Events

February 17, 2009. 10:30 a.m. – The National Endowment for Democracy’s (NED) Center for International Media Assistance and the Africa Program, the Center for Democracy and Development at the University of Massachusetts, and Mano River Media Forum/Democracy Media hold a workshop on “Support for Independent Media in Liberia’s New Democracy”. NED, 1025 F Street NW, Suite 800, Washington, D.C. 202-378-9700 RSVP to [email protected] by February 11 with name and affiliation.

February 18, 2009. 12:30 p.m. – George Washington University (GWU) Elliott School of International Affairs’ Sigur Center for Asian Studies. “Caste and Affirmative Action: What Nepal Can Learn from India and Malaysia” with Suvash Darnal, democracy fellow at the National Endowment of Democracy. GWU Elliott School, 1957 E Street NW, Room 505, Washington, D.C. RSVP to [email protected] with name, email address and affiliation.

February 18, 2009. 12:30 p.m. – The Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). “Reforming Africa’s Armed Forces,” with Birame Diop, air force pilot and technical adviser to the Ministry of Defense in Senegal. SAIS, Nitze Building, 1740 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Room 417, Washington, D.C. RSVP to 202-663-5676 or [email protected]

February 19, 2009. 12 noon. The Hudson Institute and the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis. “Democracy in Central America: How Strong?” Speakers: Jorge Vargas, director of the annual report, “State of the Region,” and columnist for La Nacion in San Jose, Costa Rica; Anne Krueger, professor of international economics at the Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced and International Studies; Caleb McCarry, senior associate of Creative Associates International; John Walters, executive vice president of the Hudson Institute; and Jaime Daremblum, senior fellow and director of the Hudson Institute’s Center for Latin American Studies. Hudson Institute, 1015 15th Street NW, Sixth Floor, Washington, D.C. RSVP to 202-974-2403 or [email protected]

February 19, 2009. 12:30 p.m. – Georgetown University Walsh School of Foreign Service Center for Contemporary Arab Studies. “Shiite Democrats and Sunni Autocrats? Political Reform and Congressional Identities in Bahrain” with Katja Niethammer, Center for International and Regional Studies at Georgetown University. Georgetown University, 37th and O Streets NW, Intercultural Conference Center, Washington, D.C. RSVP: 202-687-6215 [email protected] http://www.ccasonline.org

February 19, 2009. 2 p.m. – Inter-American Dialogue. China’s evolving political and economic relations with Latin America. Jiang Shixue, deputy director of the Institute of Latin American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing; Luiz Pereira da Silva, senior adviser to the World Bank and former deputy finance minister of Brazil; Wei Qiang, China’s alternate observer at the Organization of American States; and Dan Erikson, senior associate for U.S. policy at the Inter-American Dialogue. Inter-American Dialogue, 1211 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 510, Washington, D.C.

202-822-9002 RSVP to Paul Wander- 202-463-2932

Friday, February 20, 2009. National Endowment for Democracy (NED): “Opportunities for Engagement: Human Rights and Central Asia.” Rachel Denber, author of numerous reports and leading international authority on human rights in Central Asia; Farid Tukhbatullin, former political prisoner and author of forthcoming report about human rights under the new Turkmen government; and Gulam Umarov, president of Sunshine Uzbekistan and leader of an Uzbek civil society organization and the son of the businessman and government critic, Sanzhar Umarov, “who is a political prisoner” in Uzbekistan. NED, 1025 F Street NW, Suite 800, Washington, D.C. 202-378-9700 [Note: RSVP to [email protected]]

Thursday, February 26, 2009. 12:00 – 2:00 pm. Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES): Strategies for Engaging Political Islam: A Middle East, U.S. and EU ‘Trialogue’. Islamists are a major political force in most Middle Eastern countries – a force about which U.S. and European policymakers are generally unfamiliar. How do Middle Easterners believe that the U.S. and the EU can play a positive role in dealing with Islamists? Where do Americans and Europeans see shared opportunities to engage Islamists, and what types of programs can take advantage of these opportunities? How would engagement affect Islamists’ attitudes towards the U.S. and Europe, and towards political reform in the region? Speakers: Ruheil Gharaibeh, Deputy Secretary General, Islamic Action Front, Jordan; Shadi Hamid, Director of Research, The Project on Middle East Democracy; Zoé Nautré, Visiting Fellow, German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), Berlin; Mona Yacoubian, Special Adviser, Muslim World Initiative, Center for Conflict Analysis and Prion, United States Institute of Peace. Moderated by Nathan Brown, Director of the Institute for Middle East Studies, George Washington University. Venue: Henry L. Stimson Center, 1111 19th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036. Twelfth Floor. RSVP here or email [email protected]