MESOP RECOMMENDATION : NEW BOOK ! / EDITED WITH HEINRICH BOELL FOUNDATION – GERMANY
The Project on Middle East Democracy and the Heinrich Böll Foundation of North America are pleased to announce the release of a new publication, The Federal Budget and Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2015: Democracy, Governance, and Human Rights in the Middle East and North Africa.
This publication focuses on several key questions: What does U.S. funding tell us about the priorities of the Obama administration and its response to events in the Middle East? How are political transitions—of varying degrees of success—and political stalemates across the region affected by U.S. assistance? What are the most significant elements of U.S. funding and appropriations this year, compared to funding levels immediately before the Arab Spring? How have budget cuts adversely affected funding for the Middle East? And what might we expect from Congress through the rest of the appropriations process?Key Findings:
- The administration has largely failed to adapt U.S. assistance or policy toward the Middle East and North Africa in response to the dramatic political changes in the region over the past few years. In general, it is remarkable how little the structure and objectives of U.S. assistance to the region have changed since before the 2011 uprisings. The percentage of U.S. assistance devoted to supporting military and security forces has actually increased since 2010 while the percentage devoted to programming dedicated to democracy and governance has decreased, despite frequent rhetoric from the administration and Congress in 2011 suggesting that the opposite would take place.
- Requests for the Middle East and North Africa Incentive Fund (MENA IF) has been abandoned by the administration and replaced by a new, much smaller MENA Initiative Fund that emphasizes traditional economic development assistance programs rather than political and economic reform. The MENA IF was initially proposed in 2012 as the administration’s signature $770 million response to the dramatic uprisings and political changes in the region. After failing to attain any funding for the initiative for two years, the administration has given up and shifted toward a new fund that would more closely resemble traditional development programs.
- The U.S. assistance package for Tunisia remains quite small, despite official rhetoric describing the country as “a top priority.” In Fiscal Year 2010, prior to its revolution that ousted Ben Ali, Tunisia was the ninth largest recipient of bilateral U.S. assistance in the region. In the administration’s current request, Tunisia remains the ninth largest recipient in the region. While the administration has marshalled resources from global and multi-country accounts to support Tunisia’s transition, it has failed to adapt the aid package to a more sustainable approach that demonstrates a longer-term commitment.
- U.S. support for Yemen, and in particular for democracy and governance programming in Yemen, has increased considerably. U.S. funding to support democracy, governance, and human rights in Yemen has consistently grown, increasing tenfold since 2009. Many politically engaged Yemeni activists do now view the success of Yemen’s national dialogue and its political transition as top priorities for the United States. Perceptions of the United States across Yemen, however, continue to be undermined by extremely unpopular counterterrorism operations including drone strikes. Furthermore, many democracy advocates involved in the political transition process believe that the U.S. is genuinely trying to play an important supportive role, even if they may have specific criticisms of U.S. policy and tactics.
Click here to read the full report.
In addition, we will be holding a public discussion of the report’s findings this afternoon, from 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm, on Capitol Hill, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 562. POMED Executive Director Stephen McInerney and Advocacy Director Cole Bockenfeld will provide an overview of the publication’s findings. To provide commentary, we are pleased to host Lorne Craner, former President of the International Republican Institute, and Amy Hawthorne, Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East. If you would like to join us, please RSVP for the event by clicking here.