26 MAY 2011 – WASHINGTON, DC.
The Rumi Forum, in collaboration with the Berkeley Center for Religion, Peace, & World Affairs at Georgetown University, hosts the conference:”The Role of Civil Society in Peacebuilding, Conflict Resolution and Democratization”
Summary
Civil society is not only important; it is an essential part of the proper functioning of the state. Acting as a link, civil society helps to initiate, promote and strengthen comprehensive and objective dialogue between governments and their people. In such a way, civil society fosters conflict resolution, advances human rights and promotes better democratization processes in countries. Moreover, because of its flexible, multidimensional and non-rigid structure, civil society has the capability to constantly adapt to rapid global changes. The purpose of the conference is to gain a better understanding of the role of civil society in the functioning of the state, and advancement of democracy and universal human rights.
Conference Program
Registration & Breakfast ~ 8:30 to 9:00 a.m.
Welcome and Opening Remarks ~ 9:00 a.m.
Katherine Marshall, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, World Affairs
Emre Celik, Rumi Forum
PANEL I ~ 9:15 to 10:30 a.m.:“Civil Society, Democratization and Conflict Resolution”
Moderator: Jonathan Landay, McClatchy News
Marina Ottaway, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
“Civil Society and Democratization: Which Civil Society?”
Joshua Foust, American Security Project
“Foreign Bias in Local Governance in Central Asia”
Angel Rabasa, RAND Corporation
(To be updated)
PANEL II ~ 10:35 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.: “Civil Society and Peacebuilding and Education”
Moderator: Katherine Marshall, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, & World Affairs
Mohamed Nimer, American University
“Gulen’s Soft Power Approach: Lessons for Arab Political Reform”
Bilal Wahab, George Mason University
“Civil Society in Iraq: Homegrown or Market Response?”
Stanley Kober, Cato Institute
“Building Peace from the Bottom Up”
Break – Light Lunch Refreshments Provided ~ 12:00 to 12:15 p.m.
PANEL III ~ 12:15 to 1:30 p.m.: “Case Studies: The Importance of Civil Society”
Moderator: (To be Updated)
Catherine Cosman, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
“Religious communities in Post-Soviet States”
Mehmet Kalyoncu, Independent Analyst
“Building Civil Society in Ethno-Religiously Fractured Communities”
Alisher Khamindov, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University
“International Donors, Civil Society and Peacebuilding: Lessons from Central Asia”
Closing Remarks ~ 1:30 p.m.
Dr. Jennifer L Windsor, Georgetown University
Participants
Catherine Cosman
Title: “Religious communities in Post-Soviet States”
Synopsis: Ms. Cosman’s focus will be on how Russia has served as a model for other post-Soviet states in its religion law, official policies towards various religious communities and changing social attitudes towards religion. She will discuss certain aspects of religion law, such as registration requirements and “traditional” religious communities as well as how other laws and official policies embody that official relationship. Finally, she will also examine the role of religious communities in civil society at large. Ms. Cosman will also include references to other post-Soviet states, including the Central Asian states, have adopted these policies in harsher fashion.
Bio: Catherine Cosman joined the staff of the Commission as Senior Policy Analyst in November 2003. Her areas of responsibility include the countries of the former Soviet Union, East and Central Europe, and Western Europe. She served on the staff of the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe as senior analyst on Soviet dissent (1976-1989). Cosman was also a commentator on Soviet society for a nationally syndicated U.S. radio program. She then joined Human Rights Watch (1989-1992) where she wrote several studies on ethnic conflicts in Central Asia and the Caucasus and the human rights in the then-USSR. Working with emerging independent labor unions for the Free Trade Union Institute (1992-1996), she focused on Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. She lived in Estonia where she was the Senior Expert of the OSCE Mission, working on the integration of the Russian minority into Estonian society (1996-1998.) She managed the Central Asian and Caucasus grants program at the National Endowment for Democracy, before joining the Communications Division at RFE/RL in 1999 where she edited “Media Matters” and “(Un)Civil Societies.” She received a BA in History from Grinnell College and a MA and an ABD in Slavic Languages and Literatures from Brown University.
Joshua Foust
Title: “Foreign Bias in Local Governance in Central Asia”
Synopsis: Civil society is a great thing, but it’s prone to abuse. When we in the West tent to think about how to build and support civil society, we often impose our ideas of what that means and how it is expressed onto a culture that may or may not be welcoming. This isn’t just true in a high-profile case like Afghanistan; in other areas of Central Asia, for example, you can see this same thing happening as NGOs try to support what they think are good groups but which may not have any appeal in the host country. When the development of civil society is then elevated to an essential component of peace-building and conflict resolution, this clash between western ideals and local preferences becomes terribly damaging to any sort of peace process. By exploring one example, the arbakai in eastern Afghanistan, I’ll highlight how mistaken concepts of culture can actually lead to an ostensibly peace-oriented program fomenting more violence.
Bio: Joshua Foust is a fellow at The American Security Project, where he studies national security strategy and post-conflict reconstruction. He is also editor of Registan.net, which is devoted to Central Asia, and is a columnist for PBS “Need to Know.” His writing has been featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Reuters, and the Columbian Journalism Review.
Mehmet Kalyoncu
Title: “Building Civil Society in Ethno-Religiously Fractured Communities”
Synopsis: Civil society is generally associated with the presence of voluntary, non-governmental civic and social organizations, which are run by informed citizens and assume responsibility for monitoring state bodies and operations, as well as mobilizing available resources to maintain order and efficiency in the functioning of both state and society. But, what if the local conditions prevent the formation of such voluntary organizations – if the social landscape is characterized by communal conflicts stemming from deeply entrenched ethno-religious prejudices. The analysis of the Gulen-inspired civil society initiatives both in southeast Turkey and abroad suggests that such initiatives have to a certain degree been successful in bringing different ethno-religious communities together as a necessary first step towards civil society: common problems facing the different ethno-religious groups are identified, and then solid serviced to address those problems are provided through collaborative efforts of those groups. In this way, the social potential of those groups is mobilized and channeled to achieving shared goals, which in turn enriches the society as a whole, and consolidates peace.
Bio: Mehmet Kalyoncu is an independent political analyst. He has published articles in academic journals and op-ed pieces in newspapers and online publications. His writing has appeared in Foreign Policy Magazine, Balkanalysis, Caspian Business News, Zaman US Daily, Today’s Zaman, Zinda Magazine, PINR, American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, Journal of Central Asia and the Caucasus, and Centro Argentino de Estudios Internacionales. His research interests include Turkish foreign policy, ethno-religious politics, civil society, and social development in countries rich in natural resources. Kalyoncu authored A Civilian Response to Ethno-Religious Conflict: Gulen Movement in Southeast Turkey (The Light, 2008). He holds a M.S. in Management & Administrative Sciences from University of Texas at Dallas and a M.A. in Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies from Georgetown University.
Alisher Khamidov
Title: “International Donors, Civil Society and Peacebuilding: Lessons from Central Asia”
Synopsis: Over the past decade and a half, the theme of conflict in Central Asia has drawn significant attention from Western and Central Asian government and civil society representatives. The Western donor community and Central Asian conflict prevention organizations have invested extensive resources to reduce conflict potential in this region. Despite these efforts, however, the tumultuous developments of last year in Kyrgyzstan, which claimed the lives of more than 400 people, have raised the question of whether the financial investments and existing peace-building approaches were adequate. Western donors and regional NGOs would do well to reflect on lessons of what are now called the “June Events.” Though it is tempting to attribute the violence to long-standing ethnic hostilities, political repression and economic inequalities, international aid agencies and local NGOs made their own share of faulty assumptions and missteps leading up to the conflict. The presentation will first examine the nature of these faulty assumptions and missteps. It will then offer a set of recommendations to address the existing flaws in peacebuilding approaches in Central Asia.
Bio: Alisher Khamidov is a Professorial Lecturer at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University. He is an expert on Central Asia and Russia. He began his career as Director of the Osh Media Resource Center (OMRC), a non-profit, independent media association in southern Kyrgyzstan. He has also acted as the regional coordinator of the Central Asian Media Support Project. Before his Doctorate, he worked at Notre Dame University’s Sanctions and Security Project, the NEH Summer Institute on Eurasian Civilizations at Harvard University and at the Foreign Policy Studies Program of the Brookings Institution. Khamidov has written a series of articles on religious and ethnic conflict in the Ferghana Valley and political developments in Kyrgyzstan and in Central Asia, and is a frequent contributor to Eurasianet and IRIN. He is published in a number of academic journals in Central Asia and North America. He received his Ph.D in Russian and Eurasian Studies from SAIS, Johns Hopkins University, an M.A. in International Peace Studies from the University of Notre Dame, and a B.A. from Osh State University, Kyrgyzstan.
Mohamed Nimer
Title: “Gulen’s Soft Power Approach: Lessons for Arab Political Reform”
Synopsis: This presentation is based on field observations and readings of Gulen. The goal is to draw lessons from the ideas and practices of the Gulen movement that can inform political reform in the Arab world. One important character of the Gulen is the movement’s refusal to engage in partisan politics. I will show that this position neither removed the group form public discourse nor meant that the movement lacks political clout. Its focus on hizmet (service), dialogue and inter-cultural understanding has allowed Gulen to connect different constituencies to institutions of power, and therefore establishing the movement as a crucial social base for Turkish democracy. I will argue that this practice of soft power by Gulen is an appropriate model to follow to ensure the emergence of a moderate, sophisticated Arab polity able to contribute significantly to the promotion of democracy.
Bio: Dr. Mohamed Nimer is an assistant professor at the School of International Service at American University in Washington, D.C. His research and teaching interests include religion and politics, cross cultural communication, Muslims in the West, and contemporary Islamic thought. He has also taught courses on Islamic reform movements at the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT). Among his recent publications is an edited volume titled: Islamophobia and Anti-Americanism: Causes and Remedies (Amana publications, 2007). He is also the author of The North American Muslim Resource Guide: Muslim Community Life in the United States and Canada (Routledge, 2002). In May 2008, he presented a paper titled “Middle East Peacebuilding: Engaging the Islamists” at the Center for Global Peace at American University.
Marina Ottoway
Title: “Civil Society and Democratization: Which Civil Society?”
Synopsis: At a meeting of Arab activists discussing recent protests, a participant declared that “Civil society has not played any role in the uprisings.” Everybody agreed. Yet, we know that tens of thousands of citizens have participated in protests and demonstrations throughout the region, and that it is their courage and persistence that is bringing about change. The paradox calls for reflection on civil society and its role in democratization.
Bio: Marina Ottaway works on issues of political transformation in the Middle East and Gulf security. A long-time analyst of the formation and transformation of political systems, she has also written on political reconstruction in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans, and African countries. Before joining the Endowment, Ottaway carried out research in Africa and in the Middle East for many years and taught at the University of Addis Ababa, the University of Zambia, the American University in Cairo, and the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. Ottaway is an expert in civil society, democracy, political reform, non-governmental actors, foreign and humanitarian aid, human rights, Islamist movements, the Middle East, Iraq, and Africa. She received her Ph.D. from Columbia University and undergraduate degree from the University of Pavia, Italy.
Angel Rabasa
Angel M. Rabasa is a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation. He has written extensively about extremism, terrorism, and insurgency. He is the lead author of The Lessons of Mumbai (2009); Radical Islam in East Africa (2009); The Rise of Political Islam in Turkey (2008); Ungoverned Territories: Understanding and Reducing Terrorism Risks (2007); Building Moderate Muslim Networks (2007); Beyond al-Qaeda, Part 1: The Global Jihadist Movement and Part 2: The Outer Rings of the Terrorist Universe (2006); and The Muslim World After 9/11 (2004). He has completed research on patterns of Islamist radicalization and terrorism in Europe, and is currently working on a project on deradicalization of Islamist extremists. Other works include the International Institute for Strategic Studies Adelphi Paper No. 358, Political Islam in Southeast Asia: Moderates, Radicals, and Terrorists (2003); The Military and Democracy in Indonesia: Challenges, Politics, and Power (2002), with John Haseman; and Indonesia’s Transformation and the Stability of Southeast Asia (2001), with Peter Chalk. He is a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the International Studies Association, and the American Foreign Service Association. Rabasa has a B.A. and Ph.D. in history from Harvard University and was a Knox Fellow at St. Antony’s College, Oxford University.
Synopsis
To be updated…
Bilal Wahab
Title: “Civil Society in Iraq: Homegrown or Market Response?”
Synopsis: Under the former Iraqi regime, the state and the ruling Baath party controlled many aspects of people’s lives and banned any forms of popular organization. After 2003 and with the availability of international funding, civil society and nongovernmental organizations mushroomed in Iraq, mainly as a market response rather than grassroots efforts. With the withdrawal of international aid and the windfall of Iraqi petrodollars, however, the state and especially ruling parties are ready to jump in to the scene as alternative donors. Deriving from his experience with USAID civil society programs, the presenter addresses the rise, development and future roles of civil society in Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan as able voices of the people, checks on the government and contributors to peace and stability.
Bio: Bilal Wahab is currently a doctoral student at George Mason University where he studies economic and political transition in the petroleum-rich Middle Eastern states. He is affiliated with the university’s Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC). He received his Master’s Degree from American University on a Fulbright Scholarship. In Iraq, he served as a governance advisor for citizen participation in public decision-making at USAID’s Local Governance Program. He worked with local authorities and civil society organizations in five northern Iraqi provinces to promote transparency and accountability toward democratic governance. Prior to that, he worked for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. In the run up to Iraq’s first democratic elections, he worked for the International Republican Institute, where he trained election candidates and monitored the elections. He also lectured at Salahaddin University’s College of Law and Political Science. He has made frequent media appearances on Aljazeera, National Public Radio, News Hour with Jim Lehrer and other media outlets. He also consulted at the World Bank’s Institutional Integrity Vice Presidency. His most-cited article appeared in Middle East Quarterly, entitled “How Oil Smuggling Greases Violence in Iraq.”
Stanley Kober
Title: “Building Peace from the Bottom Up”
Synopsis: The big divide in the world today is between those who don’t want education (Taliban) and those who do. What is also important is how the education is focused: whether it fosters critical thinking or memorization, and whether it encourages openness to different ideas (e.g., encouraging international study to learn from others). This affects what I call the emotional level of war and peace, to supplement the considerations of interests that dominate international relations.
Bio: Stanley Kober is a Research Fellow in Foreign Policy Studies. He is a graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and received his Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. His areas of expertise include the relationship between democracy and peace, with a focus on control over the war power, and American grand strategy. He has lectured in the United States and abroad, and his work has appeared in Foreign Policy, International Affairs (London), the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal. Kober previously worked on Soviet and defense issues at SRI International (where he was managing editor of the journal, Comparative Strategy), the Center for Naval Analyses, and the Hudson Institute.