The Arab Reform initiative, FRIDE, and the Club de Madrid organized a conference on "Democratic Transitions in Europe and Latin America: Lessons for the Arab World?" on 24-25 March, 2006 in Madrid with a view towards how the Arab World might benefit from these experiences.

Madrid 24-25 March 2006

Programme

Day 1 24 March 2006

9.15 Welcome address by organisers
Rt. Hon. Kim Campbell, Former Prime Minister of Canada and Secretary General, Club of Madrid
Bassma Kodmani, Director ARI
Richard Youngs, Coordinator of Democratisation programme, FRIDE

9.30-11.00 Session I. Lessons from the Spanish Transition
Moderator: Sean Carroll, Director of Programmes, Club de Madrid.
Charles Powell, Profesor de la Universidad San Pablo-CEU, Spain.
Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo, former Prime Minister, Spain. TBC
To lead the discussion: Mustafa Hamarneh, Centre of Strategic Studies, University of Jordan.

11.00-11.30
Coffee

11.30-13.00 Session II. Negotiating Pacted Transitions and Constitutional Reform
Moderator:
Manuel Antonio Garretón, Chile University.
Jorge Dominguez, Harvard University.
To lead the discussion: Haydar Ibrahim, Centre of Sudanese Studies, Egypt.
Yehya el Gamal, Lawyer, Al Gamal Law Firm, Egypt.

13.00-15.00
Lunch

15.00-16.30 Session III. Civil Society: Building Reform Movements
Moderator: Richard Youngs, Coordinator, Democratisation Programme, FRIDE.
Jorge Romano, Action Aid Americas, Brazil.
Oleksandr Bohomolov, Centre for Middle East Studies, Ukraine.
To lead the discussion: Abdallah Saaf, Centre de Recherches et d’Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Morocco.

17.00-18.30 Session IV: Political Party Evolution
Moderator: Kim Campbell, former Prime Minister, Canada and secretary General, Club of Madrid.
Manuel Canto, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana; Movimiento Ciudadano por la Democracia, Mexico.
Murat Somer, Koç University, Turkey. To lead the discussion: Mounir Fakri Abdel Nour, Wafd Party, Egypt

20h30
Dinner

Day 2 25 March

9.30-11.00 Session V. Democratising the Military
Moderator: Jorge Dominguez
Augusto Varas, Ford Foundation, Chile representative, Chile.
Rut Diamint, University Torcuato di Tella, Argentina.
To lead the discussion: Hanna Elias, Professor, Notre Dame University, Beirut, Lebanon.

11.00-11.30
Coffee

11.30-13.00 Session VI. The Role of the Media
Moderator: Henry Siegman
Zoran Ostojic, B92, Serbia.
Miguel Angel Bastenier, El País, Spain.
To lead the discussion: Ghassan Ben Jeddo, Director, Al Jazeera Office, Lebanon.

13.00-15.00
Lunch: Sadig Al-Mahdi, Former Prime Minister of Sudan.

15.00-17.00 Concluding Roundtable. Assessing effective forms of engagement
José María Figueres, former President of Costa Rica. Abdel Monem Said, Director of al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, Egypt.
Ghassan Salamé, Institut d’Etudes Politiques, France.
Tomas Pojar, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Bilateral Relations, Czech Republic. TBC
Karen Fogg, European Commission, Belgium.

Invited participants from the Middle East and other:
Khalil al Shikaki, Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research, Palestine.
Oussama Safa, Director of Lebanese Centre for Policy Studies, Lebanon.
Awad al Badi, King Faisal Foundation for Research and Islamic Studies, Saudi Arabia.
Shamlan al Issa, Centre for Strategic and Future Studies, University of Kuwait, Kuwait.
Abd el Aziz Sager, Director, Gulf Research Center, Dubai, UAE.
Salim Nasr, UNDP Programme on Governance in the Arab Region (POGAR), Lebanon.
Nahla al Chahal, Deputy -Director, Arab Reform Initiative, France.
Rania Berro, Programme associate, Arab Reform Initiative, France.
Kawthar Guediri, Programme associate, Arab Reform Initiative, France.
Gameel Matar, Director, Arab Center for Development and Futuristic Research, Egypt.
Ghazi Hidoussi, Former Minister of Economy, Algeria.
Mohammad Lamine Adahi, Civil society activist, Mauritania.
Mohsen Youssef, Executive Director, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Egypt.
Sayed Yassin, Senior Coordinator, Arab Reform Observatory, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Egypt.
Roula el Rifai, IDRC, Middle East Programme Specialist, Egypt.
Charaf Ahmimed, IDRC, Middle East Programme Officer, Egypt.
Kareem Saleh, German Marshall Fund, Belgium.
Ould Bah Mohamed Lemine, lawyer and human rights activist, Mauritania.
Henry Siegman, Senior Fellow and Director for the US/Middle East Project, Council on Foreign Relations, United States.
Mark Taylor, FAFO, Norway.
Isaias Barreñada, Universidad Complutense of Madrid, Spain.
Miriam González, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, UK.
Nada Al-Nashif, Chief, UNDP, Regional Programme division, United States.
Jamal Khashoggi, journalist, adviser to Prince Turki Ibn Faisal, Saudi Arabia.
Thanos Dokos, Eliamep, Greece.
Mark Leonard, Centre for European Reform, UK.
Charles Grant, Centre for European Reform, UK.