As Yemen concludes its National Dialogue Conference, which has been hailed as a model of inclusivity and peaceful negotiation. Tunisia also recently designed a national dialogue process to work through a political stalemate and re-start its post-Arab Spring transition process. Libya is also trying to work through its challenges through a holistic, national transition process.

While there are positive lessons learned from both countries' experiences, there also have been pitfalls. The Yemeni and Tunisian experiences suggest that the timing of national dialogue processes vis-à-vis other political events and their relationship with other issues involved in political transition (such as institutional reform) are critical to ensuring the national dialogue can meet its stated goals.

The transition process in Libya has spurred discussion about the need for a national dialogue process, one intended to heal the scars both of the decades of dictatorial rule and the challenges of the post-revolutionary period. The challenges facing Libya are massive, including the need for comprehensive national reconciliation and transitional justice, a strategy for improving security, and disarmament and displacement.

Kindly join the U.S. Institute of Peace for an interactive forum to discuss the broader lessons to be learned from the national dialogue processes. The forum will be held on Tuesday, November 6, 2013 from 9:30-11:00a.m.

This event will feature the following speakers:

Vice President, U.S. Institute of Peace

Chairman, Libya Institute for Advanced Studies

United Nations Special Adviser on Yemen

President, Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy

Senior Advisor, U.S. Institute of Peace

Senior Program Officer, U.S. Institute of Peace

Associate Vice President for the Middle East and Africa, U.S Institute of Peace

Webcast