Lecturer in the International Relations of Europe at the Department of International Relations of the London School of Economics and Political Science, London School of Economics Read More ...
Foreign aid is an instrument of diplomacy and it is never devoid of political considerations. This is particularly true in the Arab Middle East. The region is heavily penetrated and constantly struggling for autonomy from external control, as argued by, among others, Raymond Hinnebusch. At the same time, there is a long-standing history of local elites trying to exert concessions from outside actors and drawing them into local politics, a dynamic Fred Halliday captured with the metaphor of the tail wagging the dog. Both foreign aid donors and local actors thus have had and continue to have a political agenda, which affects both the form and the substance of the relationship they create. With the outbreak of genuine popular protests in most Arab countries in 2011 (the ‘Arab Spring’), most of the political observers and practitioners have been humbled by the sheer intensity and democratic spirit these revolts brought to the fore at their onset. Stefan Füle, EU Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy admitted that the EU should learn from past errors in the region, namely that the EU had developed too close a relationship with Arab dictators. This feeling was partly echoed in some of President Obama’s declarations on Libya, Egypt or Tunisia in his May 19, 2011 speech.
Yet, some of the aid policies do not seem to have evolved substantially. The USA seems somehow reluctant to embrace a profound change in its funding policies (US Congress vs. White House), and the EU has been accused of giving too little to countries embattled with difficult economic situations. It remains that many Arab and transnational actors are now more able to exert pressure on international donors (because of much higher international scrutiny following the fall of extremely opaque systems of surveillance), or feel empowered to do so. More fundamentally, Hamid Dabashi, in his recent The Arab Spring: The end of postcolonialism, goes as far as to say that the people did not only call for the end of the regime (‘Ash-Sha’b Yourid Isqat an-Nizaam’), but that they also meant the end of the regime of knowledge. In other words, Arab populations signified their strong and inalienable will to take politics into their own hands and to establish a new vocabulary to express and enact different power relations. There have been even protests openly targeting international funding agencies (e.g. Yemen, Palestinian Territories, Egypt, etc).
The aim of this workshop is therefore to explore the politics of foreign aid disbursed to Arab countries in the Middle East, with a special focus on any post-2011 changes. The analytical purpose will be to focus on the relationship between donors and receivers to assess the impact (if any) of the Arab uprisings and the possible emergence of a ‘new’ Middle East in terms of foreign aid.
Program
9.15 a.m. Welcome - Federica Bicchi and Benoit Challand
Session 1: Donors’ Policies and Their Formulation
9.30-11.00: European donors: The EU and European Member States Discussant: Philippe Schmitter, Emeritus, European University Institute Federica Bicchi, London School of Economics Nathalie Tocci, Istituto Affari Internazionali Leila Mouhib, Université Libre de Bruxelles (Skype connection), EU Democracy Promotion in Tunisia and Morocco: a 2011-shift?
11.00-11.15 Coffee break
11.15-12.45 Donors from the United States and the Middle East: the Gulf Countries and Turkey Discussant: Federica Bicchi Steven Heydemann, United States Institute of Peace, Washington DC: America´s Response to the Arab Uprisings: US Foreign Assistance in an Era of Ambivalence Sally Khalifa Isaac, Cairo University, Explaining the Patterns of the Gulf Monarchies Assistance after the Arab Uprisings Meliha Benli Altunişik METU, Ankara, Turkey as an “Emerging Donor” and the Arab Spring
12.45-2.00 p.m. Lunch
Session 2: Receiving Actors and Policy Implementation
2.00-3.15 Towards a New Relationship between Local Actors and Donors Based in the Arab Middle East? Discussant: Benoit Challand Kristina Kausch, FRIDE, Madrid (Skype connection), Changing perceptions of ‘foreign funding’ in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya Khaled Zakaria Amin, Cairo University -International Assistance to Egypt after January 2011 Uprising: More Politics and Less Money
3.15-3.30 Coffee break
3.30-5.00 A Sociology of the (New) Donors’ Presence in Arab Countries Discussant: Benedetta Voltolini, London School of Economics Nathalie Peutz, NYU Abu Dhabi,"Business as Usual"?: Aiding Political Factionalism in Yemen´s Socotra Archipelago in the Wake of the Arab Uprising Moncef Kartas, Small Arms Survey, Tunisia ( Skype connection) Jeremy Wilderman, University of Exeter, Alaa Tartir, LSE, London - Unwilling to Change, Insisting to Fail: Donor Aid in Occupied Palestine in the aftermath of the Arab Uprisings
5.00 pm Concluding Remarks and The Way Forward ( publication plans)
