News & Announcements

21 Items

News

Podcast: "The Syrian State: A Stateless Regime or State with Many Regimes?" with Bassam Haddad

April 17, 2015

An audio recording from Bassam Haddad, Associate Professor, School of Policy, Government, and International Affairs, and Director, Middle East and Islamic Studies Program, George Mason University.

On April 2, 2015 at MEI, Professor Bassam Haddad presented a lecture in MEI Visiting Scholar Michael C. Hudson's Spring 2015 Study Group "Rethinking the Arab State" in which he assessed the fluctuating political reality in Syria and how various groups, including Bashar Al-Assad's regime, as well as ISIS and the unarmed civilian opposition organize and govern areas and people under their control.

A flag of the Syrian regime flies outside of Damascus.

AP Images

News

Podcast: Bassam Haddad on Syria's 'State with Many Regimes'

April 10, 2015

An audio recording from Bassam Haddad, Associate Professor, School of Policy, Government, and International Affairs, and Director, Middle East and Islamic Studies Program, George Mason University and Michael C. Hudson, MEI Visiting Scholar, Spring 2015.

On April 3, 2015 at MEI, Professors Bassam Haddad and Michael C. Hudson sat down to discuss the themes in Dr. Haddad's recent lecture in the Spring 2015 study group Rethinking the Arab State, led by Dr. Hudson, titled "The Syrian State: a Stateless Regime or State with Many Regimes?"

News

Podcast: "The Resurgence of Egypt's 'Deep State'?" with Samer Shehata

March 3, 2015

An audio recording from Samer Shehata, Associate Professor of Middle East Studies, University of Oklahoma.

On March 3, 2015 at MEI, Prof. Samer  Shehata assessed the role of the military and pre-2011 regime figures in Egypt's political transition from authoritarianism to apparent democratic opening, and now back to a military-backed authoritarian government, to ask how useful the term 'Deep State' is to understanding Egypt's politics.

News

Podcast: Saudi Arabia's Foreign Policy Amidst Regional Instability with Prince Turki Al Faisal

    Author:
  • Prince Turki Al Faisal
| November 18, 2014

An audio recording from His Royal Highness Prince Turki Al Faisal of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, former Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United States (2005-2007) and former Director General of Saudi Arabia's General Intelligence Directorate (1977-2001).

On November 18, 2014 Prince Turki spoke on regional instability and forces at work in the region, including power politics, energy markets, violent extremism, and theological divides, in a public address moderated by Kennedy School professor Nicholas Burns.

News

Podcast: "The New Middle East Cold War" with Gregory Gause

November 13, 2014

An audio recording from Prof. Gregory Gause, John H. Lindsey ’44 Chair in International Affairs, Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University.

On November 13, 2014, Professor Gause outlined an incisive new framework for understanding Middle East regional politics, casting regional power dynamics as a "New Cold War", in a talk moderated by Kennedy School Professor Tarek Masoud.

News

Podcast: "A Conversation with Robert Ford on Iraq and Syria"

October 30, 2014

An audio recording from Robert S. Ford, former US Ambassador to Syria (2011-2014) and Algeria (2006-2008). He is currently a resident scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C. and teaches at Johns Hopkins University on Middle East politics.

On October 29, 2014 at MEI, Ambassador Ford reflected on his 4½ years working for the U.S. Mission in Iraq and 3 years working on Syria, in a talk moderated by Kennedy School professor and former State Department colleague Nicholas Burns.

News

Podcast: "The Battle for Pluralism" with Marwan Muasher

October 22, 2014

An audio recording from Ambassador Marwan Muasher, Vice President for Studies and Director of the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former Jordanian Ambassador to the United States.

On October 22, 2014 at MEI, Ambassador Muasher looked back over four years of popular uprisings in the Arab World and took stock of the hope for transition to genuine stability, prosperity, and democracy and tools necessary to do the job.

Rami Khouri, right, makes a point during the JFK Jr. Forum “Inside the Arab Awakening”  on September 19. Other panelists (from left): R. Nicholas Burns (moderator), Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, Dr. Karim Makdisi, and Diana Buttu.

(Photo by Marcus Halevi)

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

Arab Uprisings Shift to Political Struggles

| September 20, 2011

Many of this year’s Arab uprisings are evolving from angry popular revolts into drawn-out political struggles to build democratic systems that will protect basic civic rights and social justice, analysts told a John F. Kennedy Jr. forum audience at Harvard Kennedy School on Monday, Sept. 19.