Middle East and North Africa
We are an open Haus for innovation and a global liberal think-tank, with the aim of enhancing the values and goals of freedom worldwide. With our activities and publications, we encourage and support individuals in exercising their right of political participation. Our offices in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) work within the frame of freedom and human rights in their national context. Our office is based in Amman, Jordan. FNF MENA has three main programs that encourage inter-country cooperation: MENA-NET | MENA-EU | MENA-GEOPOL. We advise and motivate relevant stakeholders and shape and promote solutions that are based on enhancing individual freedom and responsibility.
News
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Amman Innovation in Politics Forum 2020
This is not a conventional conference. It is experimental journey meticulously designed to reflect the power of ideas through unconferencing methods enabling two-way interaction and communication between our audience and experts.
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Idea, Innovation, and Impact
Through the iValues Awards, we seek to transform values into actions and projects that will help improve politics and policy making in the MENA region. We dissected politics into two main categories: politics as practice and politics as a theory. Through different formats, we created a space to discuss the impact of innovation on our day-to-day interaction with policies and politics and to explore the potential of new methodologies in shaping our behavior towards s
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Jordan’s Momentum for Economic Reforms
There is no doubt for the international community and the Jordanian authorities that 2021 was to be yet another challenging year for the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and Jordanians. 2020 saw the coronavirus pose one of many exogenous shocks to the Kingdom, after a decade of socioeconomic strains ranging from an influx of Syrian refugees, closure of physical borders with some neighboring countries due to security concerns, and threats to energy supplies.
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Take Me By The Hand
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Innovate to Investigate
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Iran 1400 Brief: Beyond the Headlines
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MENA on the Map
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The Dwindling Shadow of Iran - PART II
Part I of this article studied the geopolitical similarities between Iraq and Lebanon. Part II will overview the recent political developments in Iraq, in an effort to construct a possible general framework of Lebanon’s short-term future, testing the previously discussed idea that Iraq’s present is Lebanon’s future.
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Euro-MENA Show 2021
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ELECTIONS IN MOROCCO: Containing Political Islamism with Mathematics
The Uprisings in the Arab World did not lead to radical change in Morocco, as was the case in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya. The regime remained intact and its ruling elite was able to preserve power. However, it was a very important year for Moroccan Moderate Islamists (Parti de la Jeu-nesse et du Dévelopement), as they won elections for the first time in their history taking control of the much-coveted parliamentary majority.
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Iran Dossier
Iran holds its presidential elections on the 18th of June, 2021. Out of the seven candidates, only five have lasted till the last round. While polls are indicating that Chief Justice in Iran Ebrahim Raisi will be the next president, the international observers are closely looking into the reaction of the Iranian people towards the post-Rouhani period.
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Libya’s Wish for Peace
Holding the next elections in Libya on December 24th, 2021, is not fortuitous, but it coincides with the 70th anniversary of the unification of the country by King Driss Senoussi. From the Italian colony in 1911, to the Franco-British colony after the Second World War, Libya quickly became a constitutional confederal kingdom in 1951. The country was made of three provinces: Cyrenaica in the East, Tripolitania in the West, and the Fezzan in the South.
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The Illusion of Peace without the Palestinians Is Fading
Ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and the Islamic Jihad so far holds after more than 4,000 rockets at Israel, with 12 dead, according to Israeli sources, and Israeli air strikes on more than 800 targets in the Gaza Strip, with more than 240 dead, according to Palestinian sources. Military experts believe that Israel achieved in one week as many tactical objectives in Gaza with targeted air strikes, as it did in seven weeks of a costly ground offensive in 2014.
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Syria before the Presidential Election: A Political Theater Inside and Out
Dictator Bashar Al-Assad is having himself confirmed in office on May 26th in order to show strength and secure international aid. Our Syria expert Kristof Kleemann from Beirut explains why the international community should not get involved.
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MENA-EU Cooperation Position Paper
In this paper prepared in collaboration with the European Liberal Forum and the European Parliament, we provide answers to challenges that impede fruitful cooperation between the MENA and EU. Firstly, we explain how complex systems theory such as the modelling of bird flocks can be used to craft more effective coalitions in EU and MENA.
Social Media
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In this week's issue of our Iran 1400 Brief: Beyond the Headlines, Khuzestan protests and the rallies that have broken out in support are discussed, in addition to the ever-present JCPOA negotiations and other local and international Iran topics. Register to be an exclusive recipient of the #Iran1400Brief at rebrand.ly/Signup-Iran-Brief & download all the previous newsletters at rebrand.ly/Iran-Brief. The newsletter is drafted by Dr. Ali Fathollah-Nejad, German Iranian Political Scientist.
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As we approach a new milestone in our iValues Awards, we take the time to reflect on what truly drove us to launch such a high-scale competition: our passion for political innovation. Check out the insights of two of our iValues scouts from Morocco & Algeria, Salah Eddine El-Badaoui, and Israel, Arik Segal, at tinyurl.com/iValues-Innovation The Innovation in Politics Institute
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For the first time in the MENA region, we have collaborated with ARIJ to create an incubator that joins together lawyers, developers, researchers, investigative journalists, and many more in order to expose the wrongdoing in our region and build toward a better and transparent tomorrow. Learn more about this unique incubator and register to be part of this initiative right here: tinyurl.com/InnovateToInvestigate
