Egypt in Turmoil: CFR Analysis by Isobel Coleman
Having just returned from Egypt, the Council on Foreign Relations’ Isobel Coleman sat down with CFR Director of Studies James Lindsay to discuss the recent turmoil in the country.
The Domino Effect of Arab Unrest
On February 1, 2011, Isobel Coleman was featured in the CNN special report “The Domino Effect of Arab Unrest.”
Bowing to the massive pressure of demonstrators, Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak said Tuesday he will step down in September after 30 years in power. King Abdullah II dismissed his government in Jordan as calls for reform swept across North Africa and the Middle East. Analysts offer their views on what this wave of unrest means for the region and the world.
Isobel Coleman, author of “Paradise Beneath Her Feet” and a senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York:
The specter of Islamism filling the power vacuum left by popular uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan has become a concern to many in the West. Though this is certainly a possibility, so far the demonstrations have been led by young people demanding greater political participation and economic opportunity.
They represent a broad coalition focused primarily on democratic aims, and motivated in large part by a stark gap between rising expectations and reality: Recent economic growth has too often failed to trickle down to the working poor. In Tunisia and Egypt, as much as 30 percent of university graduates are unemployed.
If more democratic political systems do emerge from this unrest, however, expect Islam to play a larger role in government. Indeed, youth across the region increasingly look to Turkey as a political model to emulate, and local Islamist parties are poised to take advantage of greater political freedoms.
In Tunisia, Rachid Ghannouchi, leader of the formerly banned Nahda party, returned this week from 20 years’ exile in London. In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood has played an increasingly assertive role, and expects to be included in any transition process. In Jordan, where the Muslim Brotherhood is not banned and already has its own political party, leader Hammam Saeed has been actively calling for Arabs to topple U.S.-backed leaders throughout the region.
Although strategic interests such as the Suez would not necessarily be jeopardized by a more Islamist Middle East, new regimes with stronger Islamic elements would likely be less cooperative on issues from counterterrorism to the peace process.
How to Fix America
On December 16, 2010, Isobel Coleman was featured in the PBS special “How to Fix America.”
Watch the full episode. See more Need To Know.
Not to overstate the obvious, but America is having a pretty tough go of it these days. The economy is listless, unemployment is still hovering at almost 10 percent, it turns out that we’ll be in Afghanistan until at least 2014 and no one seems to be happy with government — not the left, not the right, not the middle.
So we wanted to start a conversation about how to get America moving again.
Voices featured in the full segment, above, include author Gary Shteyngart on immigration; Professor Tricia Rose of Brown University on race relations; author, activist Anna Lappé on the environment; columnist Reihan Salam on poverty; journalist Anya Kamenetz on the transformative power of technology; doctor and author Siddartha Mukherjee on the healthcare crisis; foreign-policy expert Isobel Coleman on the importance of educating women; former Harper’s editor and author Roger Hodge on ending political corruption; and Daily Beast Editor-at-Large Randall Lane on securing jobs for unemployed Americans.
Investing in Women Has a High Return
On November 28, 2010, Qasim A. Moini from the Pakistani newspaper Dawn interviewed Isobel Coleman on Islamic feminism and economic development.
ISOBEL Coleman, author of Paradise Beneath her Feet and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, an American think tank, sat down with Books & Authors on a recent trip to Karachi to discuss the motivation and challenges involved in writing the book. Here are excerpts from the interview.
What was your primary motivation for writing this book?
I work on a range of issues in this region. I kept coming back to the role of women in society. I have not only a personal interest in it but there are some human rights implications. I was also looking at it from an economic angle. When you invest in women it really strengthens economies. I think one of the most urgent challenges for the broader Middle East — and that includes Pakistan and Afghanistan — is helping find ways to get on a more positive economic trajectory. There’s tons of data that shows that when you invest in women, it has a very high return. [It] benefits the whole of society.
You visited all the hot spots in this part of the world (Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia Afghanistan and Pakistan). What was the most challenging part of the whole research process?
People often ask me ‘how did you find these incredible women that you write about? It must have been so difficult.’ My answer to that is no, there are so many incredible women. That’s not the hard part. (more…)
Dawn
This book review originally appeared in the Pakistani newspaper Dawn under the title “The Whole Truth?” The review was written by Zubeida Mustafa and was published on November 28, 2010
Paradise Beneath Her Feet captures succinctly the contradictions in some Muslim societies where religion is a powerful force that exercises an overarching influence on the socio-cultural, economic and political life of people.
As women exposed to modernism struggle for their rights to education, economic empowerment and political representation in the power structures of a country, they very often find their progress obstructed by elements propagating an obscurantist version of Islam. In many parts of the Muslim world they have had to devise strategies to overcome these barriers. Isobel Coleman, the author of the book under review, terms this approach ‘Islamic feminism’.
According to her, after ceding the space of religious authority to conservative forces for centuries, women in the Islamic world are now trying to gain control of their own lives by demonstrating that equality and change is possible within the ambit of the faith.
Female scholars are now studying the Quranic texts to advance a liberal and progressive interpretation of the religious doctrines which is not in conflict with women’s rights as perceived in the modern context.
By adopting this approach ‘Islamic feminists’ do not have to enter into a confrontation with the ulema. They also find it easier to enlist supporters from the masses for their cause by using a liberal religious discourse. Female activists are now using the power of religion to empower women.
Research in Islamic laws on the status of women forms the underpinning of this strategy. Be it Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia or Iraq, women are engaged in finding the Islamic solution to the challenges posed by gender inequality in their societies. And they are succeeding, if the author is to be believed. (more…)
Islamic Feminism and Economic Development
On October 18, 2010, Karachi based radio station Josh FM streamed an interview with Isobel Coleman on Islamic feminism and economic development.
Listen to the interview below:
The Girl Effect
Isobel Coleman was interviewed by Holly Peterson for the October 2010 issue of Avenue Magazine. She discussed the “girl effect” and Paradise Beneath Her Feet.
Read the article in the digital version of Avenue here.
CFR Crisis Guide: Pakistan
On October 7, 2010, the Council on Foreign Relations released a Crisis Guide on Pakistan in which Isobel Coleman is featured.
Watch the Crisis Guide here:
Al Masry al Yawm
This book review originally appeared in the Egyptian newspaper Al Masry Al Yawm under the title “The Middle East’s Women, Books on the Islamic Feminist Movement.” The review was written by Soha al-Saman and was published on April 22, 2010
The original Arabic review can be found here
Below is an English translation:
The author of the book is Isobel Coleman, the director of the Women and Foreign Policy Program at the Council on Foreign Relations. In her capacity of managing the dossier of women in the Middle East, she notes that the decades-long challenges women have faced in different countries, regarding their political rights and equality with men, are growing inside the Middle East especially with the rising tide of political Islam that has impeded any effective engagement of women within society.
In the book, Coleman lays out the attempts by women in Islamic countries to obtain their rights through what she terms “the Islamic feminism movement.” From Saudi Arabia to Iraq to Afghanistan to Iran, a movement led by groups of women within these countries. The movement seeks the opening of economic, political, and educational doors for women. It also seeks the reform of women’s conditions in the region, since Muslim women not only face restrictions placed upon within society, but also face stereotypes the world draws of the “Muslim woman.”
In this framework, the author has presented a number of examples of the women behind the Islamic feminism movement like Sakeena Yacoobi who manages forty centers inside of Afghanistan, and works to deliver educational and health services to thousands of Afghan women and informing them of their rights under Islamic law. Similarly, Madawi al-Hassoun is presented as a model of Saudi business women, who has challenged society’s strict traditions and opened new horizons for Saudi women’s access to the economic sphere.
More broadly, the book puts forth a general idea that a women’s revolution could drive the hope of change in the societies of the Middle East.
Women as a Barometer of Success and Stability?
On October 5, 2010, Isobel Coleman took part in a discussion at the United States Institute of Peace.
Listen to the discussion below:
This moderated discussion featured Isobel Coleman, senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Coleman discussed her recent book, “Paradise Beneath Her Feet”, which paints a vivid picture of the status of women’s rights in the Middle East and highlights the transformative role women are playing in the region.
Also on the panel was Manal Omar, director of Iraq Programs at USIP and author of the recent “Barefoot in Baghdad”, which details Omar’s experiences as an American aid worker of Arab descent working in Iraq. Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, journalist and deputy director of the Women and Foreign Policy Program at the Council on Foreign Relations moderated the event with an eye on lessons learned for and from Afghanistan. She is author of the upcoming book, “The Dressmaker of Khair Khana”, which tells the story of a young Afghan entrepreneur whose business created jobs and hope for her community during the Taliban years.
Speakers
Isobel Coleman
Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy
Council on Foreign Relations
Manal Omar
Director of Iraq Programs
U.S. Institute of Peace
Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, Moderator
Deputy Director of the Women and Foreign Policy Program
Council on Foreign Relations
Kathleen Kuehnast, Welcome and Introductions
Gender Adviser, Gender and Peacebuilding Initiative
U.S. Institute of Peace
