Policy Briefs and Reports

This report examines recent political developments in Mauritania which show signs of democratic backsliding, with increasing restrictions on political freedoms and declining public trust in political institutions. In recent years, the country has witnessed attempts to introduce constitutional amendments allowing the extension of presidential terms, changes to electoral laws that have restricted the participation of opposition parties, as well as restrictions on the media and suppression of civil society organizations. To halt this democratic regression in Mauritania, it is essential to implement a set of reform policies.

This report aims to examine the process of Tunisia’s autocratisation, which continues to reverse the gains from the 2011 Arab Spring. With receding civic freedoms and the rising tide of populist politics, there does not seem to be much room for democratic resilience and defence against democratic backsliding in Tunisia. The report provides a background that outlines key areas where democratic gains from the 2011–2021 period have been reversed since the July 2021 coup, and maps out the political landscape, highlighting the main difficulties facing the protection of civil society and civil and political freedoms. It then offers recommendations designed to limit the impact of autocratisation and revive free civil activism.

This report examines Iraq’s post-Saddam Hussein political order, a consociational arrangement known as muhasasah, or the apportionment of power resources among the country’s ethno-sectarian groups. Designed to accommodate societal diversity, muhasasah has become a fundamental flaw in Iraq’s political system. Instead of fostering national consensus, it has hardened ethno-sectarian identity politics, and has become synonymous with dysfunction, corruption, mismanagement, and inefficiency. Bold reforms are needed and radical recalibration beyond identity-based quotas toward functional governance, meritocracy, accountability, and citizenship is imperative.

This report analyses Egypt’s opposition, which has failed to rise up to the challenge of being a democratic force in the country’s politics. Horizontal solidarity and mounting challenges to incumbent governments are currently missing components among opposition actors. The status quo reveals a situation in which the multitude of political parties, officially numbering 87, on the Egyptian political scene alternate between unity and division in their relations with each other and have failed to affect a shift from being a ‘loyal’ to ‘democratic’ opposition. Sustained interparty cooperation across the domains of shadow government, prisoners of conscience and election campaigns can contribute to remedying these weaknesses within Egypt’s potentially vibrant opposition.