POMED Notes: Middle East Institute’s 62nd Annual Conference
November 24th, 2008 by Tariq
On Friday November 21st, the Middle East Institute held its 62nd annual conference entitled, “US Middle East Policy: Pathways to Renewal.” Speakers included Aitzaz Ahsan, Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, and President of of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan; Steve Coll, President of the New America Foundation; Shuja Nawaz, author of Crossed Swords: Pakistan, its Army, and the Wars Within; Nabil Ali Alyousuf, Dubai School of Government; Aamir Rehman, Middle East Institute; Ambassador Sameh Shoukry, Egyptian Ambassador to the U.S.; Ambassador Francis J. Ricciardone, United States Institute of Peace; Michele Dunne, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Ibrahim Helal, Al-Jazeera English; Max Rodenbeck, The Economist.
Panel topics ranged from discussions on Afghanistan and Pakistan, economic and political developments in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the future of U.S.-Egypt Relations, and restoring U.S. credibility in the Middle East.
For POMED’s notes on this event, click here.
Posted in Afghanistan, Democracy Promotion, Diplomacy, Egypt, Event Notes, Foreign Aid, Gulf, Pakistan, US foreign policy | Comment »
The Warm Insulation of Oil
October 16th, 2008 by Jason
The Christian Science Monitor reports on how the global financial crisis is–and isn’t–affecting the economies of the Gulf states. Government officials and experts predict the region will see an economic slowdown, but will not suffer nearly as much as the G-7 industrialized nations. The report finds that vast oil reserves and revenue surpluses will continue to insulate the Gulf economies, and the regimes will go on paying their bills and financing their oversized infrastructure projects.
Posted in Gulf, Oil | Comment »
‘Islamic Democracy’ in the Arab World
September 12th, 2008 by Jason
Der Spiegel has an in-depth look at the current state of democracy in the Arab world. The 7-part series surveys Kuwait, Turkey, Tunisia, Jordan, and the Gulf, as well as analyzes the history of the fusion between Islam and democracy.
The authors reject the notion that democracy is somehow incompatible with Islam or Arab culture, and they conclude that “giving the peoples of the Islamic world a voice in shaping their own destinies will help make their lives easier, the region more predictable, and the West more secure.”
Posted in Democracy Promotion, Gulf, Islam and Democracy, Jordan, Kuwait, Political Islam, Tunisia, Turkey | Comment »
Change in the Gulf
August 27th, 2008 by Adam
Rami Khouri in the Daily Star examines the Gulf region and its unique combination of economic success (oil money has helped these countries build cities at break-neck speed) and political stalemate (marked by few civil society organizations and impotent legislatures). As its Arab neighbors suffer from “increasingly serious political violence, ethnic and sectarian tensions, corruption, mismanagement, and rickety states,” “the implications of the growing gap between the Gulf Arabs and the rest of the Arabs are unclear, but probably will be consequential.”
Posted in Gulf, Oil, Reform | Comment »
Problems in the Gulf
June 2nd, 2008 by Adam
Elena McGovern of the Stimson Center examines labor issues in the United Arab Emirates, concluding that the lack of a skilled domestic workforce and a significant dependence on cheap foreign labor has left the government unable to handle the effects of economic modernization and threatens to effect the emirate’s image as a source of stability in a region of chaos. Headed north, the Daily Star reports on a political showdown between the Emir of Kuwait and the newly-elected parliament over cabinet appointments.
Posted in Gulf, Kuwait, UAE | Comment »
Rice in Middle East Asking Iraq’s Neighbors for Support
April 22nd, 2008 by Sharlina
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called for greater financial and diplomatic support for Iraq during a Gulf Cooperation Council meeting with Arab foreign ministers in Bahrain on Monday while Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki rebuked neighboring states for not doing enough to strengthen ties with Baghdad, write off Iraq’s debts or stop militants from entering his country.
Marc Lynch over at Abu Aardvark comments on the “muted” Gulf response to Rice’s pleas, arguing that the Arab leaders don’t seem to be responding to Rice’s pitch for supporting Iraq against Iran.
Meanwhile, Rice said today, while in the Gulf, that the Bush administration explicitly warned former President Jimmy Carter against meeting with members of Hamas.
Posted in Bahrain, Gulf, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Multilateralism, US foreign policy | Comment »
2008: What The Gulf Countries Want
April 12th, 2008 by Matt
During a trip over to Qatar and UAE, Richard Haass and Martin Indyk sat down with a number of “leading policymakers” in the two countries and talked over the future of U.S. policy in the region, and what they might expect from the next U.S. president. Haass and Indyk’s concluding quote on democracy promotion:
“It is clear from these discussions that, notwithstanding the missteps and back-tracking of the Bush Administration, the language of political and economic reform is now common currency in the region. One Islamist explained that he had come around to accepting the argument of some scholars that Islam required governments to be accountable to their people. Nevertheless, Gulf policymakers worried that a renewed effort at democracy promotion would undermine the Egyptian and Saudi regimes, something the region could not afford. They argued that the next president should press the regimes in private and adopt a nuanced approach suited to each country’s circumstances.”
Posted in Democracy Promotion, Election 08, Gulf, US foreign policy | Comment »
Carnegie’s Arab Reform Bulletin for April
April 3rd, 2008 by Amanda
Be sure to check out the April issue of the Arab Reform Bulletin from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. This month’s edition features a fascinating interview with three key female political actors from the Gulf on women’s political participation: Rola Dashti (Kuwait), Fatin Bundagi (Saudi Arabia), and Munira Fakhro (Bahrain).
Also included are a critical look at next week’s municipal elections in Egypt by Khalil al-Anani, an examination of the fairness of Morocco’s electoral system by Michael Meyer-Resende, and an article on President Bush’s budget request for fiscal year 2009 and what it means for democracy in the Arab world, by POMED’s Stephen McInerney.
Their news roundup also covers many fascinating developments such as the opening of the first church in Qatar, a constitutional amendment in Tunisia that should make it possible for more candidates to run in the presidential election next year, and labor unrest in the UAE.
Posted in Arab media, Bahrain, Egypt, Elections, Freedom, Gulf, Journalism, Kuwait, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, UAE, US foreign policy | Comment »
Bush’s Trip and Waning Support for Dissidents
January 15th, 2008 by Sharlina
Far from meeting with Saudi political activists or dissidents, Michael Hirsh at Newsweek highlights President Bush’s trip to Saudi Arabia as one that caters more to the growing power of “petro-Islam” than to democracy. “Bush was right when he said in his second inaugural address, ‘The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands.’ If only he had taken himself seriously on this trip.”
In an International Herald Tribune editorial, Bush is urged to act beyond rhetoric to deliver concrete peace deals between Israelis and Palestinians. Besides what is termed as the one deliverable of naming Lieutenant General William Fraser as mediator of previous agreements, the article implores the administration to provide “more economic and political support for Abbas” and “find ways to reach out to Israel.” Meanwhile, Yoel Marcus at Haaretz states that while Bush “didn’t let us forget for a minute that while this may be his last year in office, his feathers have not been plucked.”
Bush’s visit to the United Arab Emirates is discussed at The Daily Kos, specifically Bush’s “bizarre description of the Emirates – an oligarchy where government officials are appointed rather than elected - as a model society for others to emulate.” At the NRO Corner, Michael Rubin questions White House credibility on democracy, citing inaction on behalf of “Libya’s most famous political prisoner,” Fathi Eljahmi.
Posted in Gulf, Mideast Peace Plan, Saudi Arabia, UAE | Comment »
POMED Event - “Sectarianism or Civil Rights: Reform in the Gulf”
October 18th, 2006 by Administrator
Event Summary
In a panel discussion at Georgetown University on October 18th 2006, against the backdrop of increasing sectarian violence in Iraq, two experts discussed the sources and consequences of sectarianism in the Gulf.
Joe Stork, the Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa program of Human Rights Watch, said that sectarianism is essentially a political struggle over resources, mostly power. Though in several cases sectarianism appears as a religious phenomenon, such as in Iraq and Lebanon, he said, he also pointed to the sectarian clashes between Hamas and Fateh as an example of non-religious sectarian strife.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Democracy Promotion, Diplomacy, Events, Gulf, POMED, Reform, Sectarianism | Comment »
