CIHRS Report on Projected U.S. Policy Toward Human Rights and Democracy in Arab World

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CIHRS Report on Projected U.S. Policy Toward Human Rights and Democracy in Arab World

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http://www.cihrs.org/Arabic/NewsSystem/Articles/927 (Arabic)

The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) released a report this week discussing the findings of a conference held in Cairo on January 10th featuring Carnegie scholars Amr Hamzawy, Marina Ottaway, and Thomas Carouthers, in addition to Egyptian scholars, several from the Al Ahram Center for Strategic Studies, evaluating projected themes of U.S. policy toward human rights in the Arab region under the Obama administration. On promoting democracy in the Arab World, participants noted that Bush's policies did not advance democracy and human rights when they were perceived as antithetical to U.S. strategic interests, which in turn led to loss of U.S. credibility on this front. Participants also noted the weakness of secular political parties and civil society actors that could contribute substantially in the democratization effort, leading to the perception of the Islamist opposition monolith, which in turns feeds into U.S. fears as well as some fears in the Arab World that the balance of political forces in the region do not tend toward democratic change. Some comments pointed out that some Arab regimes remain the most powerful political forces in their countries, able to outmaneuver and undermine most opposition forces, a situation which places the U.S. administration in a difficult position tending toward supporting those regimes for strategic interests. More points were made about the destructiveness of linking democracy promotion to regime change through violence as in Iraq, in addition to a need for greater understanding of the dynamics of internal change in Arab countries which cannot be divorced from a renewed regional approach as a whole, particularly on the question of Palestine. Additionally, the "war on terror" was singled out for criticism as having contributed to the growth of mistrust and antagonism between the U.S. and the Arab World due to the numerous human rights violations committed in its name as well as its implications that Muslims were the enemy. Unlike Bush, the new administration, some commentators said, would not adopt the same rhetoric and failed methods. The participants added that opportunities for democracy promotion in the new Obama administration will depend on a number of factors, the two most important of which are: reversing Bush's policies resulting from Iraq and the war on terror-positive changes were already noted on this front in the form of Obama's closure of Guantanamo bay as well as the president's apparent willingness for increased diplomatic engagement with some regional actors. The second factor will be the U.S.'s administration's willingness to relinquish its insistence on replicating the U.S. liberal democratic model in the Arab World, and instead focusing on small, practical changes tending toward opening the political space. Meanwhile some participants suggested that the Obama administration will be less focused on issues such as political participation, elections, and the sharing of power as it will be on human rights and defending individual human rights defenders. Finally, participants stressed that democratic change will ultimately come from within, and that the U.S. should prioritize changing the political and cultural landscapes in the Arab World which in turn will enable the grassroots growth of democratic and human rights values, through supporting educational reform as well as promoting science and engaging political and civil society actors of all stripes. Finally, participants stressed that democratic reform in the Arab World will not solely rely on the ingenuity of the Obama administration, but on the opportunities that come from within the Arab World, and that solving the Palestinian question is essential insofar as it will deprive Arab regimes of one of their most widely used "blackmail" tactics.

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