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1. Empowering Local Authorities to Lead Economic Development in Yemen

Author:
Ali Al-Lakmah and Rafat Al-Akhali
Publication Date:
02-2024
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Sana'a Center For Strategic Studies
Abstract:
This policy brief outlines a set of recommendations aimed at empowering local authorities in Yemen to effectively provide services and lead local economic development. The aim is to analyze and draw lessons from three ongoing tracks that seek to empower local authorities in Yemen, while also addressing the challenges and opportunities associated with these efforts. The analysis concludes that building consensus between the central government and local authorities is of paramount importance for the successful empowerment of local authorities. It is imperative to address political concerns and achieve a minimum level of political consensus in order for these efforts to move forward. Furthermore, it is crucial to overcome challenges related to financing, enhance transparency and accountability, and build local capacity. The Development Champions Forum therefore recommends the importance of establishing clear and precise guiding principles for the distribution of powers and authorities between the center and local authorities. It also emphasizes leveraging the potential of the private sector to drive economic growth, create job opportunities, provide services, and invest in local communities. Lastly, it encourages partnerships between international organizations, donors, and local authorities towards empowering local authorities in providing services and local economic development.
Topic:
Governance, Accountability, Transparency, Economic Development, Private Sector, Empowerment, and Consensus
Political Geography:
Middle East and Yemen

2. National ambition, divergent vision: Consensus and fracture among Iraqi youth activists of the Tishreen Movement

Author:
Sarah Anne Rennick and Adel Bakawan
Publication Date:
03-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
Since October 2019, Iraq has been witnessing a mass protest movement, heavily though not exclusively centered in Baghdad and the country’s southern provinces and largely led by youth. This new uprising, referred to as the October Revolution or Tishreen protests, while initially fueled by socioeconomic grievances and the lack of basic services, quickly transformed into a broader political movement calling for radical change to the political order. Rallying around the slogan “we want a homeland,” a hallmark of this new movement has been the effort on the part of activists to put forth a new collective Iraqi identity, moving past sectarian divides and envisioning new state-society relations and a break with the transactional social contract currently in place. Yet despite this overarching vision of national renewal through both radical political reform and reconceived bases of collective belonging, the extent to which the movement actually represents a unified vision for the Iraqi nation and a strategic means by which to renew the State is far from obvious. The radically different political trajectories that the country’s different regions have been on since 2011, and in particular since 2014, have led to important fractures in terms of security, ideology, and power structures at the sub-regional level. As a result, the relationship with and attitudes towards different ideas, forms of collective action, and political and security players vary considerably from region to region. Likewise, the difficulty with which activists can freely meet and move around has meant that exchange and the consolidation of their movement around a unified set of claims has not fully occurred. Indeed, in speaking with youth leaders of the Tishreen movement from various cities across the country,1 what becomes obvious is that while the large lines of national renewal are agreed upon – the need for a new Iraqi identity and new basis for Iraqi nationalism, radical transformation in the practice of power – important points of fracture in their own vision as well as methods for achieving change can be identified. Nonetheless, a shared oppositional consciousness and dedication to the movement itself, as well as underlying and perhaps generationally significant importance assigned to secularism, act as resources for continued mobilization despite repression and strategic impasse.
Topic:
Youth, Youth Movement, Consensus, and Activim
Political Geography:
Iraq and Middle East

3. The Reappearance of Consensus: Implications of Israel-Russia Agreements over Syria

Author:
FARAS
Publication Date:
11-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Future for Advanced Research and Studies (FARAS)
Abstract:
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett held their first face-to-face talks on October 22 in Sochi, Russia. The summit talks, called by Putin, were slated for only two hours but lasted for about five hours, reflecting the two sides’ interest in enhancing coordination about several common issues, and warming up the Israeli-Russian relations which cooled down since Bennett rose to power.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Treaties and Agreements, Syrian War, and Consensus
Political Geography:
Russia, Middle East, Israel, and Syria