Democracy and the United Arab Emirates
It's being discussed openly

Today's reading list:

Democracy, human rights complement each other :: Khaleej Times - "ABU DHABI — Human rights and democracy cannot contradict, rather both complement each other, Cherie Blair told Khaleej Times yesterday."

Conference dwells on Arab reforms :: Khaleej Times - ABU DHABI — "11th Annual Conference of the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR). Organised under the patronage of General Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and President of the ECSSR, the three-day event is being held on the theme ''Current transformations and their potential role in realising change in the Arab World''."

Western-style democracy in UAE? :: Gulf News - ABU DHABI —

Salem Khalifah, a public sector worker, said he disagreed with former US defence secretary William Cohen who urged regional leaders to make decisions at a "terrible velocity".

"We're moving forward with new leadership in the UAE. But democracy should not come like a flood that will inundate us all it must come in several stages. And we need our own style of democracy because there's a difference between Eastern and Western cultures. We can't simulate a Western model in our country," he said.

Expert sees hard times for Arab reforms :: Gulf News - ABU DHABI — "An Arab intellectual drew a pessimistic picture of the future of reforms in the Arab world concluding that foreign pressure on governments had worked for the benefit of dictator regimes. Dr Bourhan Ghalioun, Director of the Paris-based Centre for Contemporary Oriental Studies at the Sorbonne University, was speaking to Gulf News on the sidelines of the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research 11th annual conference. "

The role of women :: Khaleej Times - Addressing the opening ceremony of the Students International Conference, titled: ‘Women as Global Leaders’: "Shaikha Lubna Al Qassimi, Minister of Economy, said Arab women had played a role in the transition taking place in their countries. However, she said women in this part of the world should be more empowered to boost that role. “There have been some amazing accomplishments made by Arab women just in the last 30 years — and another drastic progress in last five years, but I believe that the pace of women’s empowerment is set to unfold even more quickly.”"