In a piece titled  "The Economic Agenda of the Islamist Parties," Ibrahim Saif, Senior Associate at the Carnegie Middle East Center, writes that Islamist parties are going to be increasingly powerful in the Arab world. They are also going to face major economic problems, exacerbated by the political instability of the past year. Ennahda in Tunisia, the Islamic Action Front in Jordan, the Freedom and Justice Party in Egypt, and ...

In a written statement, the State Department announced it will provide $1.5 million in funding to the Organization for Economic and Cooperative Development (OECD), through its U.S. Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) office, to support open governance and political participation in the Middle East and North Africa.  The funding will be provided to Jordan, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia, as the governments work with civil society organizations to increase government transparency and accountability. The four ...

On Thursday, May 10, 2012, the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) held a conference entitled “Security Sector Transformation in North Africa and the Middle East.”  In the first panel, featuring representatives from the region, the speakers were: Radwan Masmoudi, President of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy in Tunisia; Magda Boutros, Criminal Justice Reform Director at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights; Dr. Murhaf Jouejati, Chairman ...

On Tuesday, the University of California in Washington’s Maghreb Center hosted a panel discussion discussing the economic causes of the Arab Spring. The panel discussed economic development strategies of the Maghreb countries since independence, possible alternatives for future development, and recently adopted reforms in Morocco and Tunisia. The panel featured Ahmed El-Hamri, Development Economist with the World Bank, Robert Prince, professor of the University of Denver, and Francis Ghiles, Senior ...

Today, the Moroccan parliament began debating a new bill that would work to allocate powers now held by King Mohammed Vi to the prime minister. According to Magharebia, the proposed law is "considered among the most important political reforms brought by the new constitution." In attempt to separate powers, in accord with the terms of the new constitution, the bill would determine the authority of the prime minister and the king in the appointment ...

On Wednesday, the Woodrow Wilson Center hosted an event discussing the first book to analyze the rise of Islamist groups in the wake of the Arab Spring. The speakers were Robin Wright, a USIP-Wilson Center distinguished scholar, Nathan Brown, a professor of political science and international affairs at Georgetown University, Samer Shehata, an assistant professor of Arab politics at Georgetown University, and David Ottaway, a scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center. ...

On Thursday, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace hosted a conference with high-level representatives of Islamist parties from Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan, and Libya. Jessica Mathews, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, gave opening remarks. The first panel, titled “Building New Regimes After the Uprising,” featured Mustapha Elkhalfi, Moroccan minister of communication, Abdul Mawgoud Rageh Dardery, member of parliament for the Freedom and Justice Party in Egypt, Nahil ...

On Sunday, human rights activists organized a demonstration in front of the parliament in the Moroccan capital city of Rabat to demand the repeal of a law on sexual violence. The protest was a response to the suicide of a 16 year old girl, Amina Filali, after being forced to marry her rapist.  In Morocco, Article 475 of the penal code allows for the "kidnapper" of a minor to marry his victim to escape ...