Mideast Democracy Efforts Making a Difference; Reforms must be "homegrown" to succeed

The U.S. State Department’s three-year-old Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) is beginning to make a real difference in the region through its support of democratic reformers, a top MEPI program official says.

Peter Mulrean, director of the program’s regional office in Tunis, gave his upbeat assessment in a speech May 6 at the annual conference of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy, a Washington-based organization that studies and promotes democratic reforms in the Muslim world.

“Across the region, increasing numbers of people recognize the need for some form of democracy to give them a voice in their future,” he said. “Increasing numbers of courageous individuals are taking action and demanding that their voices be heard.” He added that a consensus is growing in the international community on the need to boost support for such reform efforts.

After he opened the Tunis office -- one of two such regional offices -- in August 2004, Mulrean recalled, “most reformers met me with skepticism … when they were willing to meet me at all.”

That skepticism, he said, had multiple bases, ranging from doubts about the United States’ sincerity, to disagreement with some U.S. policies, to fears by some that “they would be tarnished, or endangered, by being closely associated with the United States.”

But the doubts have begun to fade “as they have watched our clear, political statements at the highest levels combined with concrete support to reformers on the ground,” he said.
Mulrean ticked off some of the 350-odd projects, costing $293 million, that MEPI has taken on in its three years of existence -- election observation and voter education efforts in Lebanon and Egypt; support for a new network of Arab non-governmental organizations to train democracy activists across the region; development of independent media voices; programs aimed at empowering women; and training teachers in civic education.

“We have a long way to go in changing the views of the average man and woman in the street,” the MEPI official said. But “at least among the reformers we are interested in supporting, our message is getting though.”

Mulrean stressed the view that “building democracy, if it is to succeed, unquestionably must be homegrown and reflect the unique characteristics of the region.” But the United States and others can help, both by providing assistance for practical projects and by “keeping the pressure on the governments in the region to accept democratic change,” he said.

He declared that the United States is providing support not only because it is the right thing to do, “but also because it’s essential.” We understand that political systems that fail to support the aspirations of their people will become brittle and ultimately collapse,” Mulrean said. “Systems characterized by an absence of political choice, transparency, jobs, and personal freedoms are incubators for discontent and extremism.

“And in today’s globalized world, the actions of extremists anywhere impact all of us, directly or indirectly,” he said.