Events

• October 27, 2009. Democracy That Delivers. Organized by the Center for International Private Enterprise.

Venue: Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20004.

Confirmed speakers include:

• Hernando de Soto, Institute for Liberty and Democracy (Peru);
• Larry Diamond, Hoover Institution (Stanford University);
• Robert Litan, Kauffman Foundation;
• Michael D. McCurry, Former White House Press Secretary;
• Karen Kerrigan, Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council;
• Jesus Estanislao, Institute for Solidarity in Asia (Philippines);
• Boris Begovic, Center for Liberal-Democratic Studies (Serbia);
• Daniel Cordova, Universidad del Pacifico (Peru);
• Mohammad Nasib, CIPE Afghanistan Office;
• Ira Millstein, Yale University;
• Alan Larson, Transparency International;
• Dr. Anne-Marie Slaughter, U.S. Department of State;
• John D. Sullivan, CIPE.

Sessions will cover: Solidifying linkages between democratic governance and sustainable economic growth; What is a market economy and how can it deliver?; Building democracies that deliver; The role of the private sector in strengthening democracy and improving the quality of economic growth. Full details here.

• October 27, 2009, 5-7 pm. “Women & the Politics of Change in the Middle East”

Women’s Learning Partnership (WLP) in cooperation with The Dialogue Project of the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University presents this event featuring: Lina Abou Habib (Lebanon); Mahnaz Afkhami (Iran/USA); Wajeeha Al-Baharna (Bahrain); Asma Khader (Jordan); Rabéa Naciri (Morocco); and Azar Nafisi (Iran/USA).

Women in the Middle East are working to change public opinion, laws, and policies in order to build democratic and inclusive societies. Join us as a panel of activists from campaigns for justice in Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, and Bahrain share their challenges and successes in demanding equal rights as citizens — in the family and in society.

The event will also launch the book, Iranian Women’s One Million Signatures Campaign for Equality: The Inside Story, written by campaign co-founder Noushin Ahmadi Khorasani. The book details the history, strategies, and values of a movement that brought world attention to the injustice of gender apartheid in Iran. Through door-to-door visits, impromptu street theatre, and use of alternative media, the campaign’s coordinated efforts, fraught with great risks and sacrifice, contributed to the solidarity that resulted in public protests against the contested presidential elections of June 2009.

Refreshments will be served. Seats are limited. RSVP online or by email. For more information: 301-654-2774 | wlp@learningpartnership.org | www.learningpartnership.org

• October 28, 2009. The Impact of the Economic Crisis on Central and Eastern Europe.

Speaker: Boris Begovic, Center for Liberal-Democratic Studies (Serbia), with comments by Mitchell A. Orenstein, Johns Hopkins University.  Organized by the International Forum for Democratic Studies & The Center for International Private Enterprise.

When Romania and Bulgaria joined their Central and Eastern European neighbors in the European Union in early 2007, prospects for economic growth and stability in the region looked bright. Then, the September 2008 financial crisis in the U.S. quickly spread and produced a global recession whose effects are still felt today. Central and Eastern European countries were hit particularly hard: The average decline in GDP in these economies is expected to reach 6 percent in 2009, with some countries experiencing losses in the double digits. Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and after two decades of successful political and economic reform, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe are facing difficult questions: Why have they been so vulnerable to the economic downturn? What went wrong? Did they exceed the “speed limit”? Did convergence with the EU play a role? Is their growth model damaged beyond repair, and is it time to seek a new model? What is the political impact of the crisis, and how will it affect democracy and governance?

12:00 noon–2:00 p.m. (Lunch served 12:00–12:30 pm). Venue: National Endowment for Democracy, 1025 F Street NW, Suite 800, Washington, DC 20004. RSVP (acceptances only) with name and affiliation by Monday, October 26 by email to forum@ned.org.

• October 28, 2009, 12-2:30 p.m. “Increasing Transparency in Governance in the Arab World: The struggle to create a right to access to information”

Center for International Media Assistance at the National Endowment for Democracy and the International Research & Exchanges Board invite you to a luncheon discussion featuring:

• Richard Winfield, The International Senior Lawyers Project and , CIMA Advisory Council Member
• David McCraw, The New York Times
• MPAli Ashal, MP Sakhar Al Wageh, Yemeni Parliamentarians Against Corruption (YemenPAC)

Most Arab countries do not have a regulatory framework that meets these criteria.  Although Jordan established the first access to information law of its kind in the region in 2007, working journalists have been critical of its implementation.

With support from IREX and the Middle East Partnership Initiative, the International Senior Lawyers Project has been providing assistance to parliamentarians and civil society activists throughout the Gulf region to support their efforts to develop freedom of information laws and increase transparency and accountability in their societies.

(Lunch served from 12:00–12:30 p.m.). RSVP (acceptances only) with name and affiliation by Monday, October 26 to CIMA@ned.org

NB: Discussion will be held at IREX main offices, 2121 K Street, N.W., Suite 700, Washington, DC 20037. It is NOT at CIMA/NED

• October 28, 2009, 10:00AM – 12:00PM. “Barriers to Roma Political Participation in Romania.”

As elsewhere in Europe, Roma in Romania seek to improve their socioeconomic conditions through engagement in the democratic political process, as voters, advocates, and as elected officials. Romania has seen important developments in this regard, in and out of government, both at the national and local levels.  But many institutional, political, and other barriers prevent Roma from fully exercising their rights and participating in political life.

Supported by the National Endowment for Democracy and the Open Society Institute, and drawing on both a study mission and customized public opinion research, NDI assessed these barriers to understand how they might be reduced.  The ensuing assessment report provides recommendations for governmental agencies supporting minority rights and equal access; political parties as the bodies that aggregate citizen priorities and compete for office; civil society groups in their roles as both government watchdogs and partners; and international bodies seeking to contribute to the development of Roma communities.

This discussion will feature:

• Jan Marinus Wiersma, Former Member of European Parliament (via video link to Brussels);
• Iulian Stoian, Executive Director, Roma Civic Alliance of Romania (via video link to Bucharest);
• Alice Ratyis, Program Manager, NDI/Romania (via video link to Bucharest); and
• Remarks by His Excellency Adrian Cosmin Vierita, Ambassador of Romania to the United States.

Kindly RSVP by Tuesday, October 27, 2009, to Kim Schneider by email at kschneider@ndi.org or phone at (202) 728-5415. Venue: NDI, 2030 M Street N.W., Fifth Floor Washington, D.C.

• November 3^rd, 2009. “Symposium on religion and democracy in foreign policy of the Obama administration”, hosted by Georgetown University’s Berkley Center.

The day-long event will consist of four panels, each of which will examine the question of religion and democracy in U.S. foreign policy from a different perspective. The panels will address the role of religious actors in U.S. democracy programs and policies; the “twin tolerations” and democratic stability in highly religious societies; emerging trends in the data concerning the relationships between religion and democracy; and the relationship between Islam and democracy in key Muslim countries.

Speakers include Columbia University’s Alfred Stepan and Jean Bethke Elshtain, of the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs, and a board member of the National Endowment for Democracy.

Timothy Samuel Shah, Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs, Boston University
Moderator: Thomas Farr, The Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs
For full details and RSVP go here.

• November 5, 2009 – One Size Does Not Fit All – media development in authoritarian, democratizing, war-torn, and post-conflict contexts.

The Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) at the National Endowment for Democracy cordially invites you on Thursday, November 5, 2009, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. for a roundtable discussion of how understanding the environment in four categories of nations—authoritarian, democratizing, war-torn, and post-conflict—can inform the practice of media development. The maxim “one size does not fit all” applies to all development interventions, and it should likewise apply to media assistance efforts. Policymakers and media practitioners must fashion media interventions that take into consideration the distinctive social and political structures of a country and its level of economic development. This roundtable is an opportunity to discuss how to best design media assistance to fit diverse country contexts, using these four categories as a framework.

Krishna Kumar, a senior social scientist at the State Department’s Office of the Director of Foreign Assistance and the author of “Promoting Independent Media” wrote the background paper for the discussion. He will initiate discussion by highlighting issues in his paper, One Size Does Not Fit All, which was published by CIMA.

Gerald Hyman, a senior adviser at Center for Strategic and International Studies and the president of its Hills Program on Governance and a member of the CIMA Advisory Council, will comment on the paper. We plan to gather a small group of academics, policymakers, and media practitioners to share their insights on the prospects of media development assistance in different contexts.

The meeting will be from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 5, at the National Endowment for Democracy (1025 F Street NW, Suite 800, Washington, DC). Please RSVP to Dana Binnendijk at danab@ned.org or 202-378-9590 by Monday, November 2, 2009.