On 24-25 March, 2006, FRIDE organised a conference together with the Arab Reform Initiative (ARI) and the Club of Madrid exploring the question of what relevance
democratic transitions in other regions might have for the Middle East.
This was the first large-scale event organised under the rubric of and supported by the Arab Reform Initiative, a network of mainly Arab research institutes devoted to generating analysis on issues related to political reform in the Middle East.
The conference assembled nearly 60 experts from the Middle East, Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans and Latin America with the aim of sharing experiences in political reform processes.