News and Notes
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Ottawa Conference on Democracy Promotion
On February 25–26, the Centre for the Study of Democracy at Queens University (Kingston, Ontario) and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation hosted a conference in Ottawa, Canada, entitled "Creating Democratic Value: Evaluating Efforts to Promote Democracy Abroad." The attendees discussed approaches, experiences, and challenges related to democracy assistance. The speakers included George Perlin (founder of the Centre for the Study of Democracy), Peter Burnell (professor at the University of Warwick and founding editor of Democratization), and Carl Gershman (president of the National Endowment for Democracy).
Corrections
Two sentences in Ivan Krastev's October 2007 article, "Is East-Central Europe Backsliding? The Strange Death of the Liberal Consensus," were quoted from David Ost's The Defeat of Solidarity: Anger and Politics in Postcommunist Europe and should have been cited as such. For a corrected version with appropriate citations, please see www.journalofdemocracy.org. The author and editors regret the error.
Due to an editorial oversight, Table 3 of "The Democracy Barometers: Attitudes in the Arab World" by Amaney Jamal and Mark Tessler in the January 2008 issue cited incorrect percentages. The correct table is available at www.journalofdemocracy.org. The Journal of Democracy regrets the error.
Portions of Penda Mbow's January 2008 article, "Senegal: The Return of Personalism," drew heavily on Tarik Dahou and Vincent Foucher's essay "Le Sénégal, entre changement politique et révolution passive: 'Sopi' or not 'Sopi'?" Politique africaine 96 (December 2004) without adequate attribution. For a corrected version, please see www.journalofdemocracy.org. The author and the editors regret the error. [End Page 187]
Report on NED's International Forum
On January 31, the National Endowment for Democracy hosted a panel discussion and reception to celebrate new books by Larry Diamond (The Spirit of Democracy) and Marc F. Plattner (Democracy Without Borders?). The authors were joined on the panel by Tamara Cofman Wittes and William Galston of the Brookings Institution and by Gideon Rose, managing editor of Foreign Affairs.
On February 21, Roland Rich, executive head of the United Nations Democracy Fund, gave a presentation based on his recently published book, Pacific Asia in Quest of Democracy. Satu Limaye, director of the Washington office of the East-West Center, offered comments.
The Forum hosted a series of luncheon meetings featuring Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows this winter:
On December 18 and February 14, Tapera Kapuya, coordinator of the South Africa office of a Zimbabwean civic movement, led two working-group meetings entitled "Reinvigorating Zimbabwe's Democratic Wave."
On January 15, Usam Baysaev, member of the Human Rights Center Memorial in Moscow, spoke on "Putin's Campaign against Chechen Society" with comments by NED's Miriam Lanskoy.
On February 1, Prem Khanal, chief of the business bureau at the Kathmandu Post, gave a talk entitled "Political Resistance to Economic Reform in Nepal: Conflict and Consequences for Democracy." NED's Brian Joseph commented.
On February 7, Safwat Rashid Sidqi, cofounder of the Kurdistan Human Rights Organization (KHRO) and former Iraqi election commissioner, spoke on "Prospects for Iraqi National Reconciliation: Searching for a Plan." Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute offered comments.
On February 11, Ugandan journalist Angelo Izama presented "Regional Options for Peace in the Great Lakes: The Case of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army." The commentator was Howard Wolpe, director of the Africa Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
On February 20, Leila Alieva, founding director of the Center for National and International Studies, a Baku-based think tank, gave a presentation entitled "A Tale of Two Regimes: Oil and Politics in Azerbaijan." S. Frederick Starr, chairman of the Central Asia–Caucasus Institute at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, commented.
In March, the Forum welcomed eight new Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows. They are: Giorgi Areshidze (Georgia), Thomas Gallagher (United Kingdom), David Hawk (United States), Eddie Jarwolo (Liberia), Okechukwu Nwanguma (Nigeria), Alice Verghese (Malaysia), Syed Akbar Zaidi (Pakistan), and Kate Zhou (China/United States). Most of the fellows will be in residence through July. Two Egyptian fellows, Maye Kassem and Atef Saadawy, will arrive in June.
