Rouzbeh Pirouz, Rawan Maayeh

April 2006

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Enhancing the role of civil society and other political actors within Arab countries as well as the reliability of evaluation mechanisms for informing the international community of tangible advances came under significant examination. Furthermore, given that external calls for reform are inherently limited in the absence of domestic forces, the potential for and limitations of partnerships across regional boundaries is a key theme for discussions on change.

The Civility Programme at the Foreign Policy Centre, in conjunction with the Royal Institute for International Relations (IRRI-KIIB), organised a two-day conference in Brussels to assess the merits and record of international initiatives for encouraging reform in the Arab world. The G8 Broader Middle East Initiative, the Middle East Partnership Initiative as well as the Barcelona Process were the subjects of the conference.

Richard Youngs

December 2004

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Despite a common interest in promoting democracy in the Middle East, the US and EU have so far failed to create a coherent partnership in the region. In this pamphlet, Dr. Richard Youngs maps out a strategy for improving transatlantic cooperation on this vital issue.

Rouzbeh Pirouz

December 2004

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This Policy Brief for Iraq outlines recommendations for improving security and building a secure democracy, as agreed by high-level delegates at the FPC's retreat on Iraq in October 2004. Participants, who included Iraqi lawyers, journalists, heads of NGOs and women's groups and two ministers of the Interim government, identified ending ethnically divisive policies and encouraging EU involvement as urgent priorities.

Richard Youngs

November 2004

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Despite the promise of a new common strategy on Iraqi reconstruction in the summer of 2004, a concrete European action plan remains conspicuously absent. In this pamphlet, published during the assault on Fallujah, Richard Youngs argues that the time is right to build on the European agreement and identifies specific areas where EU assistance would be particularly valuable. They include training police and security forces and cooperating with local Iraqi groups to mediate with and disarm insurgents, and build democratic institutions at the sub-national level.

Richard C. Eichenberg, Richard J. Stoll

July 2004

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The Political Fortunes of War provides a preliminary quantative assessment of just how much the Iraq war may be costing President Bush his bid for re-election. It sets out a correlation between a President's approval ratings and his chances of winning re-election, based on data from every President since Roosevelt.

Authors Professor Richard C Eichenberg and Richard J Stoll argue that President Bush's ratings have declined by just over one per cent for every 100 deaths of American service personnel. Using this estimate, the war may have cost the President over 10 per cent in his job approval ratings. They argue that without the war effect, Bush would be comfortably heading towards re-election. However, a continuation of the status quo – in which there is a daily death toll of several soldiers – is placing his continued tenure of the White House in increasing doubt.

• Supplementary material

Istanbul Paper 1

Daimler Chrysler, GMF, Parex Banka

July 2004

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A report by the German Marshall Fund and the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation. Authors include: Urban Ahlin, Member of the Swedish Parliament, Mensur Akgün, Turkish Economic and Social Science Studies Foundation,Gustavo de Aristegui, Member of the Spanish Parliament, Ronald D. Asmus, The German Marshall Fund of the United States, Daniel Byman, Georgetown University, Larry Diamond,Hoover Institution, Steven Everts, Centre for European Reform, Ralf Fücks,Heinrich Böll Foundation, Iris Glosemeyer, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, Jana Hybaskova, Czech Member of the European Parliament, Thorsten Klassen, The German Marshall Fund of the United States, Mark Leonard, Foreign Policy Centre, Michael McFaul, Stanford University, Thomas O.Melia, Georgetown University, Michael Mertes, Dimap Consult, Joshua Muravchik, American Enterprise Institute, Kenneth M. Pollack, The Brookings Institution, Karen Volker, Office of Senator Joe Lieberman, Jennifer Windsor, Freedom House.

Richard Youngs, Zane Kanderian

March 2004

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New approaches are called for in the West's relations with the Middle East. Traditional alliances with authoritarian regimes in the Middle East are not working to protect and further Western interests. They are incapable of dealing with the contemporary security issues that the attacks of 9/11 pushed so painfully to the fore of international debate. Rather, policy must comprehend the provenance of discontent and of violence legitimised in religious terms by its perpetrators.

Civility aims to encourage the foreign policies of Western nations towards active and long-term support for the development of Middle Eastern civil society.

Richard Youngs

March 2004

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Historically, divisions between the EU member states have ensured that the Middle East has been a significant Achilles heel to European foreign policy cooperation as the conflict in Iraq has so clearly demonstrated. The proposals outlined in this publication are not only attainable but make a tangible contribution to current security preoccupations; ensure continued European relevance in a sphere now subject to increased US activity and provides a fillip to current efforts to fashion a more resonant European foreign policy identity.

This paper focuses on the role of the European Union (its member states individually and collectively, as well as the Brussels institutions), and offers 10 proposals that could inject greater clarity, dynamism and coherence into EU democracy promotion efforts in the Middle East.

"An interesting prospectus" Martin Woollacott – The Guardian

Nick Clegg, Michiel van Hulten

May 2003

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In this policy brief Nick Clegg and Michiel van Hulten combine a punchy analysis of the challenges facing the parliament with a detailed consideration what needs to be done to resolve them.

It starts from the premise that a credible European Parliament needs to focus less on far-reaching political ambitions and more on the nuts and bolts of its representative role in order to engage the public in political debates.

While its institutional powers and legislative authority have steadily increased, political credibility has lagged behind.

The challenge is clear: MEPs are at risk of wielding power and authority without adequate legitimacy and responsibility.

World Order after Iraq series

John Lloyd

February 2003

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What is the progressive case for intervention in Iraq? And what kind of world order should we be trying to build? John Lloyd provides a compelling argument against a conservative retreat to national sovereignty in search of stability, and sketches out the parameters of a re-ordered international society.

"Powerfully outlines the case for systematic intervention in totalitarian-terrorist and failed states" Donald Macintyre, The Independent

Mark Leonard, Conrad Smewing

The British Council

February 2003

Is it possible to better Britain's standing in the Arab World at a time of conflict and terror? Commissioned by the British Council, Public Diplomacy and the Middle East examines the implications of the re-ordering of a Middle East policy since 11 September for relationships with the Arab and Islamic world.

"The pamphlet is concise, well-written and presents a well argued case in favour of debate and cultural understanding." Pat Cox, the European Parliament.