News & Announcements

23 Items

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Press Release - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center Names Directors for Cyber Projects

The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School has named Lauren Zabierek, Maria Barsallo Lynch, and Julia Voo to head three of the Center’s growing cyber-related projects. They will run the Center’s Cyber Project, Defending Digital Democracy Project, and China Cyber Policy Initiative, respectively.

 

News - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Election Officials Discuss Midterm Interference and Security Plans for 2020

| Dec. 18, 2018

“It was too quiet.”

That was the sentiment expressed by a number of the 45 election officials from 23 states who gathered earlier this month at Harvard for a Belfer Center Defending Digital Democracy (D3P) Midterm After-Action Conference to discuss problems around their November midterm elections.  Most said they experienced significant but mostly unintended misinformation – and some disinformation – along with a number of other challenges to their electoral processes, but not the extensive foreign cyber and other attacks that took place during the 2016 presidential election.

Photo of state and local election officials at D3P conference.

Benn Craig/Belfer Center

News - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Election Officials from 38 States Learn to Fortify Elections Against Attacks

| Mar. 29, 2018

More than 120 election officials from 38 states gathered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, this week to participate in role-playing exercises that provided them with tips, tools, and training to fortify their election systems against cyber attacks and information operations. Organized by the Defending Digital Democracy Project (D3P) at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, the two-day event featured a tabletop exercise (TTX) scenario for officials that simulated attacks on election systems ranging from hacks and social media misinformation to  manipulation of voter information and trust. The state and local election officials learned how to better prepare, defend, and respond to a range of attacks on the integrity of American elections and how to empower their colleagues back home with this knowledge as they prepare for the 2018 and 2020 elections.   

News

Inside the Middle East Q&A: Hicham Alaoui on Democracy, Opposition, and Institutions in North Africa and the Middle East

November 29, 2017

Excerpt from an October 24th installment of the “Inside the Middle East" Q&A Series, with Hicham Alaoui, Visiting Fellow at Harvard’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and D.Phil. Candidate at Oxford University, on current trends in North African politics including Tunisia’s nascent democracy, North Africa’s unique position in the Middle East region, and the ongoing protests in Morocco’s Rif region.

News

Podcast: "Turkey Under Siege - Inside and Out" Kelman Seminar with Yavuz Baydar and Lenore Martin

January 7, 2016

An audio recording of a session of the Herbert C. Kelman Seminar on International Conflict Analysis and Resolution featuring speakers Yavuz Baydar, Turkish journalist and former Joan Shorenstein Fellow (Fall 2014), Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy and Lenore Martin, Associate, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs; Professor of Political Science, Department of Political Science, Emmanuel College.

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News

"Tarek Masoud on Democracy in the Middle East"

June 4, 2015

"Democracy remains a rare commodity in the Middle East as the promise of the Arab Spring has given way to authoritarian retrenchment, democratic breakdown, and civil war. Countries that once seemed promising terrain for democracy now feature clashes between citizens and governments, military domination, and the imprisonment of activists and journalists. Sultan of Oman Associate Professor of International Relations Tarek Masoud helps to explain why the region has taken a turn for the worse."

News

Podcast: "Yemen's Turbulent Transition" Panel Discussion

May 19, 2015

An audio recording from an MEI panel discussion on Yemen, featuring panelists Fatima Abo Alasrar, Asher Orkaby, Leslie Campbell, and chair Michael C. Hudson.

On May 12, 2015, MEI convened a panel of Yemen experts to discuss Yemen's political and economic history and current dynamics, disentangle the various groups competing for control and influence, and envision potential resolutions to the current crisis.

An Egyptian Army Helicopter flies over a crowd of pro-military demonstrators at Tahrir Square on July 26, 2013 in Cairo, Egypt.

AP Images

News

Podcast Collection: Rethinking the Arab State - Spring 2015 MEI Study Group with Prof. Michael C. Hudson

May 13, 2015

Audio recordings from MEI's Spring 2015 Study Group Rethinking the Arab State: the Collapse of Legitimacy in Arab Politics, with Professor Michael C. Hudson.

During the Spring 2015 semester, Prof. Hudson hosted a distinguished group of scholars to re-examine the foundational concepts of legitimacy, the state, civil society, religion, and regional stability in the wake of the Arab Uprisings.