2018 MENA Workshop at a Glance

The 2018 MENA Workshop program will take place as a two part series of week-long workshops. Each will be led by the same team of co-leaders and will address the overall theme of "Evolving Role of Political Institutions in the Arab World."

The program aims to explore relationships between formal political institutions and political liberalization in the MENA region. The program adopts a broad interpretation of formal political institutions, including (but not limited to) government agencies, legislative and judicial bodies, political parties and organizations, electoral rules and systems, local government, and constitutions.

Participants will explore core questions and theories of formal political institutions as well as the implications of these theories for political representation, channeling citizen interests, government performance, and more broadly, political liberalization. By employing diverse theoretical frameworks and case studies, the workshops aim to illustrate how we can better understand the role and influence of institutions and the prospects of political liberalization, accountability, and representation.