Looking across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), there is a real fear that both reform movements and revolutions risk snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. The momentum that made so many inspirational gains a few months ago is slowing, and the forces of conservatism remain in control. The only hope is that stamina, vigilance, and strategy will lead to a complete transition to democracy in at least one of the region’s countries. Not one revolution has yet been completed. If such a success is to happen soon, I hope it will be in Egypt.
Two big misconceptions have been circulated about the Egyptian revolution in January 2011: first in the international media, research, and policy circles, and second inside Egypt itself through the Egyptian media. In the international sphere, the misconception was that the Egyptian revolution was a “cute” Facebook, social media, social network, or internet revolution (in which scrappy youths banded together over the internet to create change). Inside Egypt, the second misconception is that it was a pre-planned, organized, orchestrated, well-led revolution.
After the Arab Spring: Toward Political & Economic Inclusion in the Arab World
The Middle East Institute and the UNDP are proud to host a discussion with UNDP Administrator Helen Clark, Under Secretary for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs Robert D. Hormats, and Middle East Institute Scholar Amb. Edward Walker about how best to address political, economic and human development needs in the Arab world today.
*Co-written by James P. Farwell. This article originally appeared in the National Interest online on June 9, 2011
Informed observers are increasingly raising the fear that new elections will put the Muslim Brotherhood in control of Egypt’s parliament and the presidency. Of course it will try. Senior Brotherhood leader Sobhi Saleh, who helped write Egypt’s interim constitution, said in a recent video that he expects the new government to be Islamist.
Creating a Legacy of Understanding through the Visual Arts: The Istanbul Center of Atlanta's Art and Essay Contest
This volume has been prepared for the Middle East Institute’s Viewpoints collection. Several stakeholders in the Istanbul Center of Atlanta’s Annual Art and Essay Contest have been involved in the composition of this text. Our goal is to provide a history of this successful program, as well as to define a model for the recreation of such an outreach project for other regions.
In the early 1970s, I taught art classes in three elementary schools in Phoenix, New York. After enduring long snowy and cold winters for ten years, I moved to the Atlanta, Georgia area where the sun shines almost every day. There, I re-entered the field of education, teaching art for Cobb County Schools for 17. During this time, I shared original programs and curriculum in workshops and lectures held at international, national, and state conferences.
Cooperation over Nile Waters: Needed More under Climate Change, More Attainable after the "Arab Spring"?
2011 marks the beginning of a new era for both Egypt and Sudan, opening new possibilities to overcome the decade-old Nile water conflict. After the revolution in Egypt, many hope for a reorientation of the country’s foreign policy towards Africa and a potential new approach to negotiations on allocation of the Nile waters.
Middle East Revolutions: An Environmental Perspective
Most of the numerous articles written about the ongoing revolutions in the Middle East have focused on their political and/or economic causes and likely consequences. However, environmental and natural resource-related issues, which are also at the center of these revolutions, have received little or no attention.
