Tag: Democracy and Rule of Law
Tunisia: its problems have solutions
The focus on political processes during democratization often leads to marginalizing the role of economics. The National Endowment for Democracy, the Legatum Institute, Foreign Policy, and World Affairs have tried to explore the link between economic and political reform through their Transitions Lecture Series: The Role of Economics in Democratic Transitions. This week, the series presented the case of Tunisia. The discussion featured
- Mondher Ben Ayed, the President and CEO of TMI, a leading information technology firm in Tunisia and advisor to the Tunisian Prime Minister in 2011 and 2012, presented.
- Larry Diamond, co-founder and co-editor of the Journal of Democracy and director of the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law at Stanford University, moderated the discussion.
- Jeffrey Gedmin, President and CEO of Legatum Institute, introduced the speakers.
Ben Ayed argued that the economic fundamentals before the Tunisian revolution were not discouraging. For the five years before the revolution, Tunisia’s economy grew at 5 percent a year. The budget deficit reached 3 percent, and inflation was below 3 per cent. The literacy rate among Tunisians reached about 80 percent of the population, and the status of women was one of the highest in the region. Read more
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Peace picks June 17-21
1. The Future of Stability Operations: Lessons from Afghanistan, American Security Project, Monday June 17 / 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Venue: American Security Project
1100 New York Avenue, NW · Suite 710W, Washington, DC
7th Floor West Tower
Speakers: Sloan Mann, Eythan Sontag, Frank Kearney III, Howard Clark
The international community has learned a great deal about how to conduct stability operations in the last 12 years. This event will be a fact-based discussion with leading experts on stability operations. The panel will discuss key lessons from the experience in Afghanistan and how they can be applied to future conflict environments.
RSVP through email to:
events@americansecurityproject.org Read more
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Bahrain: silence is a war crime
Protests in Bahrain have attracted media coverage outside the country, but there has been little international attention paid to its government’s efforts to block media coverage inside Bahrain. On Tuesday, Nada Alwadi, a Bahraini journalist and co-founder of the BPA, presented a 2012 report that tries to elucidate: Bahrain: Silence is a War Crime at the National Endowment for Democracy. Alwadi was joined on a panel by Delphine Hagland from Reporters without Borders and Adel Iskander from Georgetown University. David Lowe, Vice President for Government Relations and Public Affairs at the National Endowment for Democracy, facilitated the discussion.
Nada Alwadi described the status of Bahraini media before the protests. By 2010, the government controlled radio and TV stations as well as most of the major newspapers in the country (Alwasat newspaper was a notable exception). The government also monitored blogs and online news outlets. As a result of this state monopoly, the Bahraini press became largely ineffective. Without government funding, independent news outlets could not always sustain themselves. Alwaqt newspaper closed down in 2010 for lack of funding. Read more
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Peace Picks, June 10-14
1. Drones and the Future of Counterterrorism in Pakistan, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Monday, June 10 / 5:00pm – 6:30pm
Venue: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
1779 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. 20036
Speakers: Frederic Grare, Samina Ahmed
The future use of drones in Pakistan is uncertain after President Obama’s recent speech on national security. Washington has now satisfied some of the demands of Pakistan’s incoming prime minister, Nawaz Sharif. But while drone strikes were seen in Islamabad as a violation of the country’s sovereignty, they were also arguably an effective counterterrorism mechanism. Samina Ahmed will discuss the future use of drones in Pakistan. Frederic Grare will moderate.
Register for the event here:
http://carnegieendowment.org/2013/06/10/drones-and-future-of-counterterrorism-in-pakistan/g7f0
2. Tyranny of Consensus: A Reception with Author Janne E. Nolan, Century Foundation, Monday, June 10 / 5:00pm – 6:30pm
Venue: Stimson Center, 1111 19th Street Northwest, 12th Floor, Washington D.C., DC 20036
Speakers: Janne E. Nolan
In “Tyranny of Consensus,” Nolan examines three cases-the Islamic Revolution in Iran, the proxy war with the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, and the 1998 embassy bombings in East Africa-to find the limitations of American policy-makers in understanding some of the important developments around the world. Assisted by a working group of senior practitioners and policy experts, Nolan finds that it is often the impulse to protect the already arrived at policy consensus that is to blame for failure. Without access to informed discourse or a functioning “marketplace of ideas,” policy-makers can find themselves unable or unwilling to seriously consider possible correctives even to obviously flawed strategies.
Register for the event here:
http://tcf.org/news_events/detail/tyranny-of-consensus-a-reception-with-author-janne-e.-nolan
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Why Israel needs a Palestinian state
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, speaking at the McCain Institute Wednesday, tried to remain diplomatic about his opinions versus the policies of the current Israeli government. It was obvious however, that he held divergent views on the future of Israel.
Olmert’s opposition to the occupation of the Palestinian Territories is the basis of his label as “centrist” or “leftist” in Israeli politics. This surprised Olmert, who considered himself right wing at the beginning of his career. He fears that occupation of Palestinian territories has become the issue that determines left-wing or right-wing. This is one sign of increased polarization within Israeli politics. “I disagree with the occupation of the territories,” Olmert explained, “but I am not a socialist.”
The rest of the discussion was centered on leadership. Olmert explained how his belief regarding the territories came from his ten years as mayor of Jerusalem, when he built 100 Arab schools. But that did nothing to build sustainable peace. The Palestinians want their own state. The face of Israel must change if it is to remain both Jewish and democratic. Morbidly, Olmert explained that to save the life of a person, sometimes you have to cut off a part of the body. To save the Jewish and democratic character of Israel, it must cut off the Palestinian territories. Giving up the dream of greater Israel is heartbreaking. But stubbornly holding onto to that dream is a prescription for endless confrontation. Read more
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Shocked, shocked
I’m surprised so many are surprised that the National Security Agency (NSA) is collecting data on your use of the phone and the internet. What did you think all those folks out at Fort Meade (and around the country) were doing? Tapping individual phone lines? In fact, my guess–and it is only a guess–is that they are storing not only your phone records but also your phone calls, though they only listen to them when the super-secret (and therefore unaccountable to the public) court, created by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, gives permission. “Collection” is a tricky word. Is the data collected when it goes into a computer, or only when it is examined?
The notion that they are discriminating in this data storage is not credible. The frequency and volume of material argue for capturing it all so that it can be mined in due course, depending on which bits seem to be most relevant to protecting national security, especially against terrorists. That there are abuses I have no doubt, but that should not blind us to the extraordinary power–I almost said virtue–of a system that can archive and later examine many billions of messages of all types. It would be surprising if a system of this sort had not produced material of value in preventing terrorist acts. Read more
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