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allieggg

The U.S. Is Giving Up on Middle East Democracy-and That's a Mistake - The Atlantic - 0 views

www.theatlantic.com/...282890

middle east democracy institutions Bush Obama Congress

shared by allieggg on 29 Sep 14 - No Cached
  • democracy assistance to the region, which will drop from $459.2 million to $298.3 million
  • Today’s Middle East is a product, at least in part, of failed democratization, and one of the reasons it failed was the timid, half-hearted support of the Obama administration.
  • the significant impact Western leverage and “linkage” can have on democratic transitions.
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • “it was an externally driven shift in the cost of suppression, not changes in domestic conditions, that contributed most centrally to the demise of authoritarianism in the 1980s and 1990s.” They find that “states’ vulnerability to Western democratization pressure… was often decisive.”
  • it is also worth noting that President Bush acknowledged the existence of a “tyranny-terror” link—the notion that the root causes of extremism and terrorism can be found in the region’s enduring lack of democracy.
  • the administration’s approach to the region is characterized almost entirely by ad-hoc crisis management and traditional counterterrorism approaches. Its one larger-scale reform initiative—a half-hearted proposal for a
  • We argue that the U.S. and its partners now need to consider a very different approach to Middle East democracy assistance.
  • Conventional democracy promotion activities tend to focus on the process and “retail” aspects of democratic politics—things like elections, political party training, get-out-the-vote (GOTV) campaigns, and civil society enhancement. While these are undoubtedly important, they are insufficient to deliver lasting reforms. Authoritarianism in the Arab world has proven time and time again—even in supposedly post-revolutionary settings such as Egypt today—that it can weather the annoyances of elections and civil society.
  • What is needed are more systematic reforms focused on fundamental institutions. These include things like constraining the military’s role in civilian domains of governance, deep reform in the security and justice sectors including law enforcement and policing, and comprehensive “renovation” of the civil service sector. These are large-scale, long-term, and expensive undertakings that far transcend the modest parameters of most U.S. democracy promotion programs.
  • we make the case for a new Multilateral Endowment for Reform (MER) that would tie significant levels of financial assistance—in the billions of dollars—to reform commitments and benchmarked implementation performance by partner nations.
  • provide a real incentive for countries to embark down a path to deeper and more enduring political reforms while retaining the ability to pull back funding if they do not deliver.
  • allieggg on 29 Sep 14
     
    This article begins by illuminating the regional democracy assistance cuts that are dropping from $459.2 million to $298.3 million It explains that the Bush Administration began the quest for democracy in the Middle East, and the Obama administration has only continued in his footsteps. The author presents the viewpoint that the U.S. approach to Arab democratization has been in the form of "ad-hoc crisis management" rather than "large scale reform initiatives." Promoting democracy in the form of democratic politics are insufficient, elections and political parties have consistently proved to weather away and fester further civil strife. Consequently, the article proposes a new approach to the region conflict. This approach calls for "systematic reforms" focusing on basic institutions such as the civil service sector, justice and law enforcement, and the military's role in governance. The idea is that addressing these lacking departments in the arab world will eventually pave the way to a smoother democratic transition. 
kbrisba

Tunisia: New Cabinet Excludes Islamists - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...abinet-excludes-islamists.html

shared by kbrisba on 09 Feb 15 - No Cached
  • kbrisba on 09 Feb 15
     
    Prime Minister Habib Essid announced a new minority government that excludes most of the major figures on the political scene, including Islamist and leftist parties. The 24 ministers presented appear to come from two parties that may not have enough seats to survive a no-confidence vote. This means lacking seats in Parliament they may have difficulty carrying out the necessary reforms to fix Tunisia's economic problems.
mharcour

Racism for the Win - 0 views

electronicintifada.net/...14376

Racism Israel Palestine Israeli-Palestinian conflict Netanyahu Voting Reform Hate

shared by mharcour on 06 Apr 15 - No Cached
  • mharcour on 06 Apr 15
     
    In this Electronic Intifada article, the blatant racism against all Arabs during the Israeli elections is highlighted and examined. Beginning with the motion to amend voting rules, and ending with Netanyahu's highly charged statement, this article points out the rampant hatred exhibited to a group of people making up 20% of Israel's population.
ysenia

Nuclear Deal Helps Defeat Hard-Liners In Iran Vote - Blue Nation Review - 0 views

bluenationreview.com/-deal-helps-defeat-hard-liners

iran deal politics revolution reform

shared by ysenia on 02 Mar 16 - Cached
  • ysenia on 02 Mar 16
     
    Although Iranian official have a lot of control over the country still, many reformists have come forwards with opposing viewpoints. Momentum being formed to have change in political system.
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