How Morocco’s ‘democratic experiment’ went wrong
Morocco, held up as a model for reform in the wake of the Arab Spring, is slipping back into autocracy, according to the Christian Science Monitor: Though a new constitution… Read more »
Category: Middle East/North Africa
Women’s rights activist’s arrest is ‘chilling’ escalation of Egypt’s crackdown
The arrest of a leading Egyptian women’s rights defender at her home in Cairo on December 7, 2016, represents a serious escalation in the authorities’ ongoing crackdown on independent rights… Read more »
Turkey’s democratic regression: ‘pushback will have to come from within’
The night of July 15 marked a distinct moment in Turkish democratic history as hundreds of thousands of Turks took to the streets to defy a coup attempt, notes A…. Read more »
Did Arab World miss chance to democratize?
Nearly six years after the Arab Spring began in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia, democracy promotion has once again receded on the list of U.S. priorities in the Middle East, notes J…. Read more »
Make MENA’s ‘green shoots of change’ scalable and durable
Creating the means for government and civic groups to communicate and cooperate is essential to ensuring that good ideas are scalable across societies and durable over time, says the Final… Read more »
MENA needs new strategic whole-of-region approach
As dire as today’s headlines from the Middle East seem, things could still get far worse, according to a new report. The region’s civil wars could grind on for years,… Read more »
From countering to preventing violent extremism
Gen. Raheel Sharif, Pakistan’s powerful army chief, steps down Tuesday at the height of his popularity. But as he makes way for a successor, Sharif also leaves behind an army… Read more »
Egypt’s draft NGO law bans independent civil society groups
A new law drafted by Egypt’s parliament would effectively prohibit independent non-governmental groups in the country by subjecting their work and funding to control by government authorities, including powerful security… Read more »
Governance, stability are interdependent in Arab world, says report
The optimism experienced at popular prodemocracy mobilization in 2011 has turned to dismay and worry at the metastasizing violence that characterizes today’s Middle East and North Africa, according to Real… Read more »
Jailing journalists, banning rights activist: Egypt’s civil society crackdown continues
The head of the journalists’ union in Egypt and his two colleagues have been sentenced to two years in prison for “harboring fugitives”. A court in Cairo also allowed Yehia… Read more »