This person is no longer with the Carnegie Endowment.
Rachid Tlemçani was a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center.
Tlemçani was a visiting scholar in the Carnegie Endowment’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University, and the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University. He has published numerous articles and several books on Algerian politics, including Elections et Elites en Algerie (2003), Etat, Bazar et Globalisation: L’adventure de L’Infitah en Algerie (1999) and State and Revolution in Algeria (1986).
A frequent contributor to the local press, Tlemçani’s articles have appeared in Le Matin, El Watan and, Le Quotidien d’Oran.
The low voter turnout in the May 2007 legislative elections (about 36 percent, compared to 65 percent in 1997 elections) showed that Algerians still believe that their votes do not make a difference. Clearly power rests somewhere other than in the elected legislature.
Despite Algeria’s recent economic growth and domestic stability, the government’s refusal to address the legacy of its violent civil war threatens its long-term stability. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s decision to push forward his “Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation” without public input or dialogue has undermined the prospect for true reconciliation.
The Carnegie Middle East Center hosted a seminar entitled “Algeria: Elections, Religious Extremism and Reform.” The seminar featured a presentation by Dr. Rachid Tlemcani, Visiting Scholar at Carnegie’s Middle East Center, and a commentary by Dr. Myriam Catusse of the French Institute for Middle Eastern Studies in Beirut. The panel was moderated by CMEC director, Paul Salem.
A larger number of present political regimes in the East, Central Europe, Eurasia, Latin America and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have established a façade of institutional democracy. An irreversible wave of democratic transition -- excluding the MENA -- has been underway for some time. The foundation is fair and free polls.
On March 29, 2007, Rachid Tlemcani, visiting scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center, argued that since the civil war of the 1990s, violence in Algeria has decreased and the economic and political situations are stabilizing. Daniel Brumberg, professor of government at Georgetown, served as discussant and Marina Ottaway, Carnegie Endowment, moderated.
