Examination of the Role of Civil Society in Adopting International Standard Commitments: A Landscape Analysis of MENA Region and Gulf Countries in Comparison with International Best Practices
Title
Examination of the Role of Civil Society in Adopting International Standard Commitments: A Landscape Analysis of MENA Region and Gulf Countries in Comparison with International Best Practices
Published Date
2022-05
Publisher
Type
Thesis or Dissertation
Abstract
This report offers an integrated examination of the role of civil society organizations in influencing governments to adopt international commitments. The study was commissioned by the University of Minnesota and International Republican Institute
(IRI) as part of an effort to promote the spread of democratic practices in the MENA and Gulf countries Regions. Under the principles of sustainable development, open government partnerships, climate change, data openness and transparency, public service provision and infrastructure development, the graduate consultants were asked to identify and evaluate the level of adoption and commitments to these international standard commitments, as well as involvement in international partnerships, by countries in both regions compared to best practices of civil society organizations that managed to influence the public policy making process to implement these standards. The results of this evaluative research are intended to be used as the basis for the IRI next strategy to empower CSOs in influencing their governments to adopt the above-mentioned strategy. Based on what we have found, expanding the CSOs’ penetration and power serves as an influential tool that would not only facilitate embedding the international commitments into the national strategy of the region but also practically applying it, or rather, contribute to projectizing it by directing aid to developing countries towards specific projects that follows the international standards commitments. In our landscape analyses we found that the governments of the MENA region have made a number of commitments across all five areas. Though there is a great deal of variation among the nations, we found some noticeable trends; for instance, we found a dearth of governance commitments and little follow-through in any regard to climate change. We were also able to find recurring themes in our case studies.
Description
Capstone paper for the fulfillment of the Master of Public Policy degree.
Related to
Replaces
License
Series/Report Number
Funding information
Isbn identifier
Doi identifier
Previously Published Citation
Suggested citation
Content distributed via the University Digital Conservancy may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor. By using these files, users agree to the Terms of Use. Materials in the UDC may contain content that is disturbing and/or harmful. For more information, please see our statement on harmful content in digital repositories.