The Arab Reform Initiative (ARI) Conference Discusses Democratic Transformation in the Arab World
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Alexandria—
The Arab Reform Initiative (ARI) Annual Conference, was held on Thursday 8 May 2008 at the BA, and was attended by a number of public and intellectual figures from Egypt and the Arab World. The first annual initiative report on reform conditions in the Arab World was launched during the Conference. The report was drafted by a team of researchers from eight Arab countries, namely: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen.
The report reflects the overall objective of the initiative, which focuses on stimulating the Arab research capacity, highlighting Arab’s perception of reform, and developing and effectuating Arab reform programs. Some participants criticized the report which ignored the ruler’s position in Arab countries, who enjoys immense power and does not allow people to exercise any self autonomy. Other participants questioned the accuracy of Arab reform percentages mentioned in the report.
Participants also spoke about the difficulties which faced the researchers in drafting the report, for example, the team in Jordan experienced some problems in accessing information, which was also the case in other Arab countries, despite the law that ensures access to information. Since some governmental officials believe that the law discloses important official information.
Democracy indicators in the Arab world show signs of slight democratic transformation in most Arab countries. The bright side of the report indicates the presence of unexpected progress in the constitutional and legal frameworks. However, the report reflects a failure in the practice of democracy, amidst the lack of peoples’ confidence in the performance of public institutions, where there is some sort of consensus on the widespread use of mediation in public recruitment and the spread of corruption in public sectors.
The report highlights the mistreatment of the opposition parties and detainees, the resort to military or state security courts, and the overspending on security rather than education and health.