Legislation 

There was no relevant legislation last week, due to Congressional recess.

Committee Hearings 

There were also no relevant committee hearings.

From Washington

How Should Obama Proceed on Egypt?: Last week the U.S. National Security Council met with the Egypt Working Group - a bipartisan collection of Middle East experts and democracy advocates - to discuss a potential shift in the administration's policy toward Egypt. At Politico, Laura Rozen reported that "Tuesday's meeting was interpreted by the outside foreign policy experts as a significant indicator that the Obama administration is giving more serious and high-level policy attention to the issue." POMED Executive Director Andrew Albertson, who participated in the talks, told Al Masry Al Youm that the meeting may indicate that the administration is thinking about adjustments to its policy on democracy and human rights issues in Egypt. Meanwhile, the Washington Post continued to push the administration on Egypt, arguing that Obama's diplomatic approach to democracy promotion has failed. In another editorial, the Post argued that the regime's political repression is growing more severe. In response, Egypt's finance minister Youssef Boutros-Ghali contended that Egypt has been unfairly criticized.

Secretary Clinton Comments on Bahrain's Elections: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a statement praising the Al-Khalifa regime's commitment to building a diverse society through "peaceful reform and representative institutions." She added, however: "We are concerned by efforts in the lead-up to the elections to restrict freedom of expression and association targeted at civil society. We have shared our concerns with the Government of Bahrain and continue to rely on our partners in the Government to meet Bahrain's own high standards of democratic reform, and to investigate credible allegations."

U.S. Midterm Elections and Foreign Policy: Many commentators discussed the foreign policy implications of the U.S. midterm elections. The Council on Foreign Relations' James M. Lindsay expressed concern that the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives could mean cuts to the foreign aid budget. Marc Lynch noted that the shift may make U.S. foreign policy, especially in the Middle East, more hawkish, but that the next Congress will likely focus most of its efforts on domestic issues. And Foreign Policy's Josh Rogin profiled Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), the next head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Kay Granger (R-TX) the likely chairwoman of the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee.

MEPI Announces New Funding Opportunities: The Office of the Middle East Partnership Initiative announced three new funding opportunities for organizations across the region. For details see the links below:

·       Political Process Strengthening (Deadline Nov. 17, 2010)

·       Strengthening the Rule of Law (Deadline Nov. 19, 2010)

·       Supporting Civic Activism and Advocacy (Deadline Nov. 22, 2010)

From the Middle East

Political Apathy Clouds Preparations for Jordan Election: Jordan's parliamentary elections, which will take place on Tuesday, drew attention last week. The International Republican Institute (IRI) and the BBC both published election primers and IRI announced its election monitoring delegation, which will be the first international group to monitor a Jordanian election. Meanwhile, The Economist described the widespread political apathy in the country, stemming from the government's manipulation of the political system.

Bahrain's Engineered Election: Government-allied Sunni and independent parties maintained control of Bahrain's lower house of parliament after the second round of voting last week. The secular opposition group Waad lost both of the seats it contested in the run-off, after its Shiite ally Wefaq won 18 seats in the first round of voting. Writing in the Asia Times, Ramzy Baroud argued that Bahrain's free but unfair election is the new norm for the region and that U.S. involvement has only precipitated this development.

Preparation for Egypt's Parliamentary Elections Continues: After threatening last week to boycott the upcoming parliamentary elections, Egypt's Wafd Party announced that it will participate. As the registration period opened for candidates, Egyptian security officials reportedly rejected applications from a group of Muslim Brotherhood members, a move interpreted as "another way to impede the electoral process." The Brotherhood held demonstrations over the weekend, protesting the rejections. Michele Dunne and Amr Hamzawy explored the sometimes contentious nomination process for NDP candidates. Meanwhile, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies stated that the government is restricting freedom of expression in the run-up to the elections, Mohamed ElBaradei said that the development of democracy in Egypt will require hard work and education (and also accused authorities of wiretapping his campaign office), and the High Elections Commission began licensing Egyptian civil society organizations to monitor the election. In addition, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled that all political parties must be allowed broadcasting time on state-run television.

Iraq Sees Slow Progress Toward a Government: Acting speaker of the Iraqi parliament Fuad Massum announced last Wednesday that the legislative body would convene today for the first time in eight months. Reidar Visser argued that Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's Iraqiya coalition should agree to have a member of a Sunni or Kurdish party assume the speakership. Saudi Arabia offered to host talks in Riyadh between the leaders of Iraq's main political factions, a proposal Egypt supported. The National Alliance and the Kurdish parties, however, both rejected the offer. Fadhila (the Islamic Virtue Party) threw its support behind Maliki, causing Juan Cole to adjust his estimation of seats held by Maliki's coalition. Visser remained skeptical however, saying that government formation prior to 2011 was "not realistic."

Confusion over YouTube Access in Turkey: Authorities briefly lifted the country's YouTube ban last week, only to have a Turkish court reinstate it two days later. The uncertainty over access to the popular video sharing site highlighted continued concerns about Turkey's Internet law, which allows courts to block sites found in violation at will. On Twitter, Turkish President Abdullah Gul urged legislators to change the law, and said: "There is no need for fear. Restrictions do not bring about the desired outcome, anyway."

Higher Education Faces Political Threats: Officials in Tehran decided last week to close the Iran University for Medical Sciences, a move that reflects government attempts to revive "conservative ideological values" in the education system, according to one author. The country's Education Ministry also banned people affiliated with "illegal" parties and organizations from becoming school teachers. Alaa Al Aswany highlighted abuse by campus security officers and criticized university administrators and the Education Ministry for not protecting students. Meanwhile, one author argued that forming strong educational institutions is an essential component of the Palestinian state building process.

Al Jazeera Blocked in Morocco: Al Jazeera's service was suspended in Morocco last week, a move apparently linked with the network's coverage of issues in Western Sahara. One author wrote at Huffington Post that "[r]un-ins with Arab governments have been a trademark of the channel."

Also Worth Reading:

POMED's Daphne McCurdy published a piece last week arguing that the Turkish opposition, led by the Republican People's Party (CHP), has thus far failed to offer a viable alternative to the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AKP) policies. She argues that to regain legitimacy, new CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu must focus on turning "rhetoric into deliverables."

James Liddell authored an article in the Journal of North African Studies on clientelism in the Middle East. Using data from the 2007 Moroccan parliamentary election and the creation of the regime-backed Party for Authenticity and Modernity in 2008, Liddell argued "that the weak, internally undemocratic and highly personalized nature of political parties under a controlled regime results in the primacy of patron-client relations as the dominant form of social mediation both inside political institutions and between representatives and the broader electorate."

In Case You Missed It

On Tuesday (11/2), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) hosted a roundtable discussion entitled "Iraq's Development Challenges." Christine McNab, Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General & UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, John Desrocher, Director, Office of Iraq Affairs, US Department of State, and Leslie Campbell, Regional Director for the Middle East & North Africa, National Democratic Institute, all present and Frederick Tipson, Director of UNDP/Washington, moderated the event. For POMED's full notes click here.