Muslim Democrats, Not Islamists, Are Emerging Success of Political Islam
The specter of Muslim Democracy is haunting the Islamic world, argues a leading commentator on Middle East politic. Drawing a sharp distinction between Islamic-oriented and Islamist parties, Nasr notes the electoral success of the former in Turkey, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan (before the 1999 military coup).

Islamists aspire to rule by shari'a or Islamic law, and consider democracy “not as something deeply legitimate, but at best as a tool or tactic that may be useful in gaining the power to build an Islamic state.” In contrast, Muslim Democrats are pragmatic, eschewing shari'a in favour of “the more mundane [goal] of crafting viable electoral platforms and stable governing coalitions.” They “do not seek to enshrine Islam in politics, though they do wish to harness its potential to help them win votes,” Nasr writes in the latest issue of the Journal of Democracy.

Drawing close parallels with the emergence of European Christian democracy, Nasr observes that “like the Catholic Church in the last century, Islamic-oriented parties are grasping the need to relate religious values to secular politics, …… sensing the benefits of including appeals to religious values in their platforms.”

One variation of this development has been called the “pothole theory,” drawing on an observation by US President George W Bush. “Maybe some [Islamists] will run for office and say, 'Vote for me, I look forward to blowing up America,'” Bush said. “But I don't think so. I think people who generally run for office say, 'Vote for me, I'm looking forward to fixing your potholes.'”

"[G]et the Islamists into the game and they will learn to play by democratic rules, lay down arms, and focus on pleasing their voters,” it is suggested. But “the lesson from Iraq is that religious parties must be bound up within a political structure that keeps them democratic.”

But it is notable that, with the possible exception of Iraq, Muslim democracy has been most successful in the non-Arab Muslim world. “Not a single Muslim has lived in an electorally competitive Arab state,” since the outbreak of the Lebanese civil war, notes Alfred Stepan, a leading academic expert on democracy and democratization. Yet some 400 million Muslims currently live in non-Arab Muslim majority states -- such as Turkey, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Senegal, Mali, and Albania -- which can be considered democracies. Palestine and its immediate neighbors have the “best opportunity in thirty years to produce democratic states,” Stepan suggests, if the international community can secure an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

But he cautions that modern democracies require at least seven preconditions: a functioning state; a monopoly over the use of legitimate force; strong, internationally recognised national borders; consensus on the identity of its citizens; a functioning government that rules from within the national territory; an elected government responsible to its citizens; and a reasonably integrated legal system. A “symmetrical peace” between Israel and Palestine would not only provoke less Islamist resistance but could also contribute to the “re-liberalization of society” in Jordan and Egypt.

Outsiders' Role in Arab Reform Subject of Debate
External agencies have a vital role to play in supporting and sustaining Arab reform, writes Fouad Ajami, Majid Khadduri Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC. The Arab edifice of power has survived earlier challenges but recent events suggest it is “the autumn of the dictators” because of one radically new factor: “a great foreign power that once upheld the Arab autocrats, fearing what mass politics would bring….. has signaled its willingness to gamble on the young, the new, and the unknown.”

Ajami suggests that “the weight of American power, historically on the side of the dominant order, now drives this new quest among the Arabs” in a radical departure from "the soft bigotry of low expectations" which underpinned the status quo. Insistence on national sovereignty should no longer be allowed to sustain a “malignant political culture.”

Accusations that reformers are tools of foreign powers inevitably surface. Saad Eddin Ibrahim is unapologetic. When a Syrian diplomat asked at a recent forum whether Ibrahim received money from Western sources, he responded that he did receive foreign funds for his pro-democracy work in Egypt. All civil society organisations were entitled to such assistance from abroad but he would happy to cease doing so if his government did the same.

Cooperation Best for Assisting Arab World's "Rudimentary Social Movements"
The United States could be much more effective if it “worked jointly with the international community in assisting progressive forces in the Middle East, argues a regional expert. “A broad coalition could more successfully exert systematic political, economic and diplomatic pressure against Arab ruling autocrats and force them to be attentive to their citizens' aspirations,” says Fawaz Gerges, a professor in Middle East and international politics. The Arab world is witnessing “a more assertive civil society and a real longing for political empowerment and emancipation,” argues a specialist observer, but it “careful support and nurturing by the West will be critical” for the success of democratic reform efforts.

Rejecting arguments of Arab exceptionalism, Gerges argues that Arab societies share a problem common across the developing world – “the fact that the new elite that assumed power after the end of colonialism came mostly from the military-security apparatus, one that is deeply hierarchical, rigid and authoritarian.

Islamists have been successful in developing large constituencies of support, not least because of the social and economic services they provide. But, 'instead of directly tackling the existential crisis facing their societies, secular Arab rulers have used the fear of Islamism to perpetuate their absolute control.” But he derives hope from the emergence of “rudimentary social movements [which] -- are much more assertive, mobilized and challenging of governments' autocratic methods, thanks to the power of the new media, which has broken official monopoly on the flow of information.”

Meanwhile, the regional establishment is adapting to the new mood, mouthing the rhetoric of reform and genuflecting towards the need for change while signaling reasons for maintaining the status quo. Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa told this week's World Economic Forum in Qatar that the "path of democracy is the only path of the Arab people while insisting that a "consensus in the region" demanded a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict for regional stability.

Mussa was taken to task by Liz Cheney, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, who attacked his abuse of the Palestinian question as a cheap "applause line," noting that “it is difficult to speak of a consensus when the people aren't able to speak and give you their voice.”

Cuba Expels EU Envoys as Dissidents Demand Democracy
Cuba last week turned away European Union observers planning to attend an unprecedented meeting of dissidents. The two-day Assembly to Promote Civil Society started on Friday 20 May, a date celebrated as Cuba's Independence Day until the 1959 revolution. The dissidents ended an unprecedented public meeting in Havana by establishing a steering committee to continue their struggle for democracy.

Havana's communist authorities earlier detained or expelled several European politicians and journalists seeking to attend the gathering, organised by the Assembly for the Promotion of Civil Society in Cuba, and attended by about 200 dissidents and Western envoys. Czech Senator Karel Schwarzenberg and German MP Arnold Vaatz were expelled in a move declared unacceptable by the European Commission. "This is the typical behavior of a totalitarian state," said Schwarzenberg.

"This is not acceptable even the best friends of Cuba would find it difficult to maintain their position," said Amadeu Tardio, a European Commission spokesman. He suggested that a June meeting of EU foreign ministers might decide to change the policy of diplomatic dialogue and engagement with Cuba and reapply diplomatic sanctions over Havana's human rights abuses.

Two Polish politicians expelled from Cuba last week appealed to Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief, to reinstate the sanctions removed earlier this year at the request of the Spanish government. "The change of the European policy towards Cuba ... does not bring any results," said Jacek Protasiewicz and Boguslaw Sonik. "Castro's regime does not liberalise its internal policy towards human rights.

"It's a point of departure and a historic move," said democracy activist Marta Beatriz Roque. But not all Cuban democrats support the initiative. Oswaldo Paya of the Varela Project and Cuba's Christian Liberation Movement criticised the meeting as "a fraud against the opposition," organized by "extremists whose movement has in the past been infiltrated and influenced by Cuban state security agents." He accused conference organizers of collaborating with the communist regime and expressed the fear that Castro would use the talks as an pretext for suppressing the opposition.

"Imperial Liberalism" Trumps Democratic Realism, EU Strategist Claims
Democracy promotion is a laudable and vital objective but military power or the threat of its use is likely to be counter-productive rites Robert Cooper, a leading adviser to EU foreign policy supreme Javier Solana, in the Washington-based National Interest “Nothing is more likely to strengthen the tyrant and legitimize the illegitimate than a foreign threat,” he says. “No communist regime collapsed as a result of outside pressure; internal change comes easier when people feel more secure externally. “It is not a question of abandoning the Wilsonian vision of encouraging the spread of democracy so much as being realistic about what an outside actor can achieve,” Cooper argues. Rather than force of arms “in the end it is the force of the idea and the power of its practice that conquers,” he suggests. “Liberal imperialism may be an oxymoron, but imperial liberalism may be the reality of today.”

Historical experience suggests there is no universal template that ensures the successful cultivation of democracy. But in a critique of US commentator's Charles Krauthammer's attempt to blend classic realism and liberal internationalism into democratic realism, Cooper avers that forms of “soft power” combined with economic development and national security are vital. “Scholarships, libraries and other ways of spreading ideas may also have a part to play in the Middle East,” he says. “They may be slow, pedestrian, uncertain--but no more uncertain than the use of force.”

In the ”long run, democracy succeeds because of its success. Its product is the Mercedes Benz rather than the Trabant, education and cultural exchange rather than isolation and starvation,” Cooper writes. “People want democracy because they want a better life; consumerism is not beautiful, but it too is an image of liberty.”

NEWS IN BRIEF

No EU Without Atlantic Alliance, says Straw
A “renewed and re-invigorated alliance” between Europe and America is needed “to promote a wider freedom and to foster the conditions where it can take root,” British foreign secretary Jack Straw declared last week. A “wider freedom” could only be guaranteed if democratization was accompanied by freedom from fear – basic human security - and what Roosevelt called 'freedom from want' which means addressing the myriad problems of Africa.

”Promoting democracy has to be at the heart of our foreign policy,” Straw continued. And “most important of all for our long-term goal of a wider freedom, we have to support the currents of change and modernisation in the Middle East.”

The Atlantic alliance underpinned the protection and advancement of democracy since the Second World War. “Without America's support, Europe's reconstruction would have been longer and more arduous; its democracies today far less firmly entrenched; and the unique enterprise of the European Union might never have got past the planning stage,” he noted. “The alliance between Europe and America has done more than any other in human history to promote the values of freedom, justice and fairness which we share and which we so prize in others.”

Africa will be a priority of the UK's Presidency of the G8 in the second half of 2005 and the UK will urge the advanced economies to show support for freedom in Africa by making commitments of financial aid in exchange for measurable progress on democracy, good governance and corruption within African states.

EU President Calls for Bilateral Partnership, Not Old Dichotomies.
While EU-US joint efforts towards the common goals of promoting democracy, stability, peace and security are of paramount importance, co-operation outside of a multilateral framework is insufficient, says President José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission. Global problems demand “an approach based on inclusiveness and a rules-based order”, he told the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Rejecting the notion that this reflected the position of “a frustrated European Lilliputian, trying to tie down the American Gulliver,” he argued that the EU and US should root their “common responsibility for global security and prosperity… [in] an ever stronger bilateral relationship embedded in an effective multilateral framework,” transcending “the old dichotomies of unilateralism and multilateralism, of Mars and Venus.”

Westminster Foundation for Democracy Under Review – Comments Sought
The UK's leading democracy promotion agency, the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, is currently the subject of a consultation exercise by the British Foreign Office. The British government initiated the review by commissioning a report from a London-based consultancy, River Path. The River Path report has already been criticized by the WFD for dubious methodology and a cavalier approach to empirical evidence. In its limited understanding of the political and operational delicacies of democracy promotion, the consultancy's report seems to exhibit the all too familiar trait of generic consultancies -- the less the understanding of substance, the more radical the recommendations.

Given such limitations, contributions and comments from specialist democracy promotion community would be particularly beneficial and the British Foreign Office is particularly interested in receiving input. All comments should be sent to WFD.Consultation@fco.gov.uk. The consultation period ends at 23:59 on 4 July 2005.

“Cynical Realism” of German Foreign Policy Under Fire
The foreign policy of Germany's Red-Green coalition reflects a “cynical phase of Realpolitik” markedly at odds with the idealistic pro-democracy push of the US Administration, argues Die Zeit editor Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff. He cites Gerhard Schröder's description of Russian leader Vladimir Putin as a “flawless democrat” with whom Germany enjoyed a “strategic partnership” as indicative of a business-driven realism – “Dictators are customers, too” - in which commercial factors trump human rights and democracy.

Morocco Sets Pace for Gender Equality in Arab World
The Moroccan Family Code (Al-Mudawana), is "excellent" and should be applied across Arab and Islamic countries, said Amr Hamzawy, a regional expert in the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Addressing the question of how to engage moderate Islamists in the democratic process at a conference of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID), he welcomed Al-Mudawana for fostering equality between husband and wife and for consolidating individual civil and political rights for women.

Governance and Growth Must Underpin Arab Reform
The Arab world needs growth rates equivalent to those of Asia's tiger economies if it is to avoid catastrophic levels of unemployment, says Mustapha Nabli, the World Bank's chief economist for the Middle East and North Africa. Population growth meant that demand for jobs was growing at an annual rate of 3.5 percent. Arab economies needed to grow at rates of between 6 percent and 7 percent a year to create 77 million new jobs over the next 20 years. Efforts at economic reform have been inadequate. Better governance in Arab countries was needed to allow the liberalization needed to help Arab economies thrive.

OPPORTUNITIES

European Commission
EuropeAid Funding for Human Rights and Democracy Microprojects
The European Commission is seeking proposals for initiatives aimed to promote and protect human rights and democracy in Algeria, Georgia and Israel under the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights programme of the European Communities. Additional projects will be funded in Mexico, China, Kazakhstan and Sierra Leone. For full details go here.

European Commission
Request for Candidatures for EU Election Observation Mission to Afghanistan
The European Commission is considering an Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) to Afghanistan for the Lower House of Parliament and provincial councils due on 18 September 2005. The Commission invites interested applicants to submit their candidature for one (maximum two) of the following positions: Deputy Chief Observer; Election Expert ; Legal Expert; Media/Press Expert; Democratisation Expert; Operation Expert; Observer Coordinator; Deputy Observer Coordinator; Security Expert; Deputy Security Expert; Country Expert. Full details available here. Deadline:  Friday 3 June 2005.

National Democratic Institute for International Affairs
Senior Program Manager, Political Party Building Specialists- Iraq
The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) is seeking individuals to coordinate training for political parties and activities in several communities throughout Iraq. The political party building specialists deployed to the three major regions in Iraq will develop individualized training plans, in consultation with local party leaders and branches of national parties, based on the needs of the parties in the region. The positions are based in Baghdad and other regional locations with trainings being conducted around the country.

Background: Iraq faces a historic opportunity to transform its politics and to develop a system of democratic governance; the next 12-month period will be crucial in determining whether this opportunity is realized. This transitional period will present a broad array of challenges to the interim and transitional governing institutions and to the constitutional development process. Challenges include: ongoing security issues, regional and religious tensions, and the legacy of a quarter century of tyrannical rule. A militant insurgency, even one of limited size, presents the potential for continued instability, which may in turn have the effect of limiting the political space available to democratic forces. Although the process of building a new political system in Iraq has been slow and difficult, there is an urgent need for party strengthening, for coalition building and for material assistance to democratic movements and organizations. The political vacuum is being filled by those with an interest in destroying and separating rather than uniting and building - only concerted efforts to strengthen the democratic middle can help stem that tide. The political party program will seek to strengthen movements and parties representing a potential democratic middle and, to build a broad democratic coalition, supportive of a stable, democratic Iraq.

Primary responsibilities: provide training on organizational development, volunteer recruitment, issues research, focus group research, message development, public outreach, and gender sensitivity for male political leaders; develop specific initiatives to promote the role of women as leaders within parties and as political candidates; Identify, train and connect political parties and individuals that could form a constituency for Iraqi peace, stability and democracy; ensure programmatic goals are achieved and operational and reporting requirements are adhered to; maintain relationships with key partners in civil society, government and the donor community; and, draft and submit field reports that monitor and measure program results and political developments. Interested applicants can apply here. IMPORTANT: Please include cover letter with specific job title cited. No phone calls please. Email: HR@ndi.org. Apply by: June 15, 2005

National Democratic Institute for International Affairs
Resident Program Director, Governance Program -- Iraq
NDI seeks a legislator or senior political staff member with significant experience at the state/province or national level who also possesses international experience and broad knowledge of legislative organization and operations to direct the Governance component of its United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded program in Iraq. The Resident director for the Governance Program will report to NDI's country director and will oversee NDI's assistance program to the Transitional National Assembly, constitutional drafting committee and other government bodies. The position is based in Baghdad.

Primary responsibilities: manage the overall implementation of NDI's governance program in Iraq; assist the Transitional National Assembly and Executive Office with organizational and managerial development by providing training in strategic planning, staff development, internal organization and communication, and public relations strategies; assist Constitutional Drafting Committee; assist the Transitional National Assembly with adopting and utilizing basic rules of lawmaking, parliamentary procedures and representative oversight functions; assist the Transitional Executive Authority, Presidency Council and Council of Ministers to develop governing processes, rules of procedures, regulations and directives, and implement government programs and polices; assist and facilitate the development of a collaborative relationship between the Transitional National Assembly and local civil society organizations to ensure full participation and meaningful input by the Iraqi people in the creation and adoption of an Iraqi constitution; provide day-to-day management and oversight of local program staff in the Baghdad office; ensure programmatic goals are achieved and operational and reporting requirements are adhered to; maintain relationships with key partners in civil society, government and the donor community; and draft and submit field reports that monitor and measure program results and political developments.

Interested applicants can apply now at www.ndi.org IMPORTANT: Please include cover letter with specific job title cited. Email: HR@ndi.org Apply by: June 15, 2005

International Republican Institute
Resident Country Director, Islamabad, Pakistan
The Resident Country Director (RCD) is responsible for designing and implementing a strategy for IRI's program in Pakistan. S/he develops long range and annual plans for the country program, identifies key players and partners in IRI programs, develops strategies for political party capacity-building, coalition-building, election-monitoring and voter education activities and oversees individual project implementation.

The Resident Country Director assists in developing program proposals and budgets and negotiating funding proposals with USG and other funding sources. S/he serves as liaison between IRI Washington headquarters, USG and Pakistan government officials, and program grantees. Please send resume and cover letter to IRI, Attn: Human Resources 1225 Eye St, NW, Suite 700, Washington, D.C. 20005 or e-mail to: personnel@iri.org or Fax to Human Resources at 202-408-9461; No phone calls please. IRI is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Further details here.

International Republican Institute
Resident Program Officer - Baghdad, Iraq
The Resident Program Officer (RPO) is responsible for helping to design and implement a strategy for IRI's program in Iraq. S/he helps to develop long range and annual plans for the country program, identifies key players and partners in IRI programs, develops strategies for political party capacity-building, coalition-building, election-monitoring and voter education activities and oversees individual project implementation. The Resident Program Officer assists in developing program proposals and budgets and negotiating funding proposals with USG and other funding sources. S/he serves as liaison between IRI Washington headquarters, USG and Iraq government officials, and program grantees. The RPO may help supervise US and Iraq programmatic and administrative staff in Baghdad. S/he is responsible for ensuring country program and projects comply with IRI policies, external (USG or other donor) grant requirements and local laws, as applicable. Please send resume and cover letter to IRI, Attn: Human Resources 1225 Eye St, NW, Suite 700, Washington, D.C. 20005 or e-mail to: personnel@iri.org or Fax to Human Resources at 202-408-9461; No phone calls please. IRI is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Further details here.

International Republican Institute
Resident Senior Political Specialist - Baghdad, Iraq
The Resident Senior Political Specialist is responsible for helping to design and implement activities related to political party development work for IRI's program in Iraq. The Specialist consults with political parties on election campaigning issues, provides candidate training, assists in the design of political communications and media strategies, and assists with the design and implementation of opinion polling projects. The Specialist assists in developing program proposals and reports on political party development activities. Please send resume and cover letter to IRI, Attn: Human Resources/RPS Iraq 1225 Eye St, NW, Suite 700, Washington, D.C. 20005 or e-mail to: personnel@iri.org or Fax to Human Resources at 202-408-9461; No phone calls please. IRI is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Further details here.

Eurasia Foundation
Regional Director of Finance and Administration -- Tbilisi, Georgia
The Eurasia Foundation (EF), an international non-profit organization supporting the development of civil society and private enterprise in the countries of the former Soviet Union, seeks a Regional Director of Finance and Administration for the Caucasus. This position is located in Tbilisi, Georgia For more information, please go here. Send resumes to: resumes@eurasia.org with Regional Director of Finance and Administration in the subject line. Contact Information: Adama Wilson. Phone: (+001) 202-234-7370. Email: akwilson@eurasia.org.

Counterpart International Inc.
Multiple Positions, Civil Society Strengthening program - Azerbaijan.
Chief of Party, Grant/Finance Manager and Senior Program Administrator – to implement a large multi-year Civil Society Strengthening program in Azerbaijan. Applicants should apply online here to job code A-ACSSP-COPGFMSA. Only selected candidates will be contacted. Candidates must have significant experience in NGO capacity building, training and technical assistance programs, advocacy and civic participation, and grant making. Previous experience managing USAID-funded activities is required. Contact Information: Monica Goletiani. Phone: (001) 202 296 9676. Apply by: June 5, 2005

EVENTS

May 28, 6:45 pm, Copella Marquee, Hay festival, Hay-on-Wye, UK, £9
Debate: “History will be kinder to Bush and Blair than to Chirac and Schroeder.”
Speakers include former Labour Party deputy leader Roy Hattersley, writer Christopher Hitchens, The Economist's John Micklethwait, and Mark Leonard of the Center for European Reform. For more information call: 44-0870 990 1299 or go here.

June 16-18, 2005, Florence, Italy
Europeanisation and Democratisation: The Southern European Experience and the Perspective for the New Member States of the Enlarged Europe
Contact: Dr. Elena Baracani, Centre of European Excellence of the University of Florence, e-mail: baracani@cires-ricerca.it, or go here.

June 29, 2005, German Marshall Fund, Washington, DC
A Common Transatlantic Geo-Strategy for the European Neighborhood. Third Annual Think-Tank Symposium
Each June, the German Marshall Fund with the generous support of the European Commission holds the annual Think-Tank Symposium on the theme of Common Transatlantic Geo-Strategy for the European Neighborhood. The symposium takes places on the eve of the official U.S.–EU Summit and brings together 30 top-level policy scholars and advisors from think tanks on both sides of the Atlantic to discuss current trends and issues facing transatlantic relations. Topics to be discussed include common strategies toward the Balkans, the Black Sea region, and Russia. Featured keynote speakers include Robert Cooper, director-general of External and Politico-Military Affairs for the Council of the European Union, and Eberhard Sandschneider, director of the German Council on Foreign Relations. Further details here.