Tag Archives: civil society

The Need to Prioritize Economic Development in Egypt

Posted on 4 April, 2013 by | Leave a comment
A market in Egypt (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

A market in Egypt (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Sally Roshdy is a CIPE-Atlas Corps Think Tank LINKS  Fellow serving at the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) .

In Egypt, my home country, the rulers and the political elite are immersed in a struggle for power and have forgotten the simplest principles of good governance: to deliver economic opportunities to their citizens.

Given the current economic crisis in Egypt, a new approach that prioritizes economic development should be adopted. By supporting small enterprises, the government can build a stronger economy and empower people in need to be productive. This way, those in need of assistance are more than just aid recipients; they are contributors to the overall economic growth.

New and well-planned initiatives must be created to improve Egypt’s economic and social conditions. These initiatives should involve all three sectors – the government,  private sector, and civil society.  

CONTINUE READING

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Middle East and North Africa

Tagged , , , , ,

What Will Happen to Egyptian Civil Society if the New NGO Law is Implemented?

Posted on 25 February, 2013 by | Comments Off
Civil society organizations have been instrumental in the evolution of Egypt's revolution since 2011.

Civil society organizations have been instrumental in the evolution of Egypt’s revolution since 2011. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

By Sally Roshdy, a CIPE-Atlas Corps Think Tank LINKS  Fellow serving at the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED)

Revolutions do not erupt out of the blue – they are the result of citizens’ accumulated disappointments and their disapproval with the status quo over time. In January 2010, this is precisely what happened in Egypt. Our revolution took place because many people – especially those in the civil society – wanted to do something about their political and economic frustrations.

The Egyptian civil society sector is an important part of Egypt’s recent history. Prior to the revolution, they helped build awareness about the need for democratic governance. They also helped spread awareness about various human rights abuses taking place in Egypt. After the revolution, activists and organizations were instrumental in documenting what was happening on the ground, forming fact-finding committees, and seeking the release of the detained young people who participated in demonstrations. Civil society, therefore, played – and is playing – a crucial part during the democratic transition of the country, and is helping bring people to demand their fundamental right to a life of dignity, freedom, and social justice.

Freedom of association is an essential component of democracy. The more a country allows citizens to engage at the civil society level, the more democratic it is going to be. This, however, has not been realized in Egypt even after the country welcomed its first democratically-elected president. In fact, it seems to be reversing given the latest NGO draft law presented by the Ministry of Insurance and Social Affairs.

This draft has shocked those who were hoping the new government will introduce a new law that will support civil society activities in post-revolution Egypt. Instead of being supportive, the proposed draft law could potentially minimize what activities civil society organizations can engage in. Some activists are calling this draft even worse than the current governing laws for civil society organizations in Egypt. Following are some concerns regarding the proposed NGO law:

  • The bill stipulates the formation of a coordination committee that would oversee all activities done by international NGOs. This committee is supposed to include representatives from Interior Ministry and one from the National Security Agency, which foreshadows a desire of the government to involve security agencies in civil society work. Moreover, the draft gives the administrative representatives the right to arrest anyone for breaking the draft law.
  • The bill will increase the minimum capital needed to establish nonprofits from LE 10,000 (about $1,500 US) to LE 250,000 (more than $37,000 US). This has the potential to deprive the right for young people and less financially-sound qualified individuals from organizing themselves.
  • All associations, foundations, and federations subjected to this proposed law will be under the oversight of an Egyptian Central auditing organization, implying that civil society organizations will be part of a semi-government entity.

Civil society in Egypt may soon be forced to work in such a challenging legal framework. And this is alarming. Limiting freedom of association is a step backwards for Egypt’s democratic transition.

CIPE Atlas Corps Think Tank LINKS Fellowship brings talented young professionals with strong research backgrounds to shadow researchers and experts at leading U.S. think tanks for six month. Sally Roshdy is part of the inaugural class, serving at the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED).

Comments Off

Posted in Middle East and North Africa

Tagged , , ,

All I Want for Christmas Is… Freedom

Posted on 26 December, 2012 by | Comments Off
Discovering Freedom

Discovering Freedom book cover (image: www.for.org.pl)

While spending this holiday season in my native Poland, I added a new book to my Christmas gift wish list: Odkrywając Wolność – Discovering Freedom - by Leszek Balcerowicz. After 1989 Balcerowicz shaped Poland’s economic transformation from communism to market economy, facing difficult reforms along the way in the context of building young and fragile democratic institutions. The book is not an autobiography detailing his personal account of the transition. Nor is it a technical textbook for fellow economists or political scientists. Instead, the book is meant for every citizen as a foundation of knowledge on political and economic freedom.

As Poland’s Finance Minister in the first post-communist government during the crucial period from 1989 to 1991, then again from 1997 to 2000, and as the Chairman of the National Bank of Poland 2001-2007, Balcerowicz has been one of the most influential policymakers in the country. In recent years, he successfully tried another role – as the head of a new think tank, Civil Development Forum, or FOR (Forum Obywatelskiego Rozwoju). FOR’s stated mission is to protect liberty and promote truth and common sense in public discourse. What the organization believes makes it distinct is effectiveness. In FOR’s own words, “We do not exist to simply publish texts and hold conferences, though we use these tools. We aim to amend existing laws, influence decision-makers considering new laws and to educate the general public, because well informed citizens are the best bulwark against despotism.”

In this spirit of making the principles of liberty easily understandable and accessible to the general public, Discovering Freedom is a extensive compilation (over 1,000 pages!) of writings by the greatest free thinkers, from Adam Smith and Milton Friedman to Karl Popper and Mario Vargas Llosa. Balcerowicz made the selection and wrote the introduction. Many of these texts had not been previously widely known in Poland and the book’s objective is to popularize them because, as Balcerowicz put it, societies must constantly strive for freedom.

CONTINUE READING

Comments Off

Posted in Eastern Europe, Global

Tagged , ,

Sustaining Democratic Reform in Burma

Posted on 19 September, 2012 by | Comments Off

Aung San Suu Kyi with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (Photo: Gary Cameron/Reuters)

Burma took an unprecedented step toward true, representative democracy during its elections last April. Most notably, the National League for Democracy took the majority of seats in Parliament. The NLD, headed by headed by Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, advocates a non-violent movement towards multiparty democracy in Burma, supports human rights (including broad-based freedom of speech), the rule of law, and national reconciliation. This week, Suu Kyi has venured to Washington, DC to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, speak at an award ceremony by the National Endowment for Democracy, and receive her long-delayed Congressional Gold Medal, which she was awarded in absentia in 2008 while under house arrest.

Since the April elections, the Burmese government has made all the right gestures and said all the right things about embarking on a new democratic path for the country. What remains to be seen is whether these promises come to fruition. In the latest Economic Reform Feature Service article, CIPE Asia Program Officer John Morrell takes a look at Burma’s institutional environment and discusses what changes are necessary to sustain successful democratic change.

Article at a glance:

  • Burma’s transition to democracy will prove unsustainable without substantive changes to the country’s political, administrative, and economic institutions.
  • Economic growth must be widespread and economic opportunities arise for more than the well-connected few if democracy is to succeed in Burma.
  • The Burmese government and its partners in the international development community must prioritize the development of durable, reliable and politically independent institutions.

Read the full article and an earlier blog post from John Morrell on this topic.

Comments Off

Posted in Asia, Global

Tagged , , , ,

What is the God Particle of Development?

Posted on 12 July, 2012 by | 3 Comments

Last week, physicists at the CERN Large Hadron Collider announced the discovery of the Higgs boson, a long-sought particle that helps explain why all things have mass. The boson, first theorized by Peter Higgs in the 1960s but heretofore unproven, has been dubbed the “God particle” because it appears to be the sine qua non of matter—without this thing, there is nothing. Scientists and slightly befuddled laypersons everywhere heralded the event as a new opportunity to further explain and explore the world around us.

This discovery got me thinking about the underlying forces at work in development. Why do programs work in some locations and not others? Why are some organizations more consistently successful than others? Why can’t all the well-meaning and very smart people in the field figure this out? Of course, human behavior can be (seemingly) less predictable than that of atoms and quarks. Countries have divergent social histories, political systems, and cultural norms. NGOs and state agencies vary widely in their competence and intentions. Even still, there has to be something tangible that gives weight to successful efforts.

One tantalizing possibility might be one of the most obvious. It is simply this: local institutions. It makes intuitive sense, doesn’t it? The people who live in a place know it best. They understand its peculiarities, its history, its moral compass. Where civil society is unrestrained, it flourishes. And where it flourishes, it can strive for profound, positive change. Certainly in CIPE’s long experience, local partners have made all the difference in whether a project succeeded brilliantly, or less so.

The scientists at CERN searched through more than 15 million gigabytes of data per year, analyzing trillions of data points to find the Higgs boson. Unfortunately, there’s nothing like that (yet?) in the development field to give us the answer. Until then, we can only looks for clues and test our assumptions. What do you think is the God particle of development?

→ 3 Comments

Posted in Global

Tagged , ,

The Business of Democracies that Deliver

Posted on 15 June, 2012 by | Comments Off

On June 8, CIPE celebrated a watershed foreign policy moment – the 30th anniversary of President Ronald Reagan’s speech to the British Parliament at Westminster. In his speech, delivered during a reawakening of tensions during the Cold War, Reagan laid out the case that the United States should support and help develop democratic systems around the world. In so doing, he laid the  groundwork for what would become the National Endowment for Democracy and its core institutes – including CIPE. CIPE was founded on the idea that economic freedom and political freedom are inextricably intertwined. This anniversary provides an opportunity to reflect on the history of CIPE, the successes and challenges over the years, and – most importantly – what lies ahead and why CIPE’s work is more important today than ever before.

In this previously-published Economic Reform Feature Service article celebrating CIPE’s 25th Anniversary, Executive Director John D. Sullivan provides a brief history of the democracy programs, explores the continued need to build market-oriented democracies, and examines CIPE’s role, business model, and the key themes of its work. He also looks ahead to the challenges and opportunities for democratic and market-oriented reform around the world.

Article at a Glance

  • Democratic governance and market economy share the same underlying values of transparency, accountability, fairness, and responsibility.
  • A functioning market economy requires a complex institutional framework put in place by a political process that establishes the rules of the economic game through laws and regulations.
  • The Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) can now showcase more than 25 years of strengthening democracy around the globe through private enterprise and market-oriented reform.

Comments Off

Posted in Global

Tagged , , ,

Civil Society Restores Twitter Access in Pakistan

Posted on 22 May, 2012 by | 1 Comment

On May 20, the Pakistani Information Ministry blocked access to world’s largest micro blogging site, Twitter, on the pretext that the company had not removed derogatory material about Prophet Mohammad.

Pakistani authorities are known for taking such actions: exactly two years ago in May 2010, based on a verdict from a local court, Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and 1000 other such websites were banned in the country. This time, however, civil society organizations and activists moved quickly to start a campaign against the government’s decision. In 2010,after ten days of hectic efforts, the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority lifted the ban. This time it took just 10 hours.

Two years ago, on May 20, 2010, Jehan Ara, President of the Pakistan Software Houses Association and a civil society activist, wrote a blog suggesting that banning Facebook would not help Pakistan. She said “We stifle our own voices by banning a social networking site where 2.5 million Pakistanis could have been heard. We hide our head in the sand like ostriches. We react like little children do – closing our eyes and pretending that if we don’t see it, it doesn’t exist.”

The move to ban Twitter came only a day after Senator Rehman Malik who also is the Interior Minister tweeted “Dear all, I assure u that Twitter and FB will continue in our country and it will not be blocked. Pl do not believe in rumors.”

Immediately after the Twitter Blackout, social media activities started a campaign against government’s decision. They engaged Rehman Malik, Pakistan’s Interior Minister, on Twitter, which they were able to continue to access through proxy sites and other alternative means. Facebook discussions started heating up, forcing broadcast media to focus on this story, which soon ran on all TV channels and online newspapers as breaking news.

The blogosphere also came out strongly against the ban this time. BoloBhi (Speak-up) wrote:

“Time and again, the government has blocked websites supposedly to protect ‘public sentiments and emotions’ and to prevent blasphemous material from circulating within Pakistan. This is being cited as a reason for the Twitter ban too. But this is akin to hitting your own foot with a hammer. Firstly, each time blanket bans are imposed, more attention is actually drawn towards such competitions and discussions. Secondly, what does banning the website in the country achieve?

Another blogger suggested:

“Pakistan should leverage the power of Twitter rather than getting swept away by the negative content. Banning Twitter does not going to make any dent to Twitter nor it is denying access to experienced Twitter users. There are hundreds of third party applications which make tweeting and retweeting possible and government cannot ban such applications. Social networking sites are like multi-headed hydra. You cut one head and many heads appear. The government could have sought advice of social media experts before taking this frivolous decision.”

Support also came from Hussain Haqqani, former Pakistani Ambassador to the US, who tweeted “Ban on any form of free expression has no place in a democracy. If someone offends, bar offender instead of banning medium.”

Sherry Rehman, the current Pakistani Ambassador to the US, kept tweeting until she was told she may be breaching the ban, according to news sources. Civil society activists also engaged her in advocating for restoring  access to Twitter.

Immense pressure from social media activists made Pakistani authorizes quickly realize that such actions are not welcomed by the Pakistani public, showing the power of social media technologies to democratize debate and quickly relay the thoughts and opinions of the public to high-level decision makers.

In any democratic society, free access to information forms the foundation of open and honest debate about how the country is governed. By trying to shut out one of the most important new mediums for public debate, Pakistani authorities unwittingly demonstrated just how much power these new social media tools have in the hands of dedicated civil society activists.

→ 1 Comment

Posted in South Asia

Tagged , , ,