IRIN: "LIBYA: What the analysts are saying"

A UN agency cited MY WORK!

IRIN (Integrated Regional Information Networks--Humanitarian news and analysis service from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) posted an roundup of information on Libya. My report is cited in the very last line:

"For more, see an older but comprehensive round-up of analyses entitled Stability in post-Gaddafi Libya by NATO’s Civil-Military Fusion Centre."

I also wrote about this report in this blog here.

Chapter 1 of my dissertation

Women's political mentorship in Egypt

Thanks AWID for sharing this report.

AWID writes "Nazra for Feminist Studies (Nazra) released a report about mentoring women candidates in the 2011-12 People’s Assembly Elections based on its observations of the electoral process and the experience of several women candidates."

You can access the report here:
http://nazra.org/sites/nazra/files/attachments/nazrasheand-electionsjan2012en.pdf

Oxfam article: It's not 'inclusive growth' if it doesn't include women

This article is too good not to share:

http://policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/blog/2012/01/no-inclusive-growth-without-women

Stability in a Post-Gaddafi Libya

Today marks my final day as a Knowledge Manager at the NATO Civil-Military Fusion Centre (CFC). Fortunately, my final report titled "Stability in a Post-Gaddafi Libya" was released as a noble gesture of my departure. The report will eventually be available at the Cimicweb (you need to register to view most of the content, but not to retrieve the reports).

This report provided the basis of my presentation at National Defense University's 7th annual International Lessons Learned Conference from 30 November to 2 December 2011 in Washington, D.C. I presented on a panel titled, "Lessons from Transition in the Maghreb". You can view the full program here.

Below is an excerpt from the report for your reading pleasure.

--beginning of excerpt--

CFC Report: "Stability in a Post-Gaddafi Libya"

Even before the capture and death of Moammar Gaddafi on 20 October 2011 and the official end of the NATO mission Operation Unified Protector on 31 October, scholars and practitioners were discussing ‘lessons learned’ from Western intervention in Afghanistan, Iraq, Rwanda and Somalia that could apply to post-revolution Libya. As early as August, Gordon Lubold addressed lessons for Libya in his United States Institute for Peace (USIP) article, “What’s Next for the New Libya” and Shadi Hamid of the Brookings Institution wrote “Lessons of the Libya Intervention”. In September 2011, Thomas Carothers, the vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, discussed lessons learned drawing upon the United States experience in Iraq. Other examples followed immediately after Gaddafi’s death in October. Chatham House released an article titled “Libya’s New Era: Lessons from Iraq”. Even now, experts are discussing the lessons learned from the Libyan context that might be applicable to the unrest in Syria and Yemen.

The Arab Spring uprisings were not “a monolithic phenomenon”, according to Eugene Rogan, Director of the Middle East Centre at St Antony’s College, University of Oxford. While there are some similarities to which a ‘lessons-learned’ approach can be applied, there is much about the Libyan revolution that is unique, according to Laith Kubba, Senior Director of the Middle East and North Africa programme at the National Endowment for Democracy. Kubba points out that the uprising in Libya largely mirrored the Tunisia and Egypt uprisings; however, Gaddafi, and what he was capable of inflicting, was very different from any other leader in the region. In response to what looked to be a significant humanitarian crisis, the United Nation Resolution (1973) to intervene in Libya violated sovereignty, even as lives were saved.

As reconstruction begins, there are serious obstacles that may require immediate and sustained attention within Libya in order to achieve stability and maintain peace. This report examines three broad areas for lessons within Libya: 1) governance and stability; 2) development; and 3) international implications. Additionally the report engages in meaningful discussion of ways forward that support the development of a vibrant and stable Libyan society.

--end of excerpt--

If you are hooked and cannot wait for the report to become available at the Cimicweb, you can leave a comment on this blog post, and I will email you the CFC report. Alternatively, you can write to Robin.Barnett@cimicweb.org to request a copy be emailed to you. If you enjoyed this report, be sure to register at Cimicweb.org so you can receive future reports and newsletters. Registration is free. You may list your "sponsor" as: LT Robin Barnett (robin.barnett @cimicweb.org).

Kristine Goulding's article "Tunisia: Feminist Fall?"

In the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings, governments, activists, and scholars are negotiating the roles that women will play in the emerging political landscape. One such article considers some of the obstacles to women's effective participation in governance in the new Tunisia. In Kristine Goulding's "Tunisia: Feminist Fall?", she lists Islamism as an obvious barrier to women, but the article also proposes women's lack of qualifications as another barrier. For example, the author considers literacy to be a necessary political qualification. Gender-based parliamentary quotas, according to the author, threaten women's equality by undermining the role women might play. In other words, in order to fill gender quotas, there is a real possibility that unqualified women will win seats. However, the author does not define what is qualified and what is unqualified, other than to mention literacy and formal educational levels.

This is a sad norm among feminist writers. This particular article even concludes that if women are not represented, they are to blame for not being "ready or willing". The point is subtle, as the author craftily maintains gender-neutral grammar. However, it is certain that the author means women and not Tunisians. For example, in the paragraph that immediately precedes her statement about the readiness or willingness of the people, she is specifically speaking to women's qualifications, and especially rural women's lack of qualifications. And after she makes her point, she laments that only the Tunisian government and political elites really "get it" in terms of women's participation and equality for all. It is, sadly, a typical conclusion, but all the more frustrating coming from an otherwise excellent set of articles.

In the rest of the article, she makes some interesting and important points. It is just a shame that she falls in the same "illiterate equals obstacle" trap rampant among scholars and practitioners.

Lessons from Libya: Syria and Yemen

Written in October 2011:

According to Voice of America (VOA), some Syrians expressed feelings of empowerment as a result of the death of Moammar Gaddafi. Former White House adviser Marc Ginsberg told VOA that one lesson learned from Libya could be that there will be increased pressure on the United States “to determine how and what to do about Syria”. So far the Syrian people continue to wait for external intervention. According to Chatham House’s Sir Richard Dalton, they may be waiting indefinitely. Dalton writes that Libya is probably not a precedent for foreign involvement in other Arab states. His justification is that Libya represented an unusual alignment of popular demand from the Libyan people, international willingness (except for a few of Gaddafi's former allies in Africa), an internationally legal intervention resulting from the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), and an affordable military task with a clear exit strategy for external participants.

According to Ted Piccone, the NATO operation expanded the interpretation of the UN mandate. Consequently this expansion of power solidified opposition from Russia, China, Brazil, India, and South Africa. The direct implication for Syria is that there is no consensus to act. For Libya, the consensus and the rhetoric were present. The United Nations is unlikely to act in Syria. Libya is an exceptional case, but could possibly be a precedent for future situations to bring United Nations and NATO together, though probably not in the case of Syria.

Al Arabiya reports that the Libyan victory shows other Arab Spring protesters such as those in Syria and Yemen that victory is possible. However, “the concept of civilian protection still competes with deeply held norms of sovereignty”. In the case of Syria, the leaders are in control of the state’s territory and the security forces have the backing of influential allies, according to Foreign Affairs magazine. These factors make humanitarian intervention unfeasible, according to the article.