Live from Tahrir Square
Egyptian activists and scholars connect in digital townhall
Digital Democracy

On April 4, the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law in collaboration with the Cloud to Street project held a digital townhall meeting connecting three Egyptian pro-democracy activists with scholars at Stanford, Harvard, and the University of British Columbia. The web-based platform allowed virtual participants to see and hear from activists broadcast live from Tahrir Lounge in the epicenter of the January 25 movement, which shook Mubarak from three decades of rule. The Egyptian activists, Sabah Hamomou, Mona Shahien, and Adbel Rahman Faris, provided personal testimony to how political action and technology combined to produce such explosive results. +PDF+ paper, flyer available
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Policy in Action
Advancing a new narrative for statebuilding in Afghanistan
Event

On February 25 and 26, the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law at Stanford University, in partnership with the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, hosted a symposium titled, "Addressing the Accountability Gap in Statebuilding: The Case of Afghanistan." This event brought together leading experts, government officials, diplomats, practitioners, and academics to examine the problems of accountability, corruption, and election fraud that have risen in the wake of international statebuilding efforts in Afghanistan. +VIDEO+ +AUDIO+ +PDF+

Arab Reform
How to Lose Friends and Alienate Your People
Analysis

In a piece for the blog Jadaliyya, Arab Reform and Democracy Program Manager Lina Khatib at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, makes the argument that Arab leaders have reacted in a similar fashion to the growing demands for reform at home. Highlighting eight common features employed by regimes from Morocco to Bahrain, which include ignoring protests and placing blame on al-Qaeda and the media, Arab autocrats have adopted similar strategies because they belong to "the same authoritarian club." However, Khatib emphasizes that while leaders continue to 'sing the same tune,' activists have become accustomed to their predictable behavior, giving them the competitive advantage of being one step ahead of the regime.