organization:u.s. institute of peace

  • Clinton Honors Aung San Suu Kyi’s “Courage and Moral Leadership” | IIP Digital
    http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/article/2012/09/20120918136205.html#axzz277XnW0av

    Suu Kyi “has represented the struggle for freedom and democracy, for human rights and opportunity, not only in her own country but … around the world,” Clinton said September 18 at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, where Suu Kyi was presented with the Asia Society’s Global Vision Award.

    #Burma #Aung_San_Suu_Kyi #Clinton #USA

  • THE NEW #ISLAMISTS by Olivier ROY

    The following is an excerpt from the book The Islamists Are Coming: Who They Really Are, which will be released on April 18 by the U.S. Institute of Peace and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

    The longstanding debate over whether #Islam and #democracy can coexist has reached a stunning turning point. Since the Arab uprisings began in late 2010, political Islam and democracy have become increasingly interdependent. The debate over whether they are compatible is now virtually obsolete. Neither can now survive without the other.

    In Middle Eastern countries undergoing political transitions, the only way for Islamists to maintain their legitimacy is through elections. Their own political culture may still not be democratic, but they are now defined by the new political landscape and forced in turn to redefine themselves — much as the Roman Catholic Church ended up accepting democratic institutions even as its own practices remained oligarchic.

    At the same time, democracy will not set down roots in Arab countries in transition without including mainstream Islamist groups, such as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Ennahda in Tunisia, or Islah in Yemen. The so-called Arab Spring cleared the way for the Islamists. And even if many Islamists do not share the democratic culture of the demonstrators, the Islamists have to take into account the new playing field the demonstrations created.

    http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/04/16/the_new_islamists?page=0,0