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June 28, 2005, Volume 2,
Number 7
DEMOCRACY DIGEST
The Bulletin of
the Transatlantic Democracy Network
www.demdigest.net
ISSUES
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's New Generation Consolidates Power in Iran
Iran's president-elect Mahmood Ahmadinejad should not expect the international community to “go soft” on Tehran's nuclear policy, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said. “It would be a serious mistake if he thought that we are going to go soft on them, because we are not,” Blair insisted.
In elections marred by disqualification of candidates, polling irregularities and intimidation by Revolutionary Guards, many poorer voters were clearly motivated by a blend of class and ideology to vote against the corruption personified by Ahmadinejad's rival, former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Jack Straw, the UK foreign secretary, complained of "serious deficiencies" in "an already flawed" electoral process. The European Union criticized the election, expressing regret that candidates were excluded and reaffirming “the importance of free expression and assembly in terms of a free and just election process."
Ahmadinejad's victory is the first time in the 26-years of the Islamic Republic that a secular candidate beat a mullah in a high profile electoral contest, notes Iranian observer Amir Taheri. His win also confirms supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's decision to “abandon any idea of Western-style reforms to please the restive middle classes.” Instead, the regime will mobilize its “real base”, Taheri suggests, “the Revolutionary Guard and its reservists, the so-called Baseej or 'mobilization of the dispossessed' movement, the various organizations of families of 'martyrs', the occult Hezbollah (Party of God) networks and, in broader terms, the masses of the poor.”
The election represents both an obituary for the reformist movement and the culmination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's long-term strategy to consolidate power around a fresh cadre of radicals and revive an Islamic revolution that had fallen into disrepute through association with corruption and other abuses of power. Ahmadinejad, and such allies as Majlis chairman Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, are members of the "middle" generation of the Islamic Revolution, “faithful to the revolution's values, and who grew up in the establishment apparatuses” but with the political advantage of not being clerics, now widely despised across Iranian society. Yet the West knows little about Iran's new foreign policy protagonists, including the younger security service operatives and Revolutionary Guards. “Many of those Iranian conservatives have little time for Westerners,” notes Brookings' Daniel Byman, “but we must take the time to know them -- their agendas, hierarchies, and ideological subtleties.”
By mobilizing this new generation of conservatives, Khamenei has removed the “competing centers of power, says Ray Takeyh, a senior fellow at the US-based Council on Foreign Relations. He has ended the perennial struggle between elected and unelected institutions” that characterized the non-democratic but pluralist Islamic Republic and “gradually translated his constitutional powers into actual institutional dominance.” “A supreme leader widely contemptuous of democratic accountability and confident of his mandate from heaven has finally consolidated his rule,” says Takeyh, “ ending one of the most vibrant reform movements in the history of the modern Middle East.”
Reflecting the prevalent sentiment of the new generation, Ahmadinejad openly expresses his disdain for liberal democracy. "We did not have a revolution in order to have democracy," he said last week. With his populist appeal, anti-democratic sentiment and success in exploiting resentments towards ruling elites, Ahmadinejad has already been compared to another authoritarian. "The obvious comparison is (President) Hugo Chavez in Venezuela," said an observer with experience of both oil-producing countries.
Reformists accepted blame for Ahmadinejad's victory, conceding that eight years of President Mohammad Khatami's incremental approach had yielded little real progress. "The vote for Ahmadinejad was a vote against reformist inefficiency," wrote the editor of the liberal Sharq daily. But former vice-president Mohammad Ali Abtahi, an ally of the hapless Khatami, blamed fellow reformists for splitting their vote by fielding three candidates in the first round and for neglecting economic issues. "We focused our attention on the elite and forgot the ordinary people who are trying to get their daily bread.”
Some Iranian exiles welcomed a more conservative regime, hoping it would prompt greater assistance for the regime's opponents. Others believed Ahmadinejad's victory was not so significant given the conservatives' de facto control of other state institutions and would at least reveal the true nature of the regime. "You don't want to have a smiley face covering up the true face of the regime," said Pooya Dayanim of the Iranian Jewish Public Affairs Committee. "This is just going to highlight how out of step Iran is with the international community and pro-democracy trends in the Middle East."
But some feared the result would play into the hands of regime change proponents eager to promote civil disobedience and other direct action tactics. "In some perverse way, there may be people who think that this can now result in some bloody upheaval in Iran," says one exile. "I don't think most people here share that desire." Others look to alternative means of cementing a common front of dissidents based on mobilization to demand an internationally monitored referendum for a new constitution founded on universal human rights.
Ahmadinejad's election presents the US with a dilemma, says one observer: “to come to terms with the Islamic regime and pursue a course of understanding and reconciliation, or opt for a policy of confrontation that could prove very costly for all sides.” It is here that the European Union might play a useful bridging role to avoid conflict,” argues Amin Saikal. Yet the West's approach has already been criticized as too lax on Iran's human rights abuses.
The extensive economic interests, patronage networks and corruption of the theocracy cast doubt on Ahmadinejad's ability and inclination to deliver the qualitative improvements in living standards his campaign promised. And in ending the ersatz pluralism and monopolizing power, the regime can no longer deflect responsibility or blame for its failures. “What is both worrying and hopeful,” says one observer, “is that this consolidation of power has a last-ditch aspect about it. Khamenei has increased control, but the regime has lost flexibility and much of whatever legitimacy remained.”
Engage Islamists, Monitor Elites for Real Arab Reform
--Bipartisan Task Force
The US should engage with nonviolent Islamist groups in promoting democratic reform, argue the authors of a new report from a Council on Foreign Relations task force on Arab reform. “It would be a mistake to exclude Islamist parties on the assumption that they are inherently undemocratic or prone to violence,” argue the task force co-chairs, former secretary of state Madeleine Albright and former Congressman Vin Weber (R-MN). The task force proposes greater emphasis on education reform and public diplomacy, and suggests that US funding is best directed through independent NGOs rather than government agencies.
"Deeply embedded ruling elites, benefiting from power, privilege and financial enrichment over a period of many decades, do not readily put all this at risk by opening up top-down political systems,” a former State Department analyst recently argued, listing well-practiced techniques of electoral distortion and evasion. To encourage genuine progress, the task force recommends that Arab governments be required to publish detailed "pathways for reform that respond to the specific demands for change made by citizens within each Arab country."
A strategy to promote democracy entails inherent risks, the authors concede, but "the denial of freedom carries much more significant long-term dangers." "If the new policy is implemented in ways that are superficial, halfhearted, under-funded, and inconsistent,” the report warns, “it will yield new allegations of hypocrisy and further damage relations between the United States and Arab populations."
The report recognizes the vital significance of the Arab-Israeli conflict and suggests that US diplomatic engagement in the peace process will reduce Arab mistrust. But, rejecting the notion that democratic reform requires a prior settlement, the task force proposes that the US should "support democratic reform in the Middle East whether or not there is progress towards peace, and should support progress towards peace whether or not there is significant democratic reform."
Transatlantic Network Prompts EU-US Call for Democratic Solidarity
Transatlantic dialogue on democracy has been around “since Jefferson turned John Locke's theory into practice,” according to a participant at the recent Transatlantic Democracy Network conference in Brussels. In the latest exchange, leading European and North American democracy promoters and Atlanticists addressed critical issues of democratization, particularly across Europe's eastern and southern periphery in post-communist Eurasia and the Arab world.
The transatlantic relationship was at a "pivotal point," Nicholas Burns, the US State Department's Under Secretary for Political Affairs, told conference delegates in a keynote address. The “great common project,” said Burns, is no longer Germany, the Cold War or preserving Europe democracy and security but “what we can do outside of the transatlantic relationship to preserve peace and security and democracy around the world.”
Yet authoritarian regimes were showing greater resilience and sophistication in countering democratization, cautioned one leading democracy promoter. Democrats faced intractable problems and dilemmas over whether and how to engage Islamists and in promoting democracy when strategic security concerns were also at stake.
Participants included Members of the European Parliament, leading officials of the European Commission, European Council and US State Department, as well as figures from democracy promotion agencies, think-tanks, and the meeting's sponsors -- the NED, German Marshall Fund and Freedom House. They discussed prospects for cooperation and coordination between EU and US initiatives, specifically within country-specific workshops which examined the challenges of democratizing Belarus and Egypt. But while collaborative efforts were considered useful, not least in terms of sharing intelligence and avoiding duplication of efforts (and funding), it was suggested that a healthy division of labour or, for that matter, competition might in some circumstances be more beneficial.
The meeting, funded by the US office of the European Commission, convened pro-democracy advocates and activists committed to making support for democratic transition and consolidation a core part of the transatlantic agenda. As if on cue, the declaration arising from this week's EU-US summit at the White House stressed joint transatlantic ”solidarity and support to those promoting democracy around the world,” a joint pledge to continue to support pluralism and the development of civil society and a specific commitment to “coordinate our efforts to promote democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights in Belarus.”
Democracy Dialogue Gains Momentum
Turkey has been able to “marry democratic culture with Islamic culture," says prime minister, Recip Tayyip Erdogan, and is trying to project democracy throughout the Middle East. Democracy and Islam “can coexist" he insisted, while rejecting the term 'Islamic democracy.' “We feel this is wrong because it alludes to a theocratic association which is not the way we see things," he said.
As a co-sponsor of the Democracy Assistance Dialogue (DAD) alongside Italy and Yemen, Turkey is promoting research on strengthening nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Islamic countries and on increasing women's participation in public life. Democracy cannot be realized while excluding or marginalizing half of the population, Turkish foreign minister and deputy prime minister Abdullah Gul told a conference on women's participation organized by the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV). "We should immediately remove all legal, political and psychological hurdles restricting women's participation,” he told the forum, an initiative within the framework of the DAD
Gender discrimination cannot be justified under Islam or any other religious, legal and cultural pretext, he told delegates from over 30 countries across the Broader Middle East and North Africa.
A "significant segment of the political and bureaucratic elite" in Ankara, especially activists of the ruling Justice and Development Party, was reportedly upset by Turkey being promoted as a model for the Arab world to emulate (US Secretary of State Colin Powell ruffled feathers in April 2004 when he mistakenly described Turkey as an "Islamic Republic."
US Shift in Strategy Prompts Cynicism and Appreciation
"For 60 years my country, the United States, pursued stability at the expense of democracy in the Middle East -- and we achieved neither," said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last week in Cairo. "Now, we are taking a different course. We are supporting the democratic aspirations of all people," she told an audience at the American University in Cairo.
“Throughout the Middle East, the fear of free choices can no longer justify the denial of liberty,” she said. She rejected the claims of critics who claim that democracy is being foisted on the region. “In fact, the opposite is true: Democracy is never imposed. It is tyranny that must be imposed.”
The shift in US strategy prompted a skeptical reaction from some observers and activists. In Egypt, where the Mubarak regime has tried to paint democratic reformers as US puppets, George Ishak, a leader of the Kifaya (Enough) opposition movement, refused to meet Rice. “Our concern is not foreign connections, but the simple Egyptian citizen," he said.
Some argued that her tour, meeting Washington's strongest Arab allies in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, only confirmed that Washington would not jeopardise its old alliances with the region's regimes. "Rice came and said: 'We are accepting the pace of reforms and we are not interested in dealing with Islamic groups,'" claimed Sateh Noureddine, left-wing editor of Lebanese daily As-Safir. "We had been receiving signs in the last few months that the US may be serious about reforms in the region, now we've discovered that they will continue to deal with the regimes," he told Agence France Presse.
"If we look in Egypt, the regime, or in Kuwait or in Saudi Arabia, they are allies of the United States policy. It is such a double-standards policy," claimed Ameer Makhoul, of Ittijah, a Palestinian NGO consortium.
But others took a more upbeat view. “She asserted her belief that reform is coming, that if it happened in the Soviet Union it will happen in Egypt," said human rights activist and newspaper editor Hisham Qassem. "She was more interested in listening to us.” Rice called for free and fair elections in Egypt met with several leaders of Egypt's pro-reform opposition, including Ayman Nour, head of the Ghad (Tomorrow) Party and with civil society activists. "We presented to her our ideas about reform in the country and suggested to Dr Rice ways in which the US could gain credibility with Egyptians," Nour told Aljazeera.
"It seems the US administration is getting more involved in the details, said Palestinian analyst Salah Abdel Shafi. "In the past they were limiting themselves to statements and avoided embarrassing their allies." Shafi met Rice during her stay in Ramallah. "They seem to be more open to dialogue with the opposition,” Shafi noted. “It's true that both in Egypt and in Palestine they made it clear they would not talk to the Islamists, but this could change.”
In an interview with Al-Arabiya, Rice refused to be drawn on the question of engaging with Islamists groups like Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood but insisted in response to “those who say that free choices around this region will lead to extremism,” that the region's freedom deficit “has led to an absence of proper channels for people to express their grievances, express their political views, and that more than anything has led to extremism.”
In taking the democracy message “forcefully to the capital of the most populous and most powerful Arab state,” Rice's
"stunningly blunt" diplomacy “injected clarity and vigor” into the administration's policy, noted one commentator. But her hosts seemed unpersuaded. "When you reform something it's defective and Egypt is not defective," said Ahmed Abul Gheit, Egypt's foreign minister. He took the party line of most regional leaders by insisting that reform first required "a settlement for the Palestinian problem” (rumors that the Israeli foreign minister retorted that there could be no settlement for the Palestinian problem until there was democracy in Egypt proved unfounded).
Referenda Prompt Debate on Turkey's EU Accession
More than 20 European democracy promotion groups and think-tanks have demanded that the European Union continue its eastward expansion despite the rejection of the EU constitution by France and the Netherlands. Some 23 Western and Eastern European think-tanks sent a joint letter to Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who holds the EU's rotating presidency, urging that accession process continue in order to help new democracies.
"The EU's proximity and the prospective of EU membership have proved in recent years to be the most important incentives for the democratisation and pacification of former authoritarian, ethnically divided societies," states the letter, initiated by the Romanian Academic Society (SAR). Signatories included Martin Butora, Institute for Public Affairs, Bratislava; Charles Grant, Center for European Reform, London; Gerald Knaus, European Stability Initiative, Berlin, Sarajevo, Istanbul; Ivan Krastev, Center for Liberal Strategies, Sofia; and Jacques Rupnik, Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales, Paris. Email: office@sar.org.ro to join this appeal.
The EU's decision will have a profound impact on efforts to promote reform, modernization and democratization in the Broader Middle East, not least by impacting Turkey's role as a paradigm of Islam's engagement and compatibility with modernity. “By modernizing and democratizing at home, Turkey's politicians have gained self-confidence in their ability to conduct a successful regional policy,” says Bulent Aras, international relations professor at Istanbul's Fatih University. Unlike earlier would-be models, like the Shah's Iran or Nasser's Egypt, “Turkey's arrival as a regional power differs in that its democratic structures make it an active peacemaker, not a local bully,” he notes.
Thankfully, it is no longer possible to write, as Bernard Lewis could in 1994, that Turkey is the only Muslim Democracy. Yet Turkey emerged as and remains a frontrunner in integrating Islam and democracy not least because Turkish Islam evolved to represent “a more liberal and tolerant form than Iranian and Arabic interpretations,” argues commentator Sedat Laciner, a form more confident towards the West, self-critical, liberal and “the first mainstream Islamic interpretation to witness the conflict between modern political thinking and religion.”
Elites Promote Change to Stay the Same
Stability, prosperity and normalcy emerge when “political authority, national identity, ethnic allegiance, formal statehood, and leadership legitimacy” coincide, argues Rami Khouri, a leading regional commentator with Lebanon's Daily Star. But, he cautions, “when there is tension or contention among these factors -- every single Arab country comes to mind, with no exceptions - life and society are turbulent, often violent, usually ruled by the force of the gun and money rather than the force of the law and the consent of the governed.”
Change induced by external pressure tends to be “neither sincere nor lasting” but significant domestic dynamics mean that “a fundamental race is taking place between citizenries that want a dignified and responsive political system and concerned leaderships that hasten to make changes that can keep them in power.”
Indeed, “the more things change the more they stay the same” seems to be the motto of most of the region's leaders. But adopting a different discourse and cosmetic tinkering may no longer be enough to stop the momentum for genuine change, suggests Gamil Mattar, director of the Arab Centre for Development and Futuristic Research. “Arab statesmen pretend that the call for reform and the current protests and uprisings are but a storm in a teacup,” he notes. “But deep inside they know that the status quo is under threat and are ready to fight to the wire.”
Mattar highlights the prevalence of anti-Americanism amongst the political elites, while hinting at its superficial and opportunistic nature. “Every single government in the region is dependent on US support while outraged at the support it provides to the forces of change or opposition,“ he notes.
The Iraq war and support for Israel are the two most frequently-cited reasons for animosity towards the US but one leading reformer credits the war with at least acting as a catalyst for regional change. “The Iraq war was like the French expedition (of Napoleon) into Egypt in 1798,” explains Saad Eddin Ibrahim.. “It was a jolt” that “cleared the way” for change, but “did not create the
forces of modernisation” in Egypt or elsewhere.
Other commentators suggest that claims of US or other external interference are little more than dishonest attempts to evade responsibility for Arab self-determination. “I would accept the risk of being called a Western stooge when I agree with Western demands for Arabs to change and improve,” says Saudi columnist Khaled Batarfi. “No one is telling us how to do it… We are free to customize our democracy and write our constitution to fit our culture and special case.”
Transatlantic Convergence on Middle East Reform?
The European Union and United States suffer from similar shortcomings in their efforts to use trade and assistance to prompt change in the Arab world, suggests Michele Dunne, editor of the Arab Reform Bulletin. Both have learned that “there is no sure path from economic liberalization to democracy” and that authoritarian systems promote cosmetic reform without ensuring genuine competition and accountability. “Simply assisting civil society organizations in the hope that they will create bottom-up pressure on authoritarian regimes for change will not work,” she states, “because the regimes prevent civil society from playing a role.”
Furthermore, both the US and EU “have learned that sacrificing the reform and democracy agenda to other political considerations-- for example in the case of Palestine, where both the US and EU not only tolerated but actively assisted the building of a highly corrupt, security-dominated Palestinian authority-can have tragic consequences.” Most importantly, she told a recent meeting of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, the region's governments and citizens “see clearly whether or not we are serious, and whether there will be real consequences, positive and negative” attached to Arab states' progress or stasis on reform.
The EU's Barcelona Process was premised on the notion that “persuasion and gradual, cooperative change” would prompt “in the first instance economic change, but then later political change”. But experience confirms that “economic and political reforms need to be pursued concurrently and on their own merits,” a view shared by the recent bi-partisan report on Arab democracy from the US Council on Foreign Relations.
Muslim Democrats Welcome "Winds of Change"
Fundamental debates on Islam and democracy no longer concern “whether Islam and democracy are compatible, but rather, how they are,” said Radwan Masmoudi, president of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy, opening CSID's 6th annual conference recently. The conference theme, “Democracy and Development: Challenges for the Islamic World”, permeated presentations in seven panel sessions and an Open Forum for Muslim Democrats as 200 scholars, policy makers, government officials, and activists assessed how post-9/11 events had “created an environment in the Muslim world conducive to the promotion of democracy.”
Accepting CSID's Muslim Democrat of the Year Award, former Malaysian deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim drew on a phrase from the 1950s' anti-colonial wave to describe the "winds of change" sweeping through the Muslim world. While "progress of political reform in the Muslim world, particularly in the Middle East, [has its] roots in the Bush administration's 'forward strategy of freedom'," he argued, Muslims would ultimately free themselves by their own efforts
Examining the experience of Jordanian Islamists, Shadi A. Hamid suggested that the Muslim Brotherhood's “de-Islamization” as it became incorporated into the democratic system indicated that secularism is not a prerequisite of democratic governance or participation. The deficits of freedom, knowledge and good governance in the Arab world were largely attributable to the ruling regimes, noted Sherif Mansour, while the same deficits -– not colonialism, Palestinian-Israeli conflict; internal threats or lack of natural resources -– were to blame for the region's human under-development.
This theme was echoed in the argument, from USAID's Andrew S. Natsios, that “the problem in the Middle East is not Islam, it is autocratic regimes.” Carl Gershman, president of the National Endowment for Democracy, outlined the four fundamental values-- protective, instrumental, constructive, and intrinsic values -- that underpin why Muslims demand democracy. Events confirmed this demand, said Egyptian dissident Saad Eddin Ibrahim, reminding delegates that two-thirds of the world's 1.4 billion Muslims live in emerging democracies. In the Arab Middle East, a recent “stirrings” were “surprising [only] to those who watch the region with a mentality of Arab exceptionalism.”
Such notions of Arab exceptionalism were also undermined by “images of Iraqis walking to the polls …. visible on satellite television from Morocco to Malaysia,” observed Lorne Craner, International Republican Institute President. External agencies have an enabling influence, but “it is the people who deserve the credit” for such momentous changes.
The proliferation of independent NGOs was potentially positive for democratization, argued Farid Senzai, but misappropriation of funds and support for unrepresentative NGO's could undermine the purpose, especially when funds went to less important or unpopular groups, at the expense of Islamic organizations.
Full copies of CSID conference papers are available here.
NEWS IN BRIEF
Tunisian Regime Invokes Terror Laws to Harass Human Rights Activists
The Arab Program for Human Rights Activists has expressed concern that Tunisian authorities continue to freeze the assets and otherwise impede the work of the Arab Institute for Human Rights more than a year after authorities informed the Institute that a financial audit requiring the freeze would take a few days. The Tunisian government invoked anti-terrorism and money laundering laws to justify further restrictions, including disabling internet, faxes, and mail. APHRA believes the regime is pressuring the Institute because of its hostility to leading human rights activist Khamees Kaseela, who represents the Tunisian Association for the Defense of Human Rights on its board.
Muslim Brotherhood Detainees Released
Egyptian authorities last week released 163 members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood after a crackdown on opposition forces during May's protests. Interior Ministry sources said 486 people, including Brotherhood leaders like secretary-general Mahmoud Ezzat, were still being held. The group joined protests against the Mubarak regime after rank-and-file members pressured Brotherhood leaders to end a sectarian approach which had seen them steer clear of demonstrations led by the democratic Kifaya (Enough!) movement. Both Kifaya and the Brotherhood condemn a constitutional amendment which replaces a referendum on a single candidate with multi-candidate elections but which also impedes genuine challengers. Independent candidates must secure the endorsement of at least 65 members of Parliament and support from other elected bodies all dominated by the ruling National Democratic Party.
Meanwhile, police prevented Egyptian opposition leader Ayman Nour from boarding a plane to Brussels on Wednesday, telling him he was banned from leaving the country. Nour was heading to Strasbourg to address the European parliament. Nour is the head of the liberal Al-Ghad party which recently became Egypt's first party to have its own radio station. “This is the first real attempt to break the monopoly of the state media and the control of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) and so far we have got thousands of listeners who tuned in to our station,” said Nour.
Gulf States Need Labor Unions
Most Western commentators have been generous in praising the reform efforts of the oil-rich Gulf sheikdoms. The frequency of generously-funded conferences on governance or modernization clearly creates an impression of movement. But, as the recent expose of extensive human trafficking in the region confirms, reality is rather different.
But the Gulf's workers are beginning to organize in ways that transcend traditional divisions between indigenous and expatriate workers. "Arabic-language newsletters from several nascent unions,” notes one commentator, “take pains to express an ideology that is radical for the Gulf--a notion of
solidarity and social equality that spurns ethnicity or the heated language of religion.” And while most Arab unions still suffer from a legacy of Soviet-style state control and anti-Western prejudice, Gulf unions have welcomed logistical support and training from the international labor movement.
OPPORTUNITIES
Program Officer for Middle East and North Africa - Washington DC
National Endowment for Democracy
The National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a congressionally funded, private, nonprofit grant-making organization, is seeking to fill the position of a Program Officer with its Middle East and North Africa team.
The program officer will work with the regional director and other program officers to develop and manage the Endowment's Middle East and North Africa (MENA) grants program, develop the Endowment strategy, set priorities, and monitor and evaluate projects in the region. Further details here. To Apply: Qualified candidates should send a resume and a brief writing sample by June 30th to e-mail: jobs@ned.org. No phone calls please.
Senior Program Assistant, Political Party Development, Washington, D.C.
National Democratic Institute for International Affairs
The Senior Program Assistant is an integral member of the Political Party Development team, which supports regional and field teams implementing political party programs. The team provides expertise on political parties and political party assistance; assists in program design, implementation and evaluation; houses and develops centralized resources; promotes cross-regional exchange; and recruits and recommends trainers and consultants. The team also manages international initiatives that specifically promote political party development, and serves as the main contact with party institutes and foundations around the world. This position is based in Washington, D.C. Interested applicants can get further details and apply using our on-line resume tool at here. Please cite the exact position title in the cover letter. No phone calls.
Senior Program Manager, Washington, DC
Freedom House
Freedom House seeks a Senior Program Manager for its African Institute for Democracy and Rule of Law initiative. The position is based in Washington, DC.
The Senior Program Manager will assume a leadership role in developing the African Institute for Democracy project. Contact information: Megan Schmidt. Email: humanresources@freedomhouse.org. Apply by: August 1, 2005
Assistant Program Officer for Eastern Europe, Washington DC
National Endowment for Demoracy
The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is searching for an Assistant Program Officer for Eastern Europe, to be based in Washington, D.C. Further details here. Applicants should send a resume, cover letter, a brief writing sample (1-2 pages), and contact information for three references by July 15, 2005 to: Eastern Europe Assistant Program Officer Search Email (specify position title in the subject line): jobs@ned.org. Mail: National Endowment for Democracy 1101 15th Street N.W., Suite 800, Washington D.C. 20005. Fax: 202-223-6042 No phone calls. Only applications under active consideration will receive a response.
EU Funding for Democracy Microprojects:
Algeria, Ethiopia, Israel, Mexico, Mozambique, Nepal, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe
The European Commission is seeking proposals for initiatives aimed at promoting and protecting human rights as well as democracy with financial assistance from the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) micro-projects programme of the European Communities. Full details here.
International Republican Institute
Resident Country Coordinator (Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening), Baghdad, Iraq
The Resident CEPPS Country Coordinator for Iraq will serve as the point of contact for the USAID-funded program on Voter Education, Domestic Monitoring and Conflict Mitigation. This is a program which has components to be coordinated among and carried out by each of the three CEPPS partner institutes (IRI, NDI and IFES). The Country Coordinator will be responsible for regularly convening the Senior Program Managers for policy setting and program coordination. Full details here. 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.
International Republican Institute
Resident Senior Political Analysts in 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. Full details here. 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/RPS Iraq at 202-408-9462; No phone calls please. IRI is an Equal Opportunity Employer
Research Consultants, Washington, D.C.
National Endowment for Democracy
The Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program at the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) seeks part-time research consultants to work closely with Reagan-Fascell Fellows in residence at NED's International Forum for Democratic Studies for the 2005–2006 fellowship year (October 1, 2005–July 31, 2006). Further details here. Applications and reference letters may be submitted electronically to zerxes@ned.org. or via regular mail to: Zerxes Spencer, National Endowment for Democracy, 1101 15th Street, N.W., Suite 800, Washington, D.C. 20005. Closing Date for Applications: July 15, 2005.
Journal of Democracy
Managing Editor Washington, D.C.
Accountable for all aspects of the preparation and the production of the Journal of Democracy and Journal of Democracy books. Further details here. This position will begin in early August 2005. Deadline for applications is Friday, July 1, 2005. Please e-mail résumé and cover letter to jojobs@ned.org. Applicants may also fax their materials to 202-293-0258 or mail them to: Managing Editor Position, Journal of Democracy, National Endowment for Democracy, 1101 Fifteenth Street, N.W. Suite 800, Washington, DC 20005-5002 No phone calls please. Contact Information: Maureen M. Wellman.
National Endowment for Democracy (NED)
Program Assistant for Eurasia, Washington, DC
The Program Assistant's duties will include providing support for considering and awarding grants to nongovernmental organizations working on democracy-building programs in Eurasia, with a focus on Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. Further details here. Applicants should send a resume, cover letter, a brief 1-2 page writing sample, and contact information for three references by July 5, 2005, to: Eurasia Program Assistant Search Email (preferred, specify position title in the subject line): jobs@ned.org. Mail: National Endowment for Democracy, 1101 15th Street N.W., Suite 800, Washington, D.C. 20005 Fax: 202-223-6042 No phone calls please. Apply by: July 5, 2005
Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program
National Endowment for Democracy
The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) welcomes applications to its Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program for fellowships in 2006–2007. Established in 2001, the program enables democracy activists, practitioners, scholars, and journalists from around the world to deepen their understanding of democracy and enhance their ability to promote democratic change. The program is intended primarily to support activists, practitioners, and scholars from new and aspiring democracies; distinguished scholars from the United States and other established democracies are also eligible to apply. A working knowledge of English is an important prerequisite for participation in the program. The application deadline for fellowships in 2006–2007 is Tuesday, November 1, 2005. For more information, please email: fellowship@ned.org or go here.
Political Party Development Program Manager, Pristina, Kosovo
National Democratic Institute
NDI seeks a Political Party Development Program Manager to work with field staff and the NDI Washington office to design and supervise the implementation of a technical assistance program for Kosovo's political parties. The position is based in Pristina, Kosovo.
Comments Expected start date will be August/September 2005 Salary is commensurate with experience and includes and a benefit package. Full details here. Email: hr@ndi.org. Apply by: July 31, 2005
Resident Director: Belgrade
National Democratic Institute
NDI seeks a Resident Director of its Belgrade-based democratic development program. The resident director will represent NDI externally and manage internal and external communication and program coordination. Interested applicants can apply now at www.ndi.org using the on-line resume tool. Please cite exact position title in the cover letter. No phone calls please. Email: hr@ndi.org. Apply by: July 31, 2005
Senior Democracy and Governance Field Advisor: Washington + global
United States Information Agency
The United States Government, represented by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is seeking applications from qualified individuals interested in providing Personal Services for the position of Senior Democracy and Governance Field Advisor. Full details on duties, responsibilities, and qualifications are available here. Contact Information: Kenneth E. Stein. Phone: 202-712-5047 Email: kstein@usaid.gov. Apply by: July 7, 2005.
Freedom House
Project Director, African Institute for Democracy: Washington, DC
Under the direction of the Deputy Director of Programs, the Project Director will take the lead role in directing and implementing the initiative. The Project Director will be responsible for an initial assessment, organizing a planning conference in Africa, and the African Institute's future development and implementation, fundraising, financial management, staff supervision, public relations, and other duties as assigned. Full details here. Resume and cover letter with salary history to: Megan Schmidt, 1319 18th Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20036, Fax: 202-296-5078, E-mail: humanresources@freedomhouse.org.
Solidarity Center
Country Program Directors
– Algeria, West Bank/Gaza, and Kuwait
The Country Program Director is responsible for the effective management of
a field office and field programs. S/he is the representative of the Solidarity Center and the AFL-CIO in the country or region of assignment. The Country
Program Director designs and implements field programs. S/he draws on
her/his experience to write persuasive concept papers and proposals and
seek funding for programs that address the needs of the partner trade
unions, the AFL-CIO, and the U.S. strategy for the country or region. S/he
monitors programs for progress toward expected programmatic results as well
as compliance with budget targets. Please send cover letter and résumé to
Lisa Humphries, Human Resources Officer, Solidarity Center, 1925 K Street, N.W., Suite 300, Washington, DC 20006; by e-mail to lhumphries@solidaritycenter.org; or by fax to
202-778-6348.
National Democratic Institute (NDI)
Program Manager for Domestic
Election Monitoring, Resident Senior Program Officer for Executive
Legislative Reform, Civic Organizing Specialists, and Political Party
Building Specialists
Interested applicants can apply now at www.ndi.org using the on-line resume tool. Please cite exact position title in the cover letter. No phone calls please. E-mail: hr@ndi.org.
EVENTS
June 29, 9 a.m. , Johns Hopkins University, Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, 1740 Mass Ave NW, Washington, D.C.
After the E.U.-U.S. Summit: Where Do We Go From Here?
Robert Bradtke, principal deputy assistant secretary of State, European and Eurasian Affairs; John Bruton, ambassador, European Commission Delegation, Washington, D.C.; Sue Saarnio, deputy director for economic affairs, Office of European Union and Regional Affairs, State Department; Esther Brimmer, deputy director, SAIS Center for Transatlantic Relations. SAIS, Nitze Building, . RSVP: Felisa Neuringer Klubes, 202-663-5626; e-mail: fklubes@jhu.edu.
June 29, 5:30 p.m., The German Historical Institute, Willard Hotel, 1401 Penn Ave NW, Washington, D.C.
What Future for the West? Reflections on an Enlarged Europe and the United States in the 21st Century.
Timothy Garton Ash, professor, European Studies, Oxford University. RSVP to 202-387-3355
June 29, 2005, 9:00 am-6:00
pm
European Parliament, Brussels. "Iran After the Elections"
Conference. Participants include: Ali-Reza Nourizadeh,
Journalist; Mehdi Khanbaba-Tehrani, Political analyst, Germany; Hélène
Flautre, President of the European Parliament Subcommittee on Human Rights,
Green/EFA MEP, France; Simin Behbahani, Human/Women's rights activist,
Iran; Karim Lahidji, Vice-President of the FIDH; Azadeh Kian-Thiébaut,
Associate Professor, University of Paris VIII; Aramesh Doostdar,
Philosopher, Germany; Benita Ferrero-Waldner, EU Commissioner of Foreign
Affairs; Robert Cooper, Director-General for Common Foreign and Security
Policy, Council of the EU; Elmar Brok, Chairman of the EP Foreign Affairs
Committee; Youssef Molaie, Professor of International Law, University of
Teheran, Iran. On-line registration here.
June, 28-29, 2005, Cairo.
Governmental-Civil Society Executive
Workshop
The workshop will capitalize on
the success of previous activities, particularly those of the Alexandria and Rabat workshops, adopting the same approach aiming at enhancement of CSO
engagement in the Millennium Development Goals processes along with
facilitation of CSO-Governmental dialogue. For any further clarification or
query please contact ghaith.fariz@undp.org or go here.
June 30, 9:00 a.m., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Conn Ave NW, Washington, D.C.
Prospects for Democracy in Uzbekistan.
Muhammad Salih, founder, Democratic ERK Party of Uzbekistan. RSVP: 202-457-6949.
June 30, 12:30 p.m., United States Institute of Peace, 1200 17th St NW, Washington, D.C.
Envisioning Iraq's Future: Developing an Alternative View.
Phoebe Marr, senior fellow, USIP. RSVP: 202-457-1700.
July 5th and 6th, 2005
Arab Caucus on the World Summit on Information
Society (WSIS), Arab NGO Network for Development, in coordination with the
Heinrich Boell Foundation
Regional meeting for the WSIS.
The meeting will aim at developing the position of the caucus regarding
information and communication technologies and development. It will
consider national reports that reflect on the current situation regarding
national legislation and ICTs, development and ICTs, and Human Rights and
ICTs. This meeting will also serve as an opportunity to elaborate the Arab
Caucus work plan for actively and efficiently participating in the official
preparatory meetings for the WSIS which will take place in Geneva during September 2005. The Arab caucus has been keen to develop its relation and
credibility with international caucuses and civil society groups following
the preparations for the WSIS Summit. Go here for further details in Arabic
or go here for
further details in English.
July 13, 2005, Washington, D.C.
Afghan Democrats Awarded in
Capitol Hill Ceremony: National Endowment for Democracy to Honor Afghan
Activists With 2005 Democracy Award
Three leading Afghan democrats have been chosen to receive the 2005
Democracy Award of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), which will
be presented on July 13 at an event in the U.S. Congress. The three honorees
are leaders of civil society organizations
who have distinguished themselves in educating average citizens and local
leaders about the basic values and principles of democracy, the rights of
women and ethnic minorities, strategies for peace-building and conflict
resolution and the importance of broad political participation.
The three recipients of the 2005 Democracy Award are: Ms. Sakena Yacoobi,
the founder and president of the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL), a
leading Afghan women's organization focused on providing more than 350,000
Afghan women and children with education, health care and human rights
training, both inside Afghanistan and in refugee camps in Pakistan; Mr.
Mohammad Nasib, the director of the Welfare Association for Development of
Afghanistan (WADAN), an NGO working to advance the spread of democratic
principles and strengthen local governance by training a network of more
than 1000 Maliks, or key local power brokers, in the concepts and practices
of human rights and democracy; and Mr. Sarwar Hussaini, the chairman and
director of the Cooperation Center for Afghanistan (CCA), a well
established NGO working to promote citizen participation and democratic institutions
in Afghanistan by empowering women and strengthening democratic practices
in traditional institutions.
The Democracy Award presentation and reception will be preceded by a
roundtable discussion addressing the many challenges to Afghanistan's continued democratic progress. Panelists will include the three honorees, as
well as several regional experts and members of Congress. More information
about the Democracy Award can be found at http://www.ned.org.
Contact: David Lowe, 202-293-9072 or david@ned.org.
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