

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Iran’s Green movement: a latent force – or proof that ‘despotism works’?

By Michael Allen on August 18, 2010

Has Iran’s Green Movement “effectively ceased to exist as a visible political force“? Or is it well-placed to re-emerge and take advantage of growing fissures within the Islamic Republic’s ruling conservative bloc?
Observers suggest that feuding within the dominant conservative cliques reflects the growing power of  President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his supporters in the Revolutionary Guards [read full story]

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