Sometimes, in order to be hawkish for democracy, you need to be a bit of a dove, too. This is the case I will be making for the US to deal with the undemocratic Syrian regime. This semester, while taking a global studies class, I got to know one of my classmates whose grandmother has not had reliable access to food or medicine for years due to the on-going civil war. And after a once-in-a-century deadly earthquake earlier this year, the situation has gone from bad to worse.

After hearing stories like my classmate’s, I’m writing this op-ed to convince you that the US should normalize relations with Syria. There are two reasons why this is the case: first, it would increase stability and humanitarian conditions in the country; and second, it would moderate the Syria’s international behavior, countering the autocratic influence of states like Iran and Russia  and fostering economic growth — growth that could alleviate the current economic and humanitarian crisis in Syria.

US engagement will create incentives for the Assad regime to accept the reforms necessary for the country to access  reconstruction funding from the EU. If sanctions aren’t working to change Assad’s Behavior, maybe it is time to show what the regime can gain from cooperation. The United Nations special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, has already endorsed normalization, calling for increased engagement in a step-by-step approach. This means making various concessions to the Assad regime gradually over the course of many years in exchange for regime change.

Normalizing relations would also improve the effectiveness of humanitarian aid delivery. Currently, the UN limits the cross-border delivery of aid to just one border crossing. Normalization could alter the relationship between the US and Syria allowing for aid to cross through multiple entry points unhindered. Keeping the status quo means leaving Syrians to die as 80 percent of Syrians live below the poverty line and are at risk from starvation.

Normalization won’t be a free pass for Assad. It would  be contingent on the Assad regime’s support of UN Resolution 2254 and instituting free and fair elections. Assad would be free to run in the election following normalized relations, but this election would be a referendum on his handling of the civil war.

We must accept that, however terrible it is, the US might need to cooperate with the Assad regime for the good of the Syrian people and enduring regional stability. In the immediate future, cooperation can help the US encourage a cease-fire between the Assad regime and rebels while removing chemical weapons. As for the long-term, the US can support negotiations for the safe return of Syrian refugees, support political reform, and contain the power of regional rivals, like  Russia and Iran.

Furthermore, coordinating with Syria will help Washington regain its role as a leader in regional diplomacy. Trying to stop normalization is a losing game and the US should not be left on the sidelines. Failure to engage will undermine the US’s regional position and its position in Syria. The recent moves to pull troops out of Syria means that once they leave, Russia, China, and Iran will move in, meaning that it might be best to strike a deal now before it is too late. 

Hopefully, we can move towards a day when my classmate’s grandmother finally gets the medical care she deserves and Syria is a country where — as the World Health Organization’s envisioned in its 1946 constitution — “[T]he highest attainable standard of health [is] a fundamental right of every human being.”

The post The Case for Normalizing Relations with Syria first appeared on Democracy Hawks.

Before the law, there were thousands of black-box companies that neither the government nor banks knew anything about. These anonymous organizations were and still are used by money launderers and tax avoiders — your “drug cartels, oligarchs, despots and the global elite” — to sustain an innumerable amount of illegal activity, some of which most certainly impinge on democracy and its advocates. But even though CTA is now on the books, if the Treasury Department does not get the details right, such as making it easy for law enforcement and banks to cancel and investigate shady transactions, then that is all the Act will ever be — another stack of government paper.

Identifying the owners of shell companies is not the silver bullet that will kill financial crime writ large, but it is definitely an important first step for the United States. It is also the bare minimum, given that most other developed countries already require this level of transparency from their businesses.

Read the full ICIJ article here: https://www.icij.org/investigations/fincen-files/u-s-treasury-faces-a-wave-of-criticism-over-faltering-push-to-unmask-anonymous-companies-and-track-dirty-money/

The post ICIJ Reports Treasury Department is Failing to Track Dirty Money first appeared on Democracy Hawks.

BY: Spencer Merritt

Last week, American democracy was attacked  by not one rat but a whole nest of them. The rats in question are Tennessee’s House Republicans.

What happened?

Outraged by their legislature doing nothing in the wake of six people — three adults and three students — being murdered in yet another school shooting on Mar. 27, thousands of young Tennesseans marched inside the state capitol to peacefully protest. During the demonstration, three Democratic lawmakers, now being called the Tennessee Three, joined the protestors. The Democrats were Justin Person, Gloria Johnson and Justin Jones. Jones represents Nashville, where the shooting took place. As punishment for supporting the peaceful protestors, state house Republicans voted to expel the three Democrats. Tennessee’s constitution requires a two-thirds majority to expel a member. Only Gloria Johnson was not expelled, which she says is because she is white, while Jones and Person are Black. All 75 of Tennessee’s House Republicans voted to expel Jones and 69 voted to expel Person. The Democrats’ meager 25-member bloc was powerless to stop their republican tyrants. 

Let’s be clear about what happened here. Over 100,000 constituents across two districts lost political representation — the foundation of American democracy —  because Jones and Person exercised their First Amendment right. The Constitution gives Americans the right to “peaceably assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” More than a thousand young Americans peacefully assembled, demanding an end to gun violence. In response, their government fired two of the only three people actually representing them. It’s no wonder why Representative Jones said, “We don’t have a democracy in Tennessee.”

Justin Jones is right

Expelling Jones and Person is hardly the first crime against democracy committed by Tennessee’s Republican rats. In fact, data shows that Tennessee is the least democratic state in the country. Jake Grumbatch, a political science professor  at the University of Washington, created an index measuring democracy in every state, and in 2022 Tennessee came in dead last. One of Grumbatch’s metrics was the amount of state and federal-level gerrymandering. Unsurprisingly, Tennessee is the most gerrymandered state in the county. Research from the Princeton Gerrymandering Project found that there is “not a single competitive seat in Tennessee”, meaning it is effectively impossible for Democrats to win a majority in Tennessee’s legislature. Thanks to Republicans, Tennessee is effectively under one-party rule, the sort of thing we associate with China and the former Soviet Union. 

Guess Who’s Back

Thankfully, democracy still lives in at least one place in Tennessee — Nashville. Nashville is in Jone’s district. Only four days after republicans expelled Jones the Nashville Metropolitan Council voted unanimously, 36-0, to send their man back to the legislature to fight another day. Within an hour of his reinstatement, Republican lawmakers had to watch Jones be sworn back into office. This resounding rebuke of this Republican act of tyranny is exactly what real representative democracy looks like. Upon his return, Representative Jones stood before the same Republicans who expelled him and said, “I want to welcome democracy back to the people’s house”  

The post The Tyrants of Tennessee  first appeared on Democracy Hawks.

 

Córdova, despite being a nonpartisan official, has not backed away from calling out  López Obrador’s attacks on the INE for what they are, “a very clear political strategy, to sell the INE as a biased, partial authority […] If we say nothing, publicly, we are validating the president’s statements.”

 

Appointed in 2014, Córdova has led the agency for the past eight years, ensuring Mexican elections run as smooth as possible, an important responsibility for a country that has only been a democracy since 2000. However, his term expires this April. But he is not the only one pushing back against Plan B.

Rallying in el Zócalo, Mexico City’s central square, thousands of protestors gathered in late February to oppose the recently passed bill. Carrying pink and white flags  — the colors of INE — and chanting “El INE no se toca” and “Mi voto no se toca” (“Don’t mess with the INE” and “Don’t mess with my vote), demonstrators made sure López Obrador and his party, MORENA, got the message: the Mexican people will not let their democracy falter without a fight. 

If you are interested in supporting or learning more about pro-democracy organizations in Mexico, below are some groups worth checking out:

1. 1. DataCívica — DataCívica is a feminist, data-science organization that uses scientific methods, databases, and detailed reports to track important issues, like political intimidation, crime, and violence against women.

2. 2. Laboratorio de Litigio Estructural — Founded in 2017, this impact litigation group is dedicated to pursuing court cases that protect the country’s democracy and civil society.

3. 3. Control Tu Gobierno — Focused on strategic partnerships, Controla Tu Gobierno support civic and governmental organizations across the country on a myriad of issues, including water sanitation, anti-corruption efforts, and gender equity.

The post Lorenzo Córdova and Mexican People Stand Up to AMLO first appeared on Democracy Hawks.