RSVP REQUIRED!
http://belfercenter.hks.harvard.edu/events/elliotthouse.html
The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs will host a Director's Seminar with Karen Elliott House, Belfer Center Senior Fellow and former Publisher, the Wall Street Journal, in the Belfer Center Library (L369).
“From afar, Saudi Arabia appears immune from the turmoil and uncertainty engulfing nations such as Syria, Egypt and Libya. But rather than being an oasis of stability in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia is nearing its own crisis point.”
“Saudi Arabia is all too reminiscent of the dying decade of the Soviet Union, during which one decrepit leader succeeded another, from Leonid Brezhnev to Yuri Andropov to Konstantin Chernenko, before a younger and more open-minded Mikhail Gorbachev arrived too late to save a stagnant society and economy.”
[ Karen Elliott House, Washington Post, September 14th, 2012]
In her fascinating new book, House, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and former publisher of the Wall Street Journal, has drawn on 30 years of reporting on the oil-rich monarchy. By her account, Saudis are paralyzed by an economy based almost solely on oil and government handouts. The country’s byzantine political structures are grounded in tribal loyalties along with a religious bureaucracy whose draconian laws and punishments are unevenly applied. There is a vast disconnect between the country’s octogenarian rulers and its burgeoning youth, most of whom “are alienated, undereducated, and underemployed.”
During a 32-year career with Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal House served as foreign editor, diplomatic correspondent, and energy correspondent based in Washington D.C. In 1984, House was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in international reporting for her coverage of the Middle East while a reporter with the Wall Street Journal. The prize was awarded for a series of interviews with Jordan's King Hussein, which anticipated the problems Ronald Reagan's Middle East peace plan would face. Her writing on the Middle East also earned House two Overseas Press Club awards. For a series on Saudi Arabia, she earned the Edwin M. Hood award for Excellence in Diplomatic Reporting. In her role as publisher, starting in 2002, House was responsible for all news, editorials, sales, and other business functions of the Wall Street Journal both nationally and internationally. She retired in March of 2006 from her positions as Publisher of the Wall Street Journal, Senior Vice President of Dow Jones & Company, and as a member of the company's executive committee.
House has served, and continues to serve, on multiple non-profit boards including the Trilateral Commission, Rand Corporation, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Asia Society, and Boston University.
She is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin where, in 1996, she was the recipient of the University's "Distinguished Alumnus" award. She studied and taught at Harvard University's Institute of Politics and, she holds honorary degrees from Boston University (2003) and Lafayette College (1992). She is a Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
RSVP REQUIRED! POSITIVE RSVP ONLINE ONLY:
http://belfercenter.hks.harvard.edu/events/elliotthouse.html
As space is limited for this event, RSVPs will be accepted on a first come, first served basis.
Belfer Center Seminars are strictly off-the-record. By requesting to attend the seminar, you agree that you will comply with the Belfer Center's strict policy against recording or disclosing the contents of the seminar. Your access is conditioned on your compliance with these restrictions. Should you violate these rules, the Center will pursue all available legal options and you will be excluded from all future events.
