Rami G. Khouri at PostGlobal

Rami G Khouri

Beirut, Lebanon

Rami George Khouri is a Palestinian-Jordanian and U.S. citizen whose family resides in Beirut, Amman, and Nazareth. He is editor at large, and former executive editor, of the Beirut-based Daily Star newspaper, published throughout the Middle East with the International Herald Tribune. An internationally syndicated political columnist and book author, he is also the first director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, and also serves as a nonresident senior fellow at the Kennedy School of Harvard University and the Dubai School of Government. He was awarded the Pax Christi International Peace Prize for 2006. He teaches annually at American University of Beirut, University of Chicago and Northeastern University. He has been a fellow and visiting scholar at Harvard University, Mount Holyoke College, Syracuse University and Stanford University, and is a member of the Brookings Institution Task Force on US Relations with the Islamic World. He is a Fellow of the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs (Jerusalem), and a member of the Leadership Council of the Harvard University Divinity School. He also serves on the board of the East-West Institute, the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University (USA), and the Jordan National Museum. He was editor-in-chief of the Jordan Times for seven years and for 18 years he was general manager of Al Kutba, Publishers, in Amman, Jordan, where he also served as a consultant to the Jordanian tourism ministry on biblical archaeological sites. He has hosted programs on archeology, history and current public affairs on Jordan Television and Radio Jordan, and often comments on Mideast issues in the international media. He has BA and MSc degrees respectively in political science and mass communications from Syracuse University, NY, USA. Close.

Rami G Khouri

Beirut, Lebanon

Rami George Khouri is a Palestinian-Jordanian and U.S. citizen whose family resides in Beirut, Amman, and Nazareth. He is editor at large, and former executive editor, of the Beirut-based Daily Star newspaper. more »

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Islamists Cry Justice, And It Works

An independent judiciary, in my mind, is the single most important element of any
truly accountable system of governance, as it provides a last resort check against abuses of power, against tyranny. That is why most governments try to manipulate or control their judicial systems – including, as we have witnessed in recent days, the United States.

The consequences of a dependent and manipulated judiciary are evident all over the Middle East, in the form of constitutions that lack credibility, laws that are not uniformly applied, security and military establishments that dominate the executive and legislative branches of government, abuse of power and corruption run wild, and, ultimately, citizens who have lost faith in the integrity of their state and who turn elsewhere for a sense of identity, protection, and services.

It is also noteworthy that Islamist groups all over the region have for decades invoked "justice" (along with "dignity") as a rallying cry. The massive shift in power toward Islamists is in part driven by the ordinary citizen's need to believe that he or she belongs to a society and a government that treats him or her fairly.

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