Congressional Testimony

pp. 15 - 19

 

by Shibley Telhami

 

Testimony by Shibley Telhami, Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland and Non-Resident Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institution, and others before the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, 113th Congress, 2nd Session.

 

"I'd like to focus my comments on really the macro level of what's driving all this change in the Middle East. Let me start by acknowledging that this is not a good time for pluralism, freedom and democracy in the region. It's obvious to all of us. The question is, why is that the case? It’s not that the region has been exactly known for democracy, for freedom and pluralism, it is that we really had high expectations, particularly with the advent of the Arab uprisings in 2010. The Tahrir Square pictures really generated a lot of excitement and hope across the globe as well as in the region. So what has happened? Why isn’t it going the way we expected? That’s what I’d like to talk about." 

 

 

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