Project on Middle East Democracy

On Friday, February 6, 2009, POMED will be holding an event titled, ” Human Rights in the Arab Region in 2008: A Report from the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies“.

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Former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan at POMED-sponsored conference in Amman.
Dr. Michele Dunne and Dr. Tarik Yousef discuss US- Libya relations and prospects for reform at a POMED panel.

The Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to examining how genuine democracies can develop in the Middle East and how the United States can best support that process.  Through dialogue, research, and advocacy, we work to strengthen the constituency for U.S. policies that peacefully support democratic reform in the Middle East.

Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, there has been a growing recognition that democratic reform in the Middle East should be viewed not merely as a development objective, but also as a strategic priority.  However, despite the Bush administration’s dramatic rhetorical shift towards a “forward strategy of freedom,” U.S. policies in the Middle East have changed only marginally over the past seven years.  Much worse, by linking military-led regime change to democracy, the administration has undermined support for “democracy promotion” in the Middle East and the U.S. alike.

Today, the challenge of encouraging better governance in the Middle East remains as pressing as ever.  And yet, U.S. credibility for supporting democratic development has been seriously undermined, and the foreign policy community has become divided on the subject.  There is a compelling need to rigorously examine America’s actual and potential impact on political reform in the region; to foster constructive dialogue among academics and activists, policymakers and practitioners, Americans and Middle Easterners; to identify clearly the parameters of legitimate, constructive democracy support in the Middle East; and to empower the coalition of actors supporting policies consistent with those principles.

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