Commentary
A prophetic Romanian novel about a town at the mouth of the Danube carries a warning: Europe decays when it stops looking outward. In a world of increasing insularity, the EU should heed its warning.
Thomas de Waal
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Paper
Evaluating Palestinian Reform
Criticism of the PA’s growing authoritarianism gave birth to a “paper Palestine,” in which citizens have rights of free speech and assembly; independent judiciary adjudicates disputes; leaders are selected in elections overseen by an independent electoral commission; and a representative assembly monitors the executive. Yet the institutions that would ensure democracy are missing or lagging.
Published on May 23, 2005
Summary
Criticism of the PA’s growing authoritarianism gave birth to what Brown calls “paper Palestine,” in which citizens have rights of free speech and assembly; the Arab world’s most independent judiciary adjudicates disputes; leaders are selected in elections overseen by an independent electoral commission; and a representative assembly monitors the executive. Yet the institutions that would ensure democracy are either missing or lagging.
In Evaluating Palestinian Reform, Arab governance expert Nathan Brown measures reform efforts to date and proposes concrete steps in four priority areas: political parties, security services, judiciary and media.
About the Author
Nathan J. Brown is a senior associate in the Democracy and Rule of Law Project at the Carnegie Endowment while on leave from his position as professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University. Brown’s research interests include Egyptian and Palestinian politics, legal reform in the modern Middle East, as well as democratization. He is author of four books, including his most recent, Palestinian Politics after the Oslo Accords: Resuming Arab Palestine (University of California Press, 2003), which presents research on Palestinian society and governance after the establishment of the Palestinian Authority.
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