يسرّنا في مركز دراسة الإسلام و الديمقراطيّة دعوتكم للحضور والمشاركة في محاضرة حول  

Developing a Culture of Deliberative Discourse Following the End of an Authoritarian Regime  

By David French

Convener Associates  

Lecture will be in English with Arabic Translation

المحاضرة ستكون باللغة الإنقليزيّة مع توفير الترجمة للعربيّة   

2011/06/23   و ذلك اليوم الخميس       

من الساعة السادسة إلى الثامنة ليلاً 

بالمقرّ الجديد لمركز دراسة الإسلام و الديمقراطيّة بتونس

الكائن بحيّ منبليزير، شارع خير الدين باشا، عمارة باشا سنتر

مقابل الجبّانة المسيحيّة 

 مدخل ب - الطابق الخامس - تونس 

Avenue Kheireddine Pacha, Immeuble Pacha Center

Bloc B - 5eme étage، Tunis

Abstract - The repressions of an authoritarian era invariably leave a nation without either strong institutions of pluralistic democracy or the practice of dialogue among political elites. Typically, parliament and opposition political parties are weakened, civil society and the independent media have faced repression, the independence of the judiciary has been threatened.

In the vacuum created by the collapse of such regimes there are grave risks that one authoritarian regime will be followed by another. Reformers compete with those who have benefited from autocracy; and there are competing views of the destination of change and differences on how to get there. The political scene remains volatile, divisive, fragmented and dispersed. There is invariably an urgent need to introduce alternative means of conducting political business.

At the same time, a plethora of different groups form or re-form, each with its own view on the way ahead. They have studies, consultations, diagnoses and action plans drawn up while in exile or in opposition on which to rely; they may even command wide popular support; but they may lack the means to forge these approaches into a common agenda.

The immediate goal in this situation is to develop a platform founded on minimum common principles and standards, as a base from which to develop a new political settlement inclusive and representative of the many components of the nation and its social fabric.

David French will be discussing these issues and, in particular, asking the question: what can outsiders best do to help in this setting?

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David French is the founder of Convener Associates, consultants in international political development, in 2009. From 2003 to 2009 he was Chief Executive of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, the UK's official agency for international democracy assistance. He initiated WFD's programmes in the Middle East region, extended its work in Eastern Europe and Africa and strengthened its specialisms in political party and parliamentary development. He founded the Westminster Consortium for Parliaments and Democracy to bring together UK expertise in international parliamentary strengthening. He is Senior Advisor to the European Partnership for Democracy.

From 1997 to 2002 David French was Director General of the Commonwealth Institute, London. He regenerated the Institute's role as a leader in cross-cultural education and championed cultural diversity as a Commonwealth priority, convening an international conference in Brisbane three weeks after the 9/11 attacks. From 1987 to 1995 he was Chief Executive of Relate, the UK's leading relationship counseling agency. His expertise is in building strategic alliances, assembling talent from diverse backgrounds to achieve imaginative and productive outcomes. He holds a BA in Politics, Sociology and Psychology from Durham University and is a Life Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine.

David French has held many trusteeships and is a member of the International Steering Committee for the Community of Democracies and the Steering Group for the World Movement for Democracy.