Statehood & Participation
Photo by Marta Bogdanska
Introduction
Throughout the countries of the Middle East, citizens view the state with suspicion. State institutions are often experienced as biased towards the powerful, corrupt and predatory, and as a sometimes violent means to safeguard the position of a ruling elite, or the domination of one part of the population over others. Participation, on the other hand, is mostly reduced to elections of questionable representational value, or relies on informal channels and structures and primordial relations, and thus reinforces existing patterns of subordination and power. The program Statehood & Participation supports initiatives that demand accountability and due process and encourage citizens to become aware, active and organized around issues of (gender-)democratic participation, freedom of expression and sustainable development.

Events

Legislative trends in 2011

Monthly Seminar - Legal Agenda

Legislative trends in 2011

Thursday,  23 February 2012  at 6pm in the "Université pour Tous" Building. In the context of monitoring the legislative activity in Lebanon, the ‘Legal Agenda’ is organizing a seminar to qualitatively and quantitatively assess the legislation issued in 2011.

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Arab Bloggers Meeting 2011

3rd Arab Bloggers Meeting in Tunisia

 - 3 - 6 October 2011 Global Voices Online, Nawaatand the Heinrich Böll Foundation Middle East co-hosted the 3rd Arab Bloggers Meeting in Tunis with around 100 participants from more than 20 countries. more»

Testimonials & Film Screening

A Tribute to Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd

 - On 12 October 2010 a number of Dr. Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd’s close friends and Arab intellectuals paid him tribute by giving testimonies on his life and work. The event was concluded with the documentary film “Waiting for Abu Zayd” by Mohammad Ali Al Atassi. more»

Conference

State Building in Divided Societies of the Post-Ottoman World

 - This conference held in Beirut on September 24-25 September 2010 in collaboration with the Lebanese Association of Sociology examined the cases of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iraq and Lebanon, three countries that have experienced civil strife, war and state collapse as a result of politicized sub-national identities and have recently undergone a (re)building process with significant input by the international community. more»

Capacity Building

Female Arab Techies Meeting

 - On May 11 -14 2010, 35 women from 10 countries gathered in Beirut for the first meeting of female Arab ITs to strengthen their role of female techies in male-dominated communities. more»

Articles

Analysis

Women, Revolution, Politics and Power

During the Arab uprisings, an unprecedented number of women took to the streets, paving the way for a more important role in politics. However, in the transitional period that follows, they now have to fight against their exclusion from the political arena. By Dalal al-Bizri more»

Study

“Today’s Youth is Tomorrow’s Future!”: Lebanese Politics in the Eyes of Young Sunni Activists

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Lebanese Politics is characterized by the social and political hegemony of its sectarian elites. The latest political crisis in Lebanon, the fall of Hariris government on January 12th, 2011 and the appointment of Najib Mikati as designated Prime Minister, was somehow a defeat for Saad Hariri. However, by constantly upholding the ‘martyrdom’ of his father’s death, he still manages to secure his power within the community. Through interviews with the youth section members of his Future Movement, this study sheds light on the latest developments in Lebanese politics from the perspective of young Sunni activists.

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Analysis

The Lebanese Parliamentary Elections: A Surprise, But No Real Change

- Lebanon’s recent parliamentary elections, which resulted in a surprise victory for the pro-Western March 14 coalition after months of prediction that the Opposition would win, contradicted many of the myths and narratives that had surrounded the election since the signing of the Doha Accord in May 2008. Myths that were disproved were linked to each camp’s strengths and weaknesses as well as an overestimation of the election’s significance in terms of Lebanon’s future. Doreen Khoury more»

Analysis

The 2009 Iraqi Provincial Elections

 - On January 31st 2009, Iraqis held their second provincial elections since the fall of the Baathist regime in 2003. The results signaled widespread support for secular and nationalist forces and serious electoral losses for the religious federalist parties, who had been accused of mass corruption and mismanagement. Significantly, Sunni Arabs for the first time actively participated in the elections, thus reversing the disproportionate results of their boycott in 2005. By Doreen Khoury more»

Research

Streets of Beirut - Self and the Encounter with ‘the Other’

 - Steven Seidman argues “that the culture of Hamra tolerates considerable diversity in personal styles and itineraries, but non-sectarian others (gender, sexual, and ethnic) are sites of anxiety and mistrust; they survive on the borders or back regions of Beirut.” Published in Cooperation with Idafat: the Arab Journal of Sociology By Steven Seidman more»

Projects

Adbusting

Kherr Berr

“Kherr Berr” is a media monitor that specializes in overseeing the different types of gender discrimination, including biases based on color, race, religion, appearance, sexual orientation, and social class. Kherr Berr also regulates “social transgressions” found in the media and advertising worlds, like the encouragement of violence against fellow humans in general, and women in specific. more»

Website

Legal Agenda - Al Mufakkira Al Qanuniyya

 - Legal Agenda -Al Mufakkira Al Qanuniyya- is a non-governmental, non-profit organization based in Beirut. They aim at lifting the barrier between law and society in Lebanon and the Arab world generally, as to ensure the making of law is not monopolized by those in power and enable average citizens, rather than legal experts alone, to understand and criticize it. more»

Advocacy Program

Regional Gender and Inclusive Citizenship Program

 - CRTD.A, the Collective for Research and Training on Development-Action, is a Beirut-based NGO which seeks to contribute to the social development of local communities and organizations through enhancing capacities particularly in gender analysis, gender and development, poverty and exclusion, for the purpose of contributing to creating a more just and equitable environment. more»

Capacity Building

Making Public Libraries into Public Spaces

 - Assabil is committed to the establishment and promotion of public libraries in Lebanon that are free and open to all. Public libraries play an important role in the development of individuals and societies and thus free and unlimited access to information is an essential prerequisite for the development of a well-informed citizenry and democratic society. more»

Dossiers

LGBTQ Project

These projects include activities that struggle for equal citizenship rights and combat discrimination of persons with non-conforming sexualities and gender identities
Homosexuality and other non-conforming sexual identities have always existed in the Arab World. Even though heterosexuality is still the only recognized and acknowledged sexual identity, the history of the region is filled with homo-erotic art and poetry, same-sex relations and subversive patterns of behavior. It is true to say that non-heterosexual persons suffer from homophobia, discrimination, threats and humiliation. Yet in recent years, for example in Lebanon, there has been a significant rise in movements aiming at granting more visibility and rights to those marginalized groups.
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Training

Gender Training for Iraqi Judges in Family Courts

 - The Heinrich Böll Stiftung organized its second annual Gender Training Workshop for Iraqi Judges on 4-9 July 2009 which was attended by 22 family court judges, the Head of the Iraqi Higher Judicial Council as well as the President of the Iraqi Commission on Public Integrity.

Heinrich Böll Stiftung staff conducted several interviews with judges, MPs, and civil society activists attending the workshop on women’s rights, corruption in Iraq, and the work and development of Iraqi civil society since 2003. These interviews are contained in this dossier.

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Publications

Collaborative Study

Censorship in Lebanon: Law and Practice

This study aims to provide a comprehensive assessment of censorship in Lebanon which will hopefully allow the many local artistic and cultural actors the opportunity to lobby for the most appropriate legislative amendments to the current censorship regulations which are currently not conducive to their work.

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Research

Narrating Beirut from its Borderlines

 - Narrating Beirut from its Borderlines is a collection of four small research studies that examine a number of the physical and immaterial borderlines that have come to define the contemporary geography of Beirut and its peripheries since 2005. By Mohamad Hafeda, Hiba Bou Akar, Dana Mazraani and Massa Ammouri more»

Publication

Gender Politics Makes a Difference: Experiences of the Heinrich Böll Foundation Across the World

 - The Heinrich Böll Foundation presents some of its experiences -- both setbacks and successes -- in the promotion of gender democracy. It is just a small sample of HBS' work all over the world. HBS is very much aware that its political and financial contributions are often only part of a larger network; yet its work does make a difference – for more gender justice. by Barbara Unmüßig more»

Study

Cases of Femicide before Lebanese Courts

 -  “Cases of Femicide before Lebanese Courts” is a study that sheds light on some of the crimes committed against women and girls within the context of the family structure and its relations in Lebanon. By Azza Charara Baydoun more»

Print and Online Publication

Perspectives #2 May 2011, Special Issue: People's Power - The Arab World in Revolt

 - The self-immolation of young and jobless Tunisian Mohamed Bouazizi in the provincial town of Sidi Bouzid, being deprived of his vegetable stand and humiliated by the authorities, triggered popular movements and historic events in the Arab World completely unexpected in their magnitude… With Contributions from Mouin Rabbani, Fawaz Traboulsi, Ahmad Beydoun, Mohammed Ali Atassi, Hussein Yaakoub, Yassine Temlali, Asef Bayat, Muhammad Ali Khalidi, Terry Regier, Mansoura Ez-Eldin, Aref Hijjawi, Magda Abu-Fadil, Doreen Khoury more»

Edited Volume

Diversity and Female Political Participation: Views on and from the Arab World

 - What does the political participation of women look like within the immense diversity of the Arabic world? This edition of the Heinrich Boell Foundation’s series on Democracy analyzes the historical and current developments of gender relationships, and the role of women in the politics of Egypt, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait.  With contributions by Claudia Derichs, Hoda Salah, Azadeh Zamirirad, Hala Kindelberger, Dana Fennert, and Vania Carvalho Pinto. more»

Edited Volume

At the Edge of the City - Reinhabiting Public Space toward the Recovery of Beirut’s Horsh Al-Sanawbar

 - Since the early 1990s, Beirut’s Park, Horsh Al-Sanawbar, was sealed off from the lives of many Beiruti residents and visitors, with numerous justifications for their exclusion. At the Edge of the City aspires to chart an alternative discourse from that which produces this exclusion. Through exploring issues of advocacy and politics, the book aims to provide a platform to contest the existing governance of Horsh Al-Sanawbar and to bring forward a well-informed public space policy agenda.

Published by DISCURSIVE FORMATIONS with the support of Heinrich Böll Stiftung – Middle East Office

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Book

Signs of Conflict: Political Posters of the Lebanese Civil War

 - From 1975 to 1990, different factions in Lebanon’s civil conflict flooded the streets with posters to mobilize their constituencies, undermine their enemies, and create public sympathy for their cause. This is how the military performance on the front lines and on demarcation lines was in junction with another kind of conflict rotating around the image and words and the symbolic claiming of territory and land. more»

Edited Volume

MNSG – Navigating the Space between Exile and Home

 - A publication by offline:events in collaboration with independent Iraqi artists, filmmakers, and authors documenting the lives of Iraqis navigating the space between home and exile and lending Iraqi refugees and those living in exile a voice to express their realities and reflections inter alia on notions such as Homeland and Exile, East and West, and Identity more»

Edited Volume

Cities of the South: Citizenship and Exclusion in the 21st Century

 - Major cities worldwide are caught in a whirlwind of change that is turning urban spaces into strategic sites where history is being rewritten. Migration, civil society and an array of national and transnational players are transforming assumptions about citizenship in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. From the slums of Mumbai to the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, from the skyscrapers of Dubai to urbanizing Palestinian refugee camps, the new cities are altering the answers to one of mankind's oldest questions: where do I belong? more»
Perspectives #3: Syria's Revolution - Society, Power, Ideology
Latest Issues
Perspectives #3 February 2012 - Syria's Revolution: Society, Power, Ideology
Perspectives #2 May 2011, Special Issue: People's Power - The Arab World in Revolt
Perspectives #1 April 2011: Nuclear Energy and the Arab World - Ambition and Peril
Upcoming Event

The Legal Agenda

Thursday, 23 February 2012 6pm.

Legislative Trends in 2011

Seminar organized by the Legal Agenda in collaboration with the Heinrich Böll Stiftung - Middle East Office.

Reaching Boiling Point? Global Perspectives on the 2011 UN Climate Summit 100 years of international women's day
Latest Articles & Publications
Women, Revolution, Politics and Power
During the Arab uprisings, an unprecedented number of women took to the streets, paving the way for a more important role in politics. However, in the transitional period that follows, they now have to fight against their exclusion from the political arena. By Dalal al-Bizri more»
There Must Be a Freedom Square - And We Have Set the Date
From Syria, 8 months after the beginning of the popular uprising, this article offers a personal account of the brutality of the repression and its implications on the lives of human right activists.

By Razan Zaitouneh more»
Is it Winter or Spring for Christians in Syria?
Following the popular uprisings, there has been much amount of debate on the future of minority Christians sects in the region. Is the new Arab world hostile to Christians? Is it wise for them to fear the downfall of the Assad regime? By Doreen Khoury more»
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