Arab democracy

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Middle East activists nostalgic for Freedom Agenda?

Arab democracy advocates are growing impatient with the Obama administration’s perceived lack of commitment to promoting political reform in the Middle East.
The tentative reforms and opening of political space that accompanied the Bush administration’s Freedom Agenda proved short-lived after electoral gains made by Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood prompted a marked dampening of enthusiasm for [read full story]

Iraq’s NGO law: rare victory for Arab civil society

Despite the severe challenges it faces, Iraq is better poised than any other Arab state to provide a model of a decently functioning democratic polity for the Middle East, argues Larry Diamond.
“Were Iraq to progress politically, first by democratically electing a new government this year and then by having it function decently and peacefully as [read full story]

Promoting Arab democracy still on agenda – using engagement and digital technology

The Obama administration will use “principled engagement” to promote democracy in the Arab and wider Muslim world, said Michael Posner, assistant US secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.
Change “occurs from within society” and is “very hard to impose from outside,” he said, insisting that reform was nevertheless essential “both to provide security [read full story]

FY2010 Appropriations and Middle East Democracy

Check out the new Project on Middle East Democracy report in which Stephen McInerney, POMED’s diligent advocacy director, analyses President Obama’s first annual budget request – and the current House and Senate spending bills – to gauge the administration’s priorities in the Middle East and the consequences for democratic reform.  The report will be discussed [read full story]

Arab politics: surface stability, underlying turmoil

In the month of June an attractive black American politician visited a university in Cairo and made an astonishing speech. “For 60 years,” said the visitor, “my country, the United States, pursued stability at the expense of democracy in the Middle East—and we achieved neither. Now we are taking a different course. We are supporting [read full story]

Dishing democracy: Arab satellite broadcasting a catalyst for change?

“As an agent of indigenous and evolutionary change, Arab satellite broadcasting plays a key role in democratization of the region,” according to Dishing Democracy, a PBS documentary.  Cultures resistant to radical change mean that any democratic transitions are likely to be result from long-term incremental change, argues analyst Marda Dunsky, but …..
Enabled by satellite broadcast [read full story]

Lebanon’s ‘refreshing’ poll a boost or setback for Hezbollah?

While Lebanon’s 2009 elections were “not without flaws,” they were a very positive step in the developing democratic institutions, according to the preliminary findings of the National Democratic Institute’s election observation team.
While the poll “ended with multiple contradictory messages” it was nevertheless a “refreshing” change in a region where elections are “typically, bland referendums stage-managed [read full story]

Democracy Events

June 10, 2009. Iran: Expanding Influence, Accelerating Arms Race: Myth or Reality? The Century Foundation, the Heinrich Böll Stiftung, and the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding will host a symposium to discuss Iran’s growing military and religious influence in the Middle East and Arab leaders’ concern over an ensuing arms race between Israel and Iran.  [read full story]

Will democracy figure in Obama’s Cairo speech?

President Barack Obama’s speech in Cairo this week is projected as a speech to the ‘Muslim world’ at a time when the U.S. is confronting Islamic insurgents in two countries, trying to revive the Middle East peace process and shore up relatively ‘moderate’ Arab states against a resurgent Iran and its allies.
Consequently, few commentators expect [read full story]

Obama’s speech in Egypt – spot the democracy indicators

President Barack Obama’s speech in Egypt next week will need to balance strategic and diplomatic considerations with a clear commitment to democratic reform in the region, writes J. Scott Carpenter. But Obama is likely, perhaps even compelled, to prioritize economic and security concerns over democracy promotion, writes William Galston, a board member of the National [read full story]

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