Elie Abouaoun told The Arab Weekly: “When elections are rushed in a sharply divided society going through a conflict, the outcome is usually further deterioration and civil wars”.
This piece was originally thearabweekly on the atfl website https://thearabweekly.com/
WASHINGTON-
President Joe Biden on Thursday opened the first White House Summit for Democracy by sounding an alarm about what he sees as a global slide for democratic institutions and called for world leaders to “lock arms” and demonstrate democracies can deliver.
In the Middle East, the summit sparked questions about whether it matters for a region that has not managed to embark on successful democratic transitions and just how the US intends to adjust its democracy promotion to MENA’s realities.
Biden called the virtual meeting a critical moment for fellow leaders to redouble efforts on bolstering democracies. In making the case for action, he noted his own battle to win the passage of voting rights legislation at home and alluded to the United States’ own challenges to its democratic institutions and traditions.
“This is an urgent matter,” Biden said in remarks to open the two-day virtual summit. “The data we’re seeing is largely pointing in the wrong direction.”
“Make no mistake, we’re at a moment of democratic reckoning,” said Uzra Zeya, the Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights. “Countries in virtually every region of the world have experienced degrees of democratic backsliding.”
The summit featured opening remarks from Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, with representatives from some 100 governments, as well as NGOs, private businesses, philanthropical organisations and legislatures attending.
The gathering already has drawn a backlash from the United States’ chief adversaries and other nations that were not invited to participate.
There are concerns in Washington that democratic practices are fraying while the tide of authoritarianism is rising.
A Pew Research Centre report released this week said that while “people like democracy, their commitment to it is often not very strong.” Even wealthy countries, including the US, have some people who favour military rule, the report said.
Another group, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, said in its annual report that the number of countries experiencing democratic backsliding “has never been as high” as the past decade, with the US added to the list alongside India and Brazil.
US officials promise a year of action will follow the two-day conference but preparations have been overshadowed by questions over some invitees’ democratic credentials and complaints from uninvited countries.
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden will call on participants to dedicate themselves to “reversing the democratic recession and ensuring that democracies deliver for their people.”
Biden has made promoting democratic values a focal point of his foreign policy and has repeatedly stressed the need for the US and other like-minded allies to demonstrate that democracies are a better vehicle for societies than autocracies.
— Guest list —
The White House declined to say how it went about deciding who was invited and who was left off the list.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the invitation list was not meant to be a “stamp of approval or disapproval.”
“It’s just meant to have a diverse range of voices and faces and representatives at the discussion,” she said.
In the Middle East, Turkey, a fellow NATO member and Egypt and Jordan, key US allies in the region, were left out. Israel and Iraq were the only MENA countries to be invited.
Tunisia, long perceived by the US and other Western nations as embodying hopes for successful democratic transitions in the Arab world, has not been invited either, with no explanations offered by Washington or Tunis. US concerns about the future of the Tunisian transition were reflected by a US House of representatives hearing held last October.
President Kais Saied has said, however, that the “state of exception” he installed in Tunisia since July 25 aims to save the Tunisian political system from corrupt practices.
An invitation list published last month included countries whose leaders are accused by human rights groups of harbouring authoritarian tendencies, such as the Philippines, Poland and Brazil.
It also included Taiwan, stoking anger from China, which considers the democratically-governed island part of its territory.
The guest list raises the question of the often unconvincing categorisation of countries of the world as democratic or not. There have been questions about governments and non-government organisations making that determination.
“There are multiple frameworks, indicators and attributes used to assess the extent to which a government is democratic or not. There are also multiple institutions doing these classifications. Some of these institutions are less independent than others, in some cases pushing for a partisan or partial political agenda. Therefore, the real value of these classifications lies more in what kind of patterns they reveal rather than taking them to the word, ” Elie Abouaoun, director of the MENA programme at the US Institute Peace, told The Arab Weekly.
Some in the Arab world reject Western categorisations as artificial or trying to impose democracy models with no connection to the region. “I would not put all the West in one basket. In my work, I have seen very rigid conceptual frameworks adopted by some Western organisations and pushed into some countries. But I have also seen several organisations and initiatives showing a great deal of understanding of the local dynamics, contexts, and nuances,” says Abouaoun.
— Risks and pitfalls —
With the examples of Libya and Iraq in mind, regional analysts caution against the exclusive focus on electoral norms in MENA countries plagued by serious crises or internal divisions, as a yardstick to measure the success of democratic transitions.
“Taking several examples from the region, I see a clear tendency by the international community (or most of its members) to focus on the technical aspects of democratic transition such as holding elections and expediting the process of adopting a constitution, ” admits Abou Aoun. “When elections are rushed in a sharply divided society going through a conflict, the outcome is usually further deterioration and civil wars,” he adds.
Former Tunisian minister of foreign affairs Khemaies Jhinaoui believes “local populations should take ownership of the democratic process” and not see it as influenced by the outside.
Western democratic advocacy faces the additional challenge of being perceived by the Arab public as a form of foreign interference. “It is clear by now that mainstreaming democratic practices in any given country must start with local buy-in. Short of this, the whole endeavour becomes an imposed agenda by foreign powers, ” noted Abouaoun.
Despite US professions of faith in the democratic ideal, experts say. Washington’s ambitions in the region seem to have taken a back seat in view of more urgent tasks, such as thwarting Iran’s nuclear threat and worrying about the resurgence of the Islamic State (ISIS).
White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, Brett McGurk, bemoaned “hard lessons learnt” from previous policies including pursuits of democracy in the region. He pointed out that the current administration is now focused on “the basics of building, maintaining and strengthening our partnerships and alliances here.”
–US credibility–
The US also faces the challenge of enhancing its own credibility as a democratic leader. The nation, which has long postured as a shining example of democratic rule, is itself seen as a backslider.
Local elected officials in America are resigning at an alarming rate amid confrontations with angry voices at school board meetings, elections offices and town halls. States are passing laws to limit access to the ballot, making it more difficult for Americans to vote. And the January 6 attack at the Capitol has left many in one US political party clinging to Donald Trump’s false claims of a stolen election, eroding trust in the accuracy of the vote.
“The United States has a thriving democracy, but it’s been hurting in recent years,” said Michael Abramowitz, the president of Freedom House, whose annual report marked a 15th consecutive year of a global democratic slide. “Right now, we’re going through a phase in America where it’s very difficult to get things done and to really prove that democracy can deliver.”