To compete and thrive in the 21st century, democracies, and the United States in particular, must develop new national security and economic strategies that address the geopolitics of information. In the 20th century, market capitalist democracies geared infrastructure, energy, trade, and even social policy to protect and advance that era’s key source of power—manufacturing. In this century, democracies must better account for information geopolitics across all dimensions of domestic policy and national strategy.
A seminar with Lama Mourad, Research Fellow, Middle East Initiative and Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Political Science, University of Toronto.
Abstract
Mourad's book project analyzes the politics of local responses to the Syrian refugee influx in Lebanon, the largest per capita host of refugees in the world. In broader terms, she asks: What are the drivers of state responses to large-scale migration? How do so-called “weak” states manage and govern migrants on their territory? Finally, what explains variation in sub-national migration policies? In the absence of a national policy response, Mourad finds that municipal policy becomes the most significant form of state response. She argues that variations in local-level policy responses to the Syrian refugee influx in Lebanon are to a great extent a function of local electoral competition and dynamics of policy mimicry within neighbouring areas.
Speaker
Lama Mourad
Lama Mourad
- Former Pre-Doctoral Research Fellow, Middle East Initiative, 2018-2019
Moderator
Tarek Masoud
Tarek Masoud
- Sultan Qaboos Bin Said of Oman Professor of International Relations, Harvard Kennedy School
- Faculty Director, Middle East Initiative
- Member of the Board, Belfer Center
Expertise: