March Arab Reform Bulletin

The March issue of Carnegie's Arab Reform Bulletin is out:

Lebanon's Crisis and Electoral Politics Michael Young
The failure to hold presidential and parliamentary elections on schedule ignited the current crisis as much as the Hariri assassination did, according to Beirut-based journalist Young.

Egypt: Opening the Constitutional Debate Issandr El Amrani
Egyptian activists are working hard to widen the crack in the edifice of executive power represented by Mubarak's constitutional amendment proposal, reports El Amrani from Cairo.

Saudi Municipal Elections Raise Hopes Rasheed Abou-Alsamh
Municipal elections are the first fruits of reform efforts that go back to at least 1991, and are encouraging reformists to push for Shura Council elections and women's suffrage, says Arab News Editor Abou-Alsamh.

Security Sector Reform: the Final Frontier Ellen Laipson
Arab regimes have long relied on redundant and competing security services to avoid coups, but reforming the security sector is an indispensable component of political reform according to Stimson Center President and CEO Laipson

How Democratic is Yemen? Iris Glosemeyer
Yemen's democratic experiment foundered in the early 1990s while the world's attention was elsewhere, but the country might be ready to ride the new reform wave in the region, assesses Berlin-based analyst Glosmeyer.

Also, a whole bunch of links and short reports from various countries.  As always, very much worth a look.

Comments

[praktike]

OT, what do you know about BridgesTV?

This is the first I've heard of it:
http://usinfo.state.gov/mena/Archive/2005/Mar/11-498396.html?chanlid=mena