Middle East Initiative

The Middle East Initiative will be well represented at this year's Annual Meeting of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) in San Antonio, Texas November 15-18. Many current and former MEI fellows and affiliates will present research on a broad variety of topics during the conference. Below is a complete list of MEI-related participants, with links to their panels and topics.

BEIRUT — Our continued focus on resolving the facts of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul last month is important for four reasons that will impact the fate of the Middle East and U.S. policies there for years to come. We will know soon if the killers are held accountable or the world loses attention, succumbs to the allure of the fortunes of oil and gas, and leaves largely unchanged the current power structures of our region. Which of those routes we take will determine whether we generate a more decent, participatory, accountable, and just region, or fall into a death maelstrom of unchallenged and cruel autocracy where money and guns rule, and citizens enjoy neither rights nor humanity.

A seminar with Nermin Allam, Assistant Professor of Politics at Rutgers University - Newark, on her recent book, Women and the Egyptian Revolution: Engagement and Activism during the 2011 Arab Uprisings, (Cambridge University Press, 2017).

Moderated by Hind Ahmed Zaki, Associate at Middle East Initiative, HKS, and Harold Grinspoon Junior Research Fellow, Crown Center for Middle East Studies, Brandeis University.

CTV News interview Rami Khouri on Jamal Khashoggi's death

Ali Velshi talks to Rami Khouri, senior fellow at American University of Beirut, and NBC’s Richard Engel in Istanbul, about the political fallout in the Middle East following the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

Fareed is joined by Anne-Marie Slaughter, Ivo Daalder, Tarek Masoud and Max Boot to discuss the Khashoggi affair, and where it leaves U.S.- Saudi relations. Source: CNN

Egypt is well-known for its exceptionally rich history. For many, the country is synonymous with ancient wonders such as the pyramids of Giza and the royal tombs of Luxor. However, in January 2011, modern Egypt suddenly leapt to the center of the public’s imagination. Over a period of 18 days, millions of Egyptians engaged in sit-ins, strikes, and demonstrations as well as pitched battles with the security forces. 

President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s Egypt is a dangerous place for dissidents. Under Sisi’s command, the military and security forces used extraordinary violence to consolidate power in the summer of 2013 that cost at least 817 lives. Security forces detained, charged, or sentenced at least 41,000 people between July 2013 and April 2014, mostly because of their alleged association with the Muslim Brotherhood. The human rights situation deteriorated even further in subsequent years. Egyptian police forcibly disappeared citizens, leaving no legal trail. 

Do you get angrier and angrier with every lie and cover-up on the killing of Jamal Khashoggi by the Saudi government, its Arab allies and paid foreign propagandists, and the American president? If you do, I suspect this is because Khashoggi achieved in his life and death something that nobody else in modern history has been able to achieve: Ordinary people, media figures, and politicians throughout the world now appreciate how it feels to be treated like a helpless idiot by an Arab power elite that believes it can manage its citizens with brutality and disdain, without any accountability or consequences.