South-South Dialogue on Constitution Building Processes in the Arab World

Since the end of 2010, historic events in the Arab region have forced much of the world to reconsider a number of important assumptions that had previously seemed so certain. Citizens have risen against seemingly unshakable regimes in the Arab world demanding regime change, greater democracy, the rule of law, government transparency and accountability. While the uprisings have had mixed results in some places like Bahrain and, the outcomes remain uncertain in others like Yemen and Syria, they have already generated significant changes in other places. In Jordan and Algeria, incumbent regimes quickly launched processes of political reforms to pre-empt the uprisings. In Morocco, this resulted in a new constitution that has been in force since July 1, More importantly, in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, regimes that have ruled over their populations for decades have come to an unexpected demise. These countries are now in transition, preparing for elections and constitutional reform processes that are expected to embody the new shifts in power, catalyse democracy and increase fair economic opportunities for all segments of society.

Against this background, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), in partnership with the Egyptian Association for Community Enhancement Participation (EACPE) is convening a three day South-South dialogue on the theme “Strengthening Constitutional Legitimacy through inclusive and participatory drafting processes”. The key objective is of the dialogue is to distil practical lessons, share experiences, discuss challenges and generate ideas for designing inclusive and participatory constitution building processes for the benefit the ongoing, and potential political and constitutional reforms processes across the region.

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This event has now passed. Thank you to all the participants who took part in this meeting.  Please check constitutionnet.org for  workshop documents and future events. Otherwise, contact Tayuh Ngenge or Zaid Al Ali for any further inquiries