Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies Center for International Security and Cooperation Stanford University


Research at CISAC


Brookings Doha Center-Stanford Project on Arab Transitions - Ongoing project

CDDRL, ARD Project
Ongoing

Researchers
Lina Khatib (Project Manager) - Stanford University
Larry Diamond (Principal Mentor) - Stanford University

The Brookings Doha Center-Stanford University "Project on Arab Transitions" - a joint initiative between the BDC and the Program on Arab Reform and Democracy at Stanford University's Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) - aims to generate comprehensive analysis of the conditions impacting democratic transition in the Arab world. Because there have been so few democratic transitions in the Arab world,as well as a lack of cross-regional studies, there is a real need for better understanding among Western scholars and policymakers and their Arab counterparts about what can and should happen next. This project aims to combine academic rigor, informed field research, and policy relevance to systematically analyze and illuminate the nature of Arab transitions, focusing on issues such as electoral design, constitution-drafting, political party development, and national dialogue processes. By engaging Arab and Western scholars and practitioners from diverse backgrounds, this project provides new voices and original scholarship from the Arab region and beyond to help inform policy and development assistance to countries of strategic importance.

 

The first paper in the BDC-Stanford Project on Arab Transitions series is authored Dr. Tamir Moustafa of Simon Fraser University in Canada and entitled “Drafting Egypt’s New Constitution: Can a New Legal Framework Revive a Flawed Transition?”. Using Egypt as a case study, Moustafa, author of The Struggle for Constitutional Power: Law, Politics, and Economic Development in Egypt , highlights the deficiencies of the constitution-writing process there to serve as an example to other Arab countries as they embark on their own national projects. In addition, Moustafa offers key recommendations to the international community, as well as to Egypt’s Constituent Assembly on the various statutes, provisions, and conditions that should be included in the document to ensure that human rights protections, judicial independence, and institutions of governance are enforced.

 

The second paper, “Voting for Change: The Pitfalls and Possibilities of First Elections in Arab Transitions,” is by Prof. Ellen Lust of Yale University. The first elections after the fall of authoritarian regimes present an important opportunity for both local and international actors to strengthen transitional processes. Drawing on lessons from Egypt and Tunisia’s “founding elections”, the paper addresses how best to support democratic practices in elections to come. 
The paper examines three unique sets of challenges: encouraging the creation of new political parties and the appropriate institutional design; managing and handling the electoral process itself; and achieving outcomes that will strengthen democracy in the long term. Lust argues that processes in post-authoritarian Arab states must establish rules and outcomes that give diverse actors – including old regime allies – a place in the political arena, and are viewed as domestically driven and “fair enough,” rather than focusing on impeccable processes or ideal outcomes.


Publications