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 Lihi Ben Shitrit, MEI Research Fellow and Assistant Professor, School of Public and International Affairs, University of Georgia. Moderated by Tarek Masoud, Sultan of Oman Professor of International Relations, HKS and MEI Faculty Chair.
Abstract
Lihi Ben Shitrit will discuss her book manuscript, which explores three contemporary women’s movements in and around Jerusalem’s Sacred Esplanade: Messianic Jewish Orthodox women’s activism for access to Temple Mount/al-Haram al-Sharif; Pious Muslim Palestinian women’s activism for the defense of Al-Aqsa Mosque from Jewish claims (the Murabitat); and the Women of the Wall’s (WOW) interdenominational Jewish feminist mobilization against restrictive gender regulations at the Western Wall. Using these cases, the book demonstrates how attention to gender and to women’s engagement in conflict over sacred places is essential for understanding the intra-communal processes that make contested sacred sites increasingly “indivisible” for parties in the inter-communal context.