Reform Initiatives In The MENA Region: Proposals For Progress

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.