International conference
“Democratic transition in the Arab world: Roadmap”.
Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina) on October 7th and 8th, 2023
Based on the experiences that the Arab countries have gone through after the Arab Spring, which witnessed the failure of democratic transitions in Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Yemen, and Libya, the setback of popular movements in Algeria and Sudan, and the decline of democratic experiments in Lebanon and Iraq. These developments were accompanied by a resurgence of authoritarianism, a curtailment of freedoms, and an increase in repression.
In the face of the decline of the democratic model in the Arab region and the world, amidst the rise of authoritarian and populist tendencies, and the growing influence of money, media, and influential minorities on decision-making in many countries.
As many people around the world engage in significant struggles to uphold democracy and confront real threats, some of them have achieved successes against dictatorship and populism, renewing hope for those who believe in democracy, freedom, and the right of peoples to choose their leaders.
Given that the peaceful struggles of the region’s peoples to turn the page on despotism and corruption and establish true democracy, citizenship, and good governance remain relatively ineffective in the face of regime violence and coordination between these regimes and the support of regional and international powers to maintain the status quo and prevent the spread of a new wave of liberation.
Faced with this ongoing real dilemma of the region’s peoples and their democratic forces, which face increasingly difficult internal and external challenges day by day, it has become imperative for these forces to come together, coordinate their efforts, and collaborate to understand these challenges and develop strategies and policies to address them. This should lead to the launch of several initiatives to create favorable conditions for this joint work among influential forces in the region.
In this context, the Arab Council invites a group of leading Arab thinkers, political activists, journalists, lawyers, and researchers who believe in democracy and advocate for it to an international conference on October 7th and 8th, in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, under the title “Democratic Transition in the Arab World: Roadmap.” The conference aims to discuss the current state and future of democracy in Arab countries and engage in collective brainstorming to outline a roadmap for democratic struggle in Arab countries in the coming decades, including identifying the required characteristics of democracy and the conditions for its success.
The conference represents an opportunity to explore ways to network Arab democratic efforts to change the reality of democracy in the region. We also hope it will be a chance to build the nucleus of an “Arab Democratic Network” that works to continue the struggle for our peoples’ right to live in freedom, under a rule of law, and with sound institutions. Democracy is our only choice to escape the tragedies that our Arab peoples have endured, especially after decades of despotism, subjugation, and underdevelopment.
Additionally, the conference will provide an opportunity for Arab democrats to contribute to the global discussion on the democracy crisis in its Western strongholds, and how to renew the concept of democracy and develop its practices in the face of the diseases and obstacles that have penetrated it deeply. It will also explore how to build a broad international alliance of democracy advocates from various backgrounds, with the participation of well-known international researchers specialized in democracy.
The Arab Council has previously organized important conferences and workshops, the most prominent of which was the “Arabs of the Future: From Subjects to Citizens” conference held in Istanbul in March 2019, attended by 170 Arab personalities. It concluded with a “Call to the Nation” to promote a culture of citizenship and build a union of free Arab peoples. Similarly, the conference “Democracy First in the Arab World” was held in December 2021, concurrently with the Biden Summit for Democracy, and it sent a message from Arab democratic forces to the summit regarding the Arab right to democracy and the duty of democratic countries to respect the will of the people and withdraw support from despotic rulers.
Conference Goals
The conference aims to achieve the following objectives:
1. Encourage networking of various efforts in Arab countries to promote democracy and coordinate the efforts of Arab democrats to find realistic solutions for the benefit of the people.
2. Build theoretical and practical foundations to gather the largest number of democracy advocates in Arab countries under one framework for thinking and coordination.
3. Launch a joint effort to build a roadmap for democracy in Arab countries.
4. Contribute to the global discussion on the future of democracy, how to develop its concepts and applications, and how to overcome its deep-rooted crisis worldwide.