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71. Walking a Tightrope in Tunisia: The Aspirations and Limitations of Migration Policy Reform

Author:
Tasnim Abderrahim, Alia Fakhry, and Victoria Rietig
Publication Date:
06-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP)
Abstract:
Tunisia is transforming into a small but important migration hub in North Africa. It grapples with a range of migration challenges that include growing mixed movements, irregular sea crossings, and brain drain. Europe has been nudging Tunisia to overhaul its migration governance system for years, but practical and political challenges stand in the way of reform for the young democracy. This report provides German and European politicians, policy experts, and practitioners with concrete and actionable ideas for how to aim for more informed migration discussions with their Tunisian counterparts in the future.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Migration, Reform, and Democracy
Political Geography:
Europe, Middle East, Germany, North Africa, and Tunisia

72. Digital Activism and Authoritarian Adaptation in the Middle East

Author:
Larry Diamond, Eileen Donahoe, Ahmed Shaheed, Benjamin Greenacre, James Shires, Alexei Abrahams, Joshua Tucker, Xiao Qiang, Marwa Fatafta, Andrew Leber, Alexei Abrahams, Marc Owen Jones, Afef Abroughi, Mohamed Najem, Mahsa Alimardani, Mona Elswah, Alexandra A. Siegel, H. Akin Unver, Ahmet Kurnaz, Anita Gohdes, and Zachary Steinert-Threlkeld
Publication Date:
08-2021
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Project on Middle East Political Science (POMEPS)
Abstract:
The Project on Middle East Political Science partnered with Stanford University’s Center for Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law and its Global Digital Policy Incubator for an innovative two week online seminar to explore the issues surrounding digital activism and authoritarianism. This workshop was built upon more than a decade of our collaboration on issues related to the internet and politics in the Middle East, beginning in 2011 with a series of workshops in the “Blogs and Bullets” project supported by the United States Institute for Peace and the PeaceTech Lab. This new collaboration brought together more than a dozen scholars and practitioners with deep experience in digital policy and activism, some focused on the Middle East and others offering a global and comparative perspective. POMEPS STUDIES 43 collects essays from that workshop, shaped by two weeks of public and private discussion.
Topic:
Security, Civil War, Government, Human Rights, Science and Technology, Infrastructure, Authoritarianism, Political Activism, Democracy, Media, Inequality, Social Media, Surveillance, Borders, Digital Culture, and Cyberspace
Political Geography:
Russia, China, Middle East, and North Africa

73. Lebanon’s Student Movement: A New Political Player?

Author:
Tala Majzoub
Publication Date:
09-2021
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
The victory of independent student groups in student council elections in late 2020 was hailed as a milestone in the fight against the influence of traditional sectarian political parties in Lebanon. This paper examines the significance of these student elections and the renewed mobilization of the student body. It aims to better understand the politics and strategies of the new student groups, notably their understanding of notions like independence, and attempts to address the role that these student groups can eventually play in national politics.
Topic:
Politics, Democracy, Youth, and Political Participation
Political Geography:
Middle East and Lebanon

74. The Arab Spring: A Decade Later

Author:
Mario Stefanov
Publication Date:
05-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Institute for Development and International Relations (IRMO)
Abstract:
This year marks the tenth anniversary of the outbreak of the so-called Arab Spring. Suicide of an unemployed young man in the Tunisian city of Sidi Bouzid on 17 December 2010 has enticed the protesters to take to the streets and it has triggered and open rebellion against Tunisian autocrat Zine El Abidine Ben Ali - who on 14 a decade later, it can be stated with certainty that the revolutions of the Arab Spring were not successful. These revolutions have not ushered in neither modernization nor democratization of the Arab countries, which was the revolutions declared objective. To the contrary, even Tunisia, a country said to have had a successful revolution, had also replaced one dictatorship with another. Effects of the violent upheavals of January 2011 boarded on plane and fled to Saudi Arabia, escaping in front of the revolutionary chaos. Successful toppling of Ben Ali has set off a string of uprising in the Arab countries that are today known as the Arab Spring. Nowadays, the Arab Spring in other Arab countries include strengthening od forces of Islamist extremism, conflicts on ethnic, religious and sectarian divisions, civil wars, total economic destruction of the most of the Arab countries caught by the revolutionary wave, dissolution of formerly strong Arab states, and triggering the waves of migrations that still flow toward Europe. A decade after the outbreak of the Arab Spring revolutions the question of their real source remains unanswered, as well as the question to which extent these revolutions were stirred by internal forces in the Arab States of the Middle East and North Africa, or influenced by the factors from the outside. The question whether the revolutions of the Arabs Spring were just an acute geopolitical incident or a part of a long- term process, also remains unanswered. The tenth anniversary is an opportunity to reflect upon and analyze the facts and indications that manifest whom these revolutions benefited, and whom they harmed.
Topic:
Social Movement, Democracy, Arab Spring, Protests, Revolution, and Modernization
Political Geography:
Africa, Middle East, North Africa, and MENA

75. The Hong Kong National Security Law and its Implications for Middle Powers

Author:
Tuvia Gering
Publication Date:
08-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
Abstract:
In May 2021, an Israeli company became the first documented case of China imposing free expression limitations on a foreign business under the 2020 Hong Kong National Security Law. Democracies must ensure that their citizens are not prosecuted for exercising their basic rights.
Topic:
Security, Democracy, Freedom of Expression, and Freedom
Political Geography:
China, Middle East, Israel, and Asia

76. Political Participation and Promotion of Democracy: Role of Civil Society Organizations in Jordan

Author:
Alakyaz Assadorian
Publication Date:
08-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center for Strategic Studies (CSS)
Abstract:
Throughout the past decade, Jordan has been able to successfully manoeuvre serious predicaments with the ultimate aim of achieving comprehensive development, regardless of the local and neighbouring political, economic and humanitarian challenges. Entering into the kingdom’s second century, the vision of His Majesty King Abdullah II concentrates on political reform, peaceful democratic transition and inclusion of all social segments, particularly the youth, in decision-making and public life. In His Majesty’s own words, “to promote political participation and increase the participation of political parties and youth in Parliament, we must revisit laws regulating political life, such as the election, political parties, and local administration laws, and continue political development efforts”. The emphasis in the coming phase must be to build a culture of coalition and collective action, focus on consolidation and social cohesion, and further strengthen the role of civil society and local communities in contributing to the peaceful democratic transition and solidifying through widening political participation, improving good governance, enlarging decision making processes and enhancing both accountability and civic duties. However, this process is one that requires constructive engagement, purposeful training, and periodic, systematic exploration of the continuously changing attitudes and perceptions of the people in order to sustain the reform and democratic process in Jordan. The continuous support of actors such as the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), the European Union (EU) and the Center for Strategic Studies (CSS) at the University of Jordan, to build a culture of coalition and collective action particularly among CSOs, political empowerment of women and youth is crucial to ensure a meaningful transition. There is no one model of democratization that fits all societies. However, over the past 6 years, the solid partnership between AECID and CSS (through the project of Qararuna and TAHDIR), proved to be a successful model for paving the way for openness and democratic discourse in the country and the region.
Topic:
Reform, Democracy, Civil Society Organizations, and Political Participation
Political Geography:
Middle East and Jordan

77. Detecting the Ideological Position of Political Islam Towards Liberal Democracy in Muslim Countries

Author:
Nikola Gjorshoski and Goran Ilik
Publication Date:
01-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Journal:
Journal of Liberty and International Affairs
Institution:
Institute for Research and European Studies (IRES)
Abstract:
The question of the correlation between Islam, political Islam, and liberal democracy has so far been the most exposed topic in exploring the democratic capacity of political Islam and Islamic societies in general. What is particularly intriguing about the relationship between political Islam and liberal democracy is the fact of its westernized triviality that has received a pejorative tone in Islamic political circles. Simplified, the triviality of liberal democracy for the Islamic political campus implies imposing a model of democracy that cannot be fully compatible with the original Muslim notion of society and government. Hence, the following paper analyzes exactly the relations of political Islam to specific inherent categories of liberal democracy such as the rule of law, representative government, the separation of powers, and secularism as diferenta specifica of liberal western democratic discourse. Through the methods of induction and deduction, the author will illustrate how appropriate tangent or divergence is illustrated and how this is reflected in the general ideological positioning of political Islam towards liberal democracy in Muslim countries through an axiological and praxeological perspective.
Topic:
Democracy, Rule of Law, Islamism, Liberalism, Secularism, and Sharia
Political Geography:
Middle East, North Africa, and Global Focus

78. Federal Iraq and Unitary Afghanistan: A comparative analysis of plural societies

Author:
Dayyab Gillani
Publication Date:
07-2020
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Political Studies
Institution:
Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab
Abstract:
This paper analyzes the ongoing democratization process in Iraq and Afghanistan. It examines the political institutions established in both countries by using the comparative method of analysis. The paper shows that both Iraq and Afghanistan are primarily plural societies and are divided along sectarian and ethnic lines. Drawing from the academic literature, the paper proposes that consociational democracy is the best democratic alternative for plural/divided societies. The paper mainly argues that even though Iraq and Afghanistan share somewhat similar demographic characteristics, their newly installed democratic institutions reveal a sharp contrast. It investigates the reasons for this dissimilar choice of political institutions and proposes that the democratic institutions in both the countries must be formulated in line with the principles of consociational democracy.
Topic:
Democratization, Democracy, Constitution, and Pluralism
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, Iraq, and Middle East

79. Navigating Diplomacy: US Policy Options in Iran

Author:
Douglas London, Scott Modell, Alex Vatanka, and Mohsen Sazegara
Publication Date:
06-2020
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Middle East Institute (MEI)
Abstract:
The Trump administration’s unprecedented “maximum pressure” campaign has so far failed to result in a breakthrough in the long-running US-Iran standoff. This simple reality leaves the US with very few fresh policy options as Washington looks to navigate the various challenges it considers the Islamic Republic to pose to American interests. Among remaining untested policy options is the idea that the United States should commit to pursue a policy of regime change in Tehran. This should be led by a combination of efforts spearheaded by American intelligence services. Advocates of such a policy course favor this path as they see no realistic chance for any kind of deal with the Islamist ruling class in Tehran. How would such a US-led covert action agenda against Iran look like? What are the key components of such a policy of “regime change”? Would it really represent a risk-free transition from the militant theocracy that is the Islamic Republic to a democracy? The Middle East Institute (MEI) is delighted to host a panel of experts to address these questions
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Regime Change, and Democracy
Political Geography:
Iran, Middle East, and United States of America

80. The Outlook for Turkish Democracy: 2023 and Beyond

Author:
Nick Danforth
Publication Date:
03-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
Over nearly two decades, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan has managed to strengthen his hold on power despite numerous political reconfigurations. With the next presidential election scheduled for 2023, many figures within his camp are already maneuvering for leverage while the opposition mulls how to defeat him. Among his potential rivals are Selahattin Demirtas, head of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party; Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul who bested Erdogan’s pick for that post; and Ahmet Davutoglu, the country’s former prime minister and Erdogan’s former ally. In this Policy Note, analyst Nick Danforth assesses current dynamics in Turkish democracy, including rifts within the leading Justice and Development Party and potential alliances in the opposition. He also discusses factors such as the fragile Turkish economy, which is sure to be destabilized further by the coronavirus pandemic. However Turkey emerges from the crisis, an Erdogan triumph in the next presidential vote would likely seal the country’s trajectory away from liberalism and the West for a generation.
Topic:
Elections, Democracy, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Political Geography:
Turkey and Middle East