Political crisis in Iraq deepens

The Iraqi parliament passed a revised election law, following last week’s veto by Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi.  On the surface, this would seem like good news.  It is not.  Hashemi, a Sunni, vetoed the law because it did not give sufficient representation to Iraqis living abroad.  To address this concern, the new law allocates votes from Iraqis living abroad according to the province where they lived prior to leaving as well as increases the number of seats for Kurdish regions.  Both measures reduce the number of seats in Sunni regions.  The Sunnis walked out of the parliament in protest and the bill passed by a wide margin.  Hashemi has stated he will veto the law a second time.  However, parliament can override the veto with 60% majority, which a Kurdish-Shia coalition could easily provide.  Reider Visser at Iraq and Gulf Analysis argues sees this as a revival of sectarian tensions in Iraqi politics between the Kurds and Shia on the one hand and the Sunnis on the other.  Not good news.

Democratic decline, Filipino style

Today’s attack on local opposition supporters in the Philippines is a chilling reminder of what Freedom House’s Arch Puddington called the global “decline in freedom” – for three straight years, Freedom House has measured a net drop in democratic indicators around the world. The Philippines is just one example; five years ago, this country rated as “Free,” but today the New York Times reports the abduction of 40 people who were on their way to file gubernatorial election candidacy papers in the province of Maguindanao. Up to 30 have been killed, most of them women, including the wife and sister of the candidate. While this is the most brutal single attack in recent history, it is indicative of a trend of extrajudicial killings and impunity in this once-impressive democracy. With cases like this, it seems unlikely the global democratic deficit will be making a strong about-face anytime soon.

Pushing Obama on democracy assistance

I have been devoting a lot of attention to democrats who are pressuring the Obama administration to take a firmer stance on supporting democratic movements abroad.  Today’s installment comes from the New Republic’s Leon Wieseltier:

A few days before the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the wall in Berlin, there occurred the thirtieth anniversary of the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. The dictators’ commemoration…was ruined by rallies of democrats and dissidents. Obama’s response was to intone wanly that ‘the world continues to bear witness to their powerful calls for justice.’…Was the Soviet Union brought down by “witness”? We did not, on our own, bring the Soviet Union down…but we assisted keenly in its collapse. Are we assisting in the mullahs’ collapse? I think not…American support for the democracy movement in Iran…is also a strategic duty. Such support might indeed be “destabilizing,” but there is no stability in Iran anymore, there is only a vicious tyranny fighting for its life against a popular uprising that explains itself with principles that we, too, espouse.

I predict that the Obama administration will eventually come around to supporting democratic movements abroad more forthrightly (perhaps not in Iran), although I am less certain than Michael Allen at Democracy Digest that such changes are imminent.

Institutional Roots of Iraq’s Political Impasse

Jack Santucci at the Democratic Piece has some good insights into the institutional foundations of Iraq’s current political impasse. Jack’s basic point is that the primary fear of minority groups in Iraq (Kurds and Sunnis) is domination by the majority Shia.  Thus, we should expect political leaders from these groups to use whatever means they have to prevent it. The big question is if can we get them to do it without violence. Jack analogizes what’s happening in Iraq today as a Game of Chicken and usefully reminds us that the car wreck is one outcome.

Democracy Assistance in the Combat Zone

Life used to be easy when implementing democracy and governance programs.  Help draft some laws in Ghana, train an electoral commission in Bolivia.  Today, not so much.  From USAID’s Transparency, Accountability, and Performance project proposal:

Weapons.

…subject to the approval of the Combatant Commander or the Chief of Mission…The Contracting Officer may authorize an approved Contractor to issue Contractor-owned weapons and ammunition…or may issue Government-furnished weapons and ammunition to the Contractor…

Guess I need to add my weapons training and “success stories” in surviving armed encounters to my resume.