Hawthorne, Amy (2004), Middle East Democracy: Is Civil Society the Answer. Carnegie Papers. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Hawthorne focuses on the role of civil groups in fostering democracy in the Middle East. These groups have traditionally played a role in empowering local groups and softening the power of the state. However, in the case of the Middle East she suggests approaching this strategy with caution. Civil groups have not made much of a dent in the Arab world’s authoritarian regimes. Many reasons account for this such as state repression and low public appeal. For civil groups to be successful they need three attributes: autonomy from the regime, a pro democracy agenda and the ability to build strong coalitions with other sections of society to push for democratic change. These attributes are lacking in Arab civil society. External aid has not helped in building these attributes either as American and European donors tend to have an understanding of civil society that is both too broad and too narrow. They also expect these groups to function like their counterparts in Europe and America and tend to work with groups that they are comfortable with. Projects to service NGOs tend to get most of the funding. The groups receiving external aid were generally the least capable of effecting change or they did not have a large base of local support. Hawthorne calls for a different approach to aid civil groups in the Middle East such as avoiding cookie cutter programs and focusing on those groups that could bring about change. However all efforts to aid this development of civil society will backfire if the larger external US-Arab relations does not change. Civil society groups will not want to be associated with the US for fear of being tainted and losing credibility with the local community.