Pessimism on Democracy’s Future in the Middle East

Michael Allen at Democracy’s Digest has an excellent summary of sentiments expressed at Dubai’s Forum for the Future, but the impressive skyline of the boom town has done nothing to stem growing pessimism at prospects for democratic reform in the region.

Consider the following excerpts:

“Have we really achieved any progress in the field of democratic reforms in the Arab world?” asked Tunisian writer Slaheddine Jourchi.

“I have only bad news regarding democratic reform in the region,” said Hafez Abu Seada, the secretary general of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights. “Political parties work in a very complex environment, where they are subject to imprisonment and the denial of civil liberties. …. there is no framework to give any rights to political parties and movements.”

Similarly, via Harvard’s Middle East Strategy, J. Scott Carpenter muses about the future of another one of Bush’s Middle East programs–The Broader Middle East and North Africa Initiative–after Condoleezza Rice decided not to attend the aforementioned Forum of the Future event.