November 16, 2009. U.S. Private and Non-U.S. Funding of Media Development, featuring: Anne Nelson, Author, Experimentation and Evolution in Private U.S. Funding of Media Development; Mary Myers, Author, Funding for Media Development by Major Donors Outside the United States. With comments by: Marjorie Rouse, Internews Network. Moderated by: Marguerite Sullivan, Center for International Media Assistance.
As both U.S. journalism and private foundations have entered a period of crisis, new avenues and approaches are being explored for the media development business model. Traditional foundations–especially those rooted in U.S. journalism companies–are cutting back on international funding, and new foundations from the digital media technology sector are making a major impact. A recently published CIMA report by Anne Nelson, called Experimentation and Evolution in Private U.S. Funding of Media Development, covers both traditional and new U.S. private funding mechanisms. A forthcoming CIMA report by Mary Myers focuses on funding for media development by major non-U.S. donors. From an international perspective, the global economic downturn has not yet had a significant effect on media development funding world-wide. A look across the international donors surveyed in the report shows that budgetary commitment to media support has either risen slightly or remained the same over the last three to five years.
12-2:00 p.m. Lunch served from 12:00–12:30 p.m. National Endowment for Democracy, 1025 F Street, N.W., Suite 800, Washington, DC 20004. RSVP (acceptances only) with name and affiliation to CIMA@ned.org
November 16, 2009, 3 – 5pm. “Improving Local Governance in Latin America: A Toolkit to Empower Civil Society Anti-Corruption Efforts.” The Latin America Local Governance Toolkit assesses the existence, effectiveness, and citizen access to key governance mechanisms and anti-corruption safeguards at the sub-national level in three Latin American countries: Argentina, Ecuador and Peru. The indicators seek to measure accountability and transparency across the public sector, considering issues such as local public financial management and fiscal transfers, local civil service regulations and conflicts of interest safeguards, transparency around local state-owned enterprises, and the financing of local political parties and candidates. Generated through a collaborative partnership between Global Integrity, an international NGO that tracks governance and corruption trends, and local think tanks – CIPPEC (Argentina), Grupo FARO (Ecuador), and Ciudadanos al Día (Peru) – the Toolkit is being used by stakeholders in each country to design and advocate for evidence-based, sub-national governance and integrity reforms.
Speakers: Nathaniel Heller, Managing Director, Global Integrity; Miriam Kornblith, Director, Latin America and the Caribbean, National Endowment for Democracy; Daniel Ritchie, Secretary, Partnership for Transparency Fund; Leslie Harper, Modernization of the State Specialist, Inter-American Development Bank.
RSVP (acceptances only) to aimelr@ned.org Venue: National Endowment for Democracy, 1025 F St. NW, Suite 800, Washington D.C. Coffee and empanadas will be served
November 17, 2009, 04:30PM. “Islam and Liberal Democracy: How Tradition Matters”. The Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding and the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs are sponsoring a seminar with leading scholars to address how tradition matters in Islamic political thought today. Please join a wide-ranging discussion of how the Islamic tradition – including the Qu’ran, the life and sayings of the Prophet, and diverse legal schools – relates to the idea of a liberal democratic state. Featuring Abdullahi An-Na’im, Sherman Jackson, Ebrahim Moosa, and John Esposito. Moderated by Jane McAuliffe. Bunn Intercultural Center (ICC) Auditorium, Georgetown University. For more information please see the event page. RSVP Here
November 18, 2009, 5:00-7:00 PM. “From Rhetoric to Reality: Prospects for Turkey’s Future and the AKP’s Authoritarian Tendencies”. In its first term, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) seemed to live up to hopes that ‘moderate Islam’ would prove a force to democratize Turkey and bring it into the EU. But, since its re-election in 2007, the AKP has manifested increasing authoritarian tendencies. One example is its growing pressure on independent media, another, the ‘Ergenekon’ investigation of alleged coup-plotters. Initially heralded as an opportunity to clean up past abuses, the investigation has increasingly been accused of targeting oppositional forces. Gareth Jenkins, who has covered Turkish affairs from his Istanbul base since 1989, recently authored the first in-depth study of the Ergenekon investigation (a CACI/Silk Road Studies Joint Center publication, August, 2009). Featuring Gareth H. Jenkins, Journalist and Istanbul-based analyst of Turkish affairs.
The Forum opens with a reception and refreshments at 5 PM; the program will begin promptly at 5:30 PM and conclude at 7 PM. RSVP for this event is mandatory and will not be accepted after 10 AM on the day of the event. To register, please send an email with your name and affiliation to SAISCACIForums@jhu.edu or call 202-663-7723. Venue: The Rome Auditorium, 1st Floor, Rome Building SAIS, Johns Hopkins University, 1619 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20036.
November 18, 2009, 8:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. “Middle Eastern Democrats and their Vision of the Future”. For the past two decades, democrats in the Middle East have been fighting uphill battles to reform and open up their political space. Partial political reforms in some countries combined with the advent of new communications technologies have provided some safe space for emerging civic networks. Recent hopeful signs include women’s enfranchisement in Kuwait and the election of women parliamentarians, Lebanon’s fundamentally peaceful and well-administered election, significant gains by moderate parties in Iraq, and the election of 3,400 women to municipal council seats in Morocco. In addition, civil society gains in Arab countries have been significant and are unlikely to be reversed.
Still, democrats from the region often occupy a beleaguered political space between entrenched authoritarian systems and radical Islamist movements. Given the considerable interest that the United States and the international community have in democratic progress in the Middle East, it is important that positive trends continue and that the prospect for democracy be fully appreciated. This conference will give leading Middle Eastern democrats an opportunity to share their concerns with an American audience, and to highlight the challenges they believe lie ahead as well as their vision of the possibilities for democratic progress in the region.
Featuring 
r. Aseel al-Awadhi, Member of Parliament, Kuwait (one of four women elected in May 2009); Ziad Baroud, Interior Minister, Lebanon; Founding Member, Democratic Renewal Movement; Musa Maaytah, Minister of Political Development, Jordan; Nouzha Skalli, Minister of Social Development, Family and Solidarity, Morocco; Ayman Nour, Chairman of the El Ghad Party, Egypt (by phone)
Keynote address: Congressman Howard Berman (D-CA), Chairman, House Foreign Affairs Committee.
RSVP (acceptances only) by Friday, November 13, to rsvp@ned.org Venue: National Endowment for Democracy, Main Conference Room, 1025 F Street, N.W., 8th floor, Washington, DC 20004.
November 19, 2009, 8:30 – 10:30 am. “Overcoming Fragility in Africa – The 2009 European Report on Development”. To mark the release of the inaugural European Report on Development, “Overcoming Fragility in Africa: Forging a New European Approach,” to discuss the importance of a concentrated, collective EU response to state fragility in Africa and its implications for U.S. and transatlantic efforts. The report can be accessed at http://erd.eui.eu/.
Featuring: Stefano Manservisi, Director General DG Development European Commission; Giorgia Giovannetti, Scientific Director of the European Report on Development, European University Institute. Moderator: Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, Senior Director Policy Programs, The German Marshall Fund of the United States.
Breakfast starts at 8:30 am, followed by panel discussion 9:00 am and then Q&A session. RSVP to Chris Conrad at developmentintern@gmfus.org or 202-683-2929 at your earliest convenience. Please note that space is limited. The German Marshall Fund of the United States, 1744 R Street N.W.,
Washington, D.C. 20009.
November 19. 430-7pm International Foundation for Electoral Systems Celebrate IFES’ new Washington, DC headquarters and attend a special presentation of the Joe C. Baxter Award. IFES, 1850 K St., NW, Washington, DC. RSVP online at www.ifes.org/openhouse, by phone to +1 202.350.6714 or email rsvp@ifes.org
November 20, 2009, 12:00 to 2:30 p.m. “Is There a Convergence Between U.S. and European Policy on Democracy Support?” With the arrival to power of the Obama administration there appears to be a lessening of the divide that opened up in recent years between Europe and the United States over democracy promotion policies and programs. As both the new U.S. administration and a changing European diplomatic environment move forward, is a new convergence of U.S. and European approaches on democracy emerging? If so, what greater cooperation might it portend in this domain and what points of divergence will persist?
Jonas Hafström, Swedish ambassador to the United States, will make some opening remarks. Maria Leissner, Swedish ambassador for democracy, Vidar Helgesen, secretary general of International IDEA, Ingrid Wetterqvist, director at International IDEA, Pia Bungarten, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung representative to the U.S. and Canada, and Larry Garber, expert-consultant, USAID will discuss different facets of European democracy support and its relationship to U.S. efforts. Thomas Carothers, vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment, will comment on their presentations and moderate the discussion.
This event is co-sponsored by the Carnegie Endowment, the Embassy of Sweden, and International IDEA. RSVP: Contact Maame Boakye, ph: 202-939-2261 mboakye@ceip.org. House of Sweden, 2900 K Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20007
November 20, 2009, 10:00am-12:00pm. “The Future of Uyghur-Han Relations in China: A Dialogue.” In conjunction with a special exhibition at the Laogai Museum “The Uyghur Experience: 60 Years under Communist Rule,” the National Endowment for Democracy, the Uyghur American Association, and Laogai Research Foundation are co-sponsoring a panel discussion examining the profound effects of the July 2009 violence in Urumchi on ethnic relations in China, and exploring potential ways forward for Uyghur-Han relations.
Panelists include Nury Turkel, an attorney at a Washington law firm where he represents both U.S. and international aviation clients on matters involving federal administrative law, antitrust, government and congressional relations, as well as on commercial and aviation litigation matters; Dr. Sean R. Roberts, the Director of the International Development Studies program and an Associate Professor in the Practice of International Affairs at the George Washington University’s Elliott School for International Affairs; and Dr. David Dahai Yu, Editor of Beijing Spring. The program will be moderated by Amy Reger, Researcher at the Uyghur Human Rights Project, and Louisa Greve, Vice President for Programs – Asia, Middle East/North Africa, Multiregional, at the National Endowment for Democracy. Light refreshments will be served.
Please RSVP to laogai@laogai.org by November 13. Please arrive 15 minutes early for registration. For questions or press inquiries, please contact Lindsey Purdy at 202-408-8300 or to Lindsey@laogai.org. Venue: National Endowment for Democracy, 1025 F Street, NW, Suite 800
December 1, 2009. The Future of U.S.-Pakistan Relations. A conversation with David Ignatius, distinguished columnist and Associate Editor of The Washington Post, FDD President Clifford May, and FDD Senior Fellow Reuel Marc Gerecht. 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm. The Ritz-Carlton Hotel, 1150 22nd Street, NW, Washington, DC 20037 Kindly RSVP to Julia Nayfeld, Julia@DefendDemocracy.org or 202-403-0873. Space limited. RSVP Required.
December 03, 2009 – 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. Democracy: Traps and Question Marks. The Fifth Annual Ion Ratiu Democracy Lecture Adam Michnik, political activist, retired member of Poland’s first democratic parliament and Editor in Chief of Gazeta Wyborcza, Zbigniew Brzezinski, National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter. Full details and RSVP here.
Dec. 10, 2009, Deadline for Paper Proposals for upcoming Conference “One Year After Cairo.” In a much-anticipated speech in June 2009, President Barack Obama, speaking from the Egyptian capital, sought a “new beginning” in U.S. relations with the Muslim world. The Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy’s 11th annual conference will assess the state of U.S.-Muslim world relations a year after the Cairo speech.
Paper proposals are invited from prospective participants on the four broad topics, including: Democracy Development in the Muslim World: New Approaches or No Longer a Priority? The previous U.S. administration placed a premium on democratization in the Middle East and Muslim world, but received mixed reviews on its implementation. Some argue that so far the Obama administration has largely abandoned the democracy agenda in favor of regional security interests. How does the current administration view democratization in the context of other challenges it faces in the Muslim world, and to what extent can we detect any policy shifts?
Paper proposals (no more than 400 words) are due by December 10, 2009 and should be sent to: Prof. Peter Mandaville, Chair, Conference Program Committee. E-mail: conference2010@islam-democracy.org Authors of accepted proposals will be notified by January 22, 2010 and final papers must be submitted by March 15, 2010. Selected panelists and speakers must cover their own travel and accommodations to participate in the conference, and pay the conference registration fee by March 15, 2010. Full details available here.
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