Session three of the Democratization in the Arab World: Challenges and Prospects for the Future Study Group with former Tunisian president Dr. Moncef Marzouki will focus on the authoritarian state. Discussion topics will include:
The roots of the Arab state: Al assabia according to Ibn khaldoun the great Arab historian
The privatization of the state by family ‘’aristocracies’’ (Saudi Arabia), confessional ‘’aristocracies’’(Lebanon and Syria), military ‘’aristocracies’’ (Egypt, Algeria, Sudan), and economic aristocracies (Tunisia)
Session two of the Democratization in the Arab World: Challenges and Prospects for the Future Study Group with former Tunisian president Dr. Moncef Marzouki will discuss the current situation of democracy in the Arab world and compare progress there to democratization efforts in the rest of the world. Participants will also examine the situation in Tunisia, including its 2014 and 2022 constitutions. Students will then debate the questions “What is left of the Arab Spring? What are the main obstacles that block the process of democratization in the Arab world?”
Join us for the introductory session of the fall semester study group, Democratization in the Arab World: Challenges and Prospects for the Future with former Tunisian President and current Ash Center fellow Dr. Moncef Marzouki. This session will provide an overview of the study group’s goals for the semester, expectations for participants, and an opportunity for students to discuss their interests and background. Participants will then be invited to debate the question: “Do we have the same understanding of the concept of democracy? What is the founding value and ultimate goal of...
Why do politicians cooperate peacefully with organized criminal groups? Interactions between organized criminal groups and politicians are often either depicted as coercive or where the politician is a member of the criminal group. Using mixed-methods research on Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a project by Jessie Bullock, PhD Candidate in Government, Harvard University, shows that there is a third explanation for cooperation: politicians willingly engage with organized criminal groups at arms-length when it is in their electoral interest to seek out these arrangements and when they have a low...
In recent years, several countries throughout the Americas have increasingly experienced concerning signs of democratic backsliding: Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, El Salvador, Paraguay and Peru have all seen varying degrees of deterioration of their democractic institutions such as independence of the judiciary or the right to free protest. Similarly, the United States, which has long prided itself as a champion of democracy in the region and the world, was shaken by an unprecedented threat to its democracy on January 6 when a mob of insurgents sieged the Capitol building in an...
Ash Center Foyer, 124 Mount Auburn St., Floor 2, Suite 200N
Please note this event has been postponed. Please check back for a future date and time for this event.
Join us for a discussion with Steven Brooke, Assistant Professor, Comparative Politics, University of Wisconsin; and non-resident fellow, Harvard Kennedy School’s Middle East Initiative. The talk will be moderated by Tarek Masoud, Professor of Public Policy...
Ash Center Foyer, 124 Mount Auburn St., Floor 2, Suite 200N
Join us for a discussion with Ash Center Ford Foundation Mason Fellow Faniya Mussayeva. Mussayeva is an international development expert with over 18 years of experience working with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and its Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), and National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) in Central Asia, Eastern Europe...
CGIS South Building, 1730 Cambridge Street, Room S354
Despite a lull after the Soviet collapse, grassroots activism in Russia is growing. The protests for free elections that swept across Russia this summer may have captured international headlines, but many other grassroots groups have been organizing over the last decade. What types of civic movements exist in today’s Russia? What risks do activists face? How do they interact with the state or state-protected interest groups? Finally, what role could grassroots groups play in democratizing Russia? Yevgeniya Chirikova sheds light on these questions through her experience as an...
Malkin Penthouse, Littauer Building, 4th Floor, Harvard Kennedy School
Please join us and the Middle East Initiative at the Belfer Center for an evening with the writers of American Repertory Theater's We Live in Cairo, Daniel Lazour and Patrick Lazour, featuring live performances of songs from the musical and discussion with MEI Faculty Director Tarek Masoud on translating the story of Egypt's 2011 revolution and its aftermath for the stage, and the...
