Political Participation, Pluralism, and Citizenship Rights in the Arab World

Processes of democratic transition in today’s Arab world carry with them both challenges and opportunities for pluralism and citizenship rights, particularly with respect to the political participation of minorities. This project aims to arrive at concrete measures to aid with the political participation of minorities and to support citizenship rights and pluralism in transitioning Arab countries, both through policy-oriented research and through establishing a global action network that facilitates exchanges between scholars, policymakers, and stakeholders, particularly those in the countries of focus.

Project Aims:

The aim of the project is to first, raise awareness about the position and future of minorities in transitioning Arab countries, particularly Syria and Egypt, and second, to support pluralistic political participation and citizenship rights in those countries.

The project will draw on lessons learnt from the experiences of other Arab countries (namely Iraq and Lebanon) as well as countries outside the Arab region to explore the key issues facing pluralism and political participation in Syria and Egypt while also taking into consideration Syria’s and Egypt’s distinct contexts.

Project Activities:

Over the coming months, we will be holding a number of public events at Stanford University and in the Arab world; issuing a public call for papers on the topic; publishing shorter policy papers and op-eds; and disseminating the work of members of our network of experts on the topic.

Get Involved:

We invite all stakeholders who are interested in joining our network of experts, whether from the scholarly, policy, or civil society communities, to get involved in our project. For further information on the project, please get in touch with Dr. Lina Khatib (lkhatib@stanford.edu).