Evan's Corner: Summary of Project on Middle East Democracy Event

Project on Middle East Democracy
Rediscovering Multilateralism: Toward a Cooperative Approach to Middle East Reform

The Project on Middle East Democracy held a workshop entitled “Rediscovering Multilateralism” inviting powerful voices from the Middle East, Europe, and Washington to discuss new, more cooperative approaches to Middle East reform. After the workshop, POMED hosted a panel discussion to allow participants in the workshop to report their reactions.

The Panelists all expressed great gratitude that the European perspective was included in this Workshop. Nora Younis, an Egyptian blogger, was surprised to get this perspective, pointing out that similar workshops often focus exclusively on the Middle East in relation to the United States. Amir Motahari (European Commission) said that Europeans have “very high expectations” about the United States role in the Middle East. Motahari expressed that Europeans would be better served to be more involved, as instability in North Africa has an impact on immigrant communities in Europe. David Adesnik (DoubleThink Magazine) concurred, noting that the workshop opened his eyes to the issues of Arab minorities in Europe.

The panelists also attempted to summarize salient points from the workshop. Motahari emphasized that the EU cannot “buy” or “impose” reform, particularly as it has very little military presence in the Middle East. Younis added that engagement has to be comprehensive. The West cannot attempt to exclude political Islam from political involvement as this form of exclusion simply fosters more extremism. Adesnik added that civil societies are places where organizations compete freely for political space, and there must be “multiple, viable pathways” towards civic involvement.

After the panelists spoke, they allowed audience members to pose questions. Several people asked about neoliberal economic policies, which were supposed to foster political reform in North Africa. Motahari did admit that the results of these policies so far were “not satisfactory,” but also explained that the EU believes economic progress impacts political reform very slowly.

When asked about Obama’s upcoming speech in Cairo, Younis said she believed that Obama had “no real leverage” against Mubarak, and so she had no great expectations for the speech. Another audience member picked up on this idea, asking what Western governments can do to get leverage against Middle Eastern regimes. Adesnik argued that the United States military presence in the Middle East is quite problematic, as it makes the United States seem a hypocritical human rights advocate, and this weakens the United State’s leverage.

Finally, an audience member noted that Egyptians have been faced with a choice between an autocratic administration and political Islam. Where is the third option? Motahari explained that like it or not, most powerful opposition in Middle Eastern countries is some form of political Islam. Motahari went further, expressing that he would love for a third option to emerge, but he has yet to see one he would call “credible.”

Friday Twitter Roundup

Safadi Foundation USA weekly link roundup:

Join Lebanese Women's Right to Nationality and Full Citizenship cause on Facebook!

Minister Safadi speaks at entrepreneurship forum

Biden in Beirut on WaPo blog 44

Entrepreneur Forum under auspices of Min. Safadi

Cedars for Care & Makhzoumi Foundation took part in cleaning up Al Bahsa Beach in Jbeil

Makhzoumi Foundation participates in Human Capital in Microfinance: People, Passion and Value

Greenpeace proposes draft decree to Minister of Environment to establish Lebanon's first coastal marine reserve near Byblos

Children take part in marathon aimed at promoting peace in Lebanon

Italy will help Lebanon develop clean energy

10 ways to change the world through social media.

Arrr...Lebanon has a piracy problem...softwarrrre, that be.

Slacktivism - are you all talk (all click) or do you walk the walk?

Minister Safadi says need to remove structural obstacles to trade

Souk el Tayeb's No Plastic Bag campaign

Beeatoona holds "Green Lebanon with Peace" workshop for 200 students in Lebanon

Investments in sustainable agriculture and ecosystem services must be made for expanding population and shrinking resources. Can these types of programs help reduce conflict?

Interesting read: the rise of social distribution networks

Democracy Promotion Under Obama: Lessons from MEPI - Brookings report

Arab Young Leaders Forum held in Beirut

A reminder of Imam Sadr Foundation's Arabic Glossary of Development Terms. Great project sponsored by UN & WB.

Amel to work with Save the Children on "Empowering Children and Adolescents to fight against Violence" project

Al Mabarrat Association celebrates 30 years of humanitarian work. Mabrook!

Sfeir says alternating power is best for democracy.

World Economic Forum holds Sustainability in Middle East with Queen Rania.

Links from other Twitterers:

Hero for cause of missing Lebanese remembered by Lebanon Monitor

Video and sound art pieces at Beirut Art Center reflect a wide range of practices among local artists by Lebanon Monitor

RT: @lebanonnews: US vice president to visit Lebanon

Israel says Hizbollah using Facebook to recruit by Lebanon Monitor

RT: @ICFJ: Reading: The Use of Social Media Tools in Pakistan's Long March

RT: @SMEXbeirut: more digital media training in the Arab world!

Evan's Corner: Summary of Wednesday's House Committee on Foreign Affairs Hearing

United States House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs
Building Capacity to Protect U.S. National Security: The Fiscal Year 2010 International Affairs Budget

Chairman Howard Berman (D-California) opened the hearing by explaining the purpose of the International Affairs Budget. The budget should promote defense, diplomacy, and development. Chairmen Berman noted that in recent years, defense has been given much broader support and funding than diplomacy and development. The new budget represents a reassertion of commitment to diplomacy and development and this will occur in the form of increased funding for USAID and the State Department. Foreign assistance will be doubled by 2015. In a preemptory justification of the increases in the budget, Chairmen Berman explained that preventing failed states is always more cost effective than dealing with them after they fail.

Deputy Secretary of State Jacob Lew followed Berman’s opening remarks, explaining the increases in the budget. The 2010 fiscal year International Affairs Budget is 53.9 billion dollars. This is a 9% increase from 2009. Lew explained that the Obama administration wishes to prioritize funding for efforts that will help other governments remain “stable and secure.” The budget proposes a 45% increase to USAID programs. There are currently 1000 Foreign Service Officers. This should be doubled by 2012. USAID should also pursue comprehensive civilian programs, coordinated with the military in conflict areas such as Afghanistan and Pakistan. USAID is committed to increasing human capacity in developing nations. Lew also mentioned that the budget strategically focuses on nations with potential for conflict and instability.

Congressman Engel (D-New York) expressed concern that aid money in Gaza might reach Hamas. Deputy Secretary Lew explained that all urgency assistance money is subject to a review process. This process attempts to assure that money goes to the right people.

Congressman Connolly (D-Virginia) addressed the issue of military versus civilian projects. The congressman posited that the military in Iraq and Afghanistan were responsible for civilian projects they were neither trained nor equipped to handle. The congressman noted that a significant portion of military spending is going towards these projects, and this money is entirely separate from the International Affairs Budget. Deputy Secretary Lew argued that the military is extremely flexible, and this flexibility is one of its strengths. Military assistance in civil projects is a good thing.

Congressman Boozman (R-Arizona) was surprised that millions of dollars had been cut from refugee relocation funds. However, Deputy Secretary Lew explained that this was simply because the State Department anticipates decreased refugee-creating conflicts in the coming year. This is largely because of the increased refugee numbers in 2009, as a result of the conflict in Gaza.

Congressman Wexler (D-Florida) applauded the State Department for its programs training Palestinian security forces in Jordan. Wexler considered that these young men will soon be the leaders of an elite class in Palestinian society, and will owe their careers to the United States. Deputy Secretary Lew agreed, stating that these programs were specifically designed to foster a powerful moderating force within Palestinian society.

Congresswoman Watson (D-California) stated her belief that the merger of USAID and the State Department was a failure. Watson pointed out that the prerogatives and missions of the two organizations were fundamentally different. Deputy Secretary Lew disagreed. Lew said he did not want to “diminish” the administrator of USAID, but he saw enormous need for coordination between the State Department and USAID under the leadership of the Secretary of State. Lew also said that a problem such as poverty could be seen both as a human rights and national security issue.

Finally, congresswoman Lee (D-Texas) asked how to battle the strangle hold large corporations have on contracts with USAID. Deputy Secretary Lew replied that all USAID contracts are being reassessed. Lew explained that in the past, the State Department and USAID have lacked the human capacity necessary to enact their own policy. The increases in the International Affairs budget seek to increase this human capacity, and the influence of contracted organizations should naturally become less pronounced.

Transcript of hearing

By Evan Barrett

Linking economic growth and democratic governance

Yesterday I attended an event held by the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) and Research Triangle Institute International (RTI) entitled “Exploring the Links between Economic Growth and Democratic Governance: Developing Programs That Work.” Speakers included Aaron Williams, Vice President for International Business Development at RTI; Jaroslav Romanchuck, President of the Scientific Research Mises Center and Executive Director of Strategy in Belarus; John D. Sullivan, CIPE Executive Director, and Cynthia Rozell, owner of Keyhole Resources Management. The event discussed the case for blending economic growth and democracy/governance objectives in foreign assistance.

The conference highlighted the three areas in which economic growth is important to the donor community. Economic growth:

• is essential to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals
• is imperative to the quality of governance in a country
• serves as a measurement of progress in the area of governance, an area which is difficult to track either quantitatively or qualitatively.

A lack of economic growth in a country restrains the ability of donors to achieve reform goals, yet until very recently, the linkage between democracy and economic growth remained in the hands of academic think tanks and was not applied by donor organizations.

The barriers to linking democracy and economic growth objectives include bureaucratic confusion, stovepiping, and national policy that is focused on short term results rather than a long term strategy for reform. Conference participants emphasized that efforts are underway to remodel the architecture of US foreign assistance programs, but we are only beginning to implement ideas for improving the success rate of aid programs. RTI recommends a “blended approach” that seeks to achieve focused but multiple cross-functional objectives. Donor agencies must understand the linkages between separate development objectives to implement successful and effective reform programs, and organizations like RTI are working with agencies like USAID to help them understand these linkages. RTI recently established a Center for Governance and Economic Growth, called their “Emerge to Compete” program. It created a methodology for designing and implementing successful programs in development from an initial evidence-based analysis of problems to the evaluation and impact assessment of the programs, a strategy which Safadi Foundation will use in program development.

Cynthia Rozell gave an overview of a USAID funded case study of Uganda. As refugees began to return to their villages after a verbal peace agreement, they demanded the social services that were available in refugee camps. The study found that USAID allocated most of its resources to the direct provision of social services and greatly reduced its support for programs that create economic growth through policy, legal, and institutional reforms. When USAID realized that economic growth programs could promote the sustainable development necessary to permanently reduce poverty in the country, the agency began to work directly with local governments to reform the colonial system of local governance that the municipalities were still using. Because these systems were archaic and inefficient, militant groups were setting up parallel social service systems that competed with the municipal systems and set up a battle to deliver more services and credibility. I thought this may be somewhat relevant to the situation in Lebanon.

The study helped USAID realize that economic growth and governance go hand in hand. Improving service delivery cannot happen without promoting economic growth through policy-oriented reform. Part of the resource shift away from economic growth to service provision was contributed to congressional earmarks and reporting requirements, a fact that makes better coordination among development organizations and donors to communicate with Congress crucial.

Rising incomes and national wealth have a direct and positive impact on the transformation of political systems as a result of changes in social structure, increases in education, and the emergence of new political values that support democracy. Political and economic governance institutions necessary for economic growth are more likely to emerge in a democracy, and democracy is a driver of human development. Safadi Foundation in Lebanon has already cooperated with local governments in Al Jouma and Fneideq on agricultural extension projects. A focused strategy that aims to improve local governance while implementing these types of projects can go a long way in solidifying the basic democratic framework that is needed for Lebanon’s human development.


Other notes about the conference:

• Many development agencies focus only on leadership selection in their democracy programs, yet democratic development involves developing a sound decision-making mechanism as well, which is equally as important as going to the ballot box. The decision-making process includes public hearings in which citizens can follow the entire legislative process and have input – through contacting a representative or through a free press – on the decisions being made before they are passed into law. The emphasis on the decision-making process until recently has been lacking in democracy- and governance-focused programs.
• In the last several years, international agencies have recognized the need to identify local talent to lead reform efforts. In the past, international consultants were hired to conduct broad programs that were not tailored to fit the needs of each area they were intended to benefit.

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