Middle East & North Africa

90 Items

Sahar Nowrouzzadeh: The Importance of Science in Negotiating and Policymaking

    Author:
  • Isha Marathe
| Fall/Winter 2018-2019

When it comes to U.S.-Iran relations, Iran’s nuclear program, and all of its implications, think tanks like the Belfer Center are at times of vital importance in assisting policymakers in conducting thorough investigations of key issues, Sahar Nowrouzzadeh says.

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

Symposium Aims to Reduce Sectarianism in Muslim World

| Summer 2018

The Belfer Center’s Iran Project presented the First Annual Symposium on Islam and Sectarian De-escalation at Harvard Kennedy School on April 14-15. The symposium was organized by Iran Project director Payam Mohseni and co-sponsored by Harvard’s Center for Middle East Studies, the Asia Center, the South Asia Institute, and the Alwaleed Islamic Studies Program. 

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

The Role of Emotions in Decision-making

    Author:
  • Jonathan Edel-Hänni
| Fall/Winter 2017-2018

Ghalehdar’s research focuses on a subject that has been especially relevant since the Arab Spring: U.S. pursuit of regime change. As a research fellow with the Belfer Center’s International Security Program, he is investigating the role of emotion in U.S. decisions to pursue regime change.

Nadia Marzouki is an Andrew Carnegie Centennial Fellow, Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, and a research fellow at the Belfer Center’s Middle East Initiative.

Belfer Center

- Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Center for the National Interest Belfer Center Newsletter

Deconstructing Islamophobia by Emphasizing Individuality

    Author:
  • Bret Hauff
| Summer 2017

It’s this distorted perception of the Muslim identity that Nadia Marzouki is working to dissolve. Her research focuses on the society’s perceptions of Muslims in an effort to deconstruct ignorance about Islam through emphasizing individuals’ autonomy to accept—or reject—societal structures.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak gestures while speaking with Center Director Graham Allison during Barak's Lamont Lecture on Middle East challenges at a  JFK Jr. Forum.

Martha Stewart

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

Q&A with Ehud Barak

Fall/Winter 2016-2017

Each semester, the Belfer Center proudly hosts warriors and peacemakers, politicians and polymaths, investors and musicians. Rarely do we welcome all these roles in just one person. But Lamont Lecturer Ehud Barak is nothing if not a singular figure. Israel’s former prime minister has enlivened the Center this fall with a JFK Jr. Forum, classroom teaching, and many briefings with faculty, fellows, and students.

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

Anita Gohdes: Syria, Violence, and the Internet

    Author:
  • Casey Campbell
| Spring 2016

When Anita Gohdes began her graduate work, she quickly found she was not satisfied with theoretical research alone, but instead wanted to tackle something more practical. She settled on researching new communication technologies and their relationship with conflict, political violence, and state repression.

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

Secretary of Defense Carter Returns Home

| Spring 2016

Contribution and consequence. That’s how Secretary of Defense Ashton B. Carter described the “magic” of Harvard Kennedy School’s spirit of public service during a JFK Jr. Forum here in December. Carter, a former Kennedy School professor and Belfer Center director, joined Graham Allison and a forum full of students, faculty, and service members for a homecoming conversation on topics ranging from ISIS and the South China Sea to cyber threats and innovation at the Department of Defense.

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

U.S. and Israel on Security Cooperation

    Author:
  • Matthew Sparks
| Spring 2016

It is an undeniable fact that the Middle East is undergoing one of the worst periods of crisis in recent history. Civil war, regime collapse, mass emigration, and terrorism are but a few of the numerous problems facing the region. Moreover, the United States’ alliance with Israel has experienced its most turbulent period since the Suez Crisis of 1956 due to profound policy disagreements on the Iran nuclear agreement. Despite this strain, both American and Israeli officials emphasize that the need for close secu­rity cooperation between the two nations is more important than ever.

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

Relations with Iran: Questions to Consider

Spring 2016

With the successful implementation of the historic nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1, a new chapter has opened between Iran and the international community, including the United States. Nevertheless, the future path of bilateral relations between the United States and Iran is uncertain and many challenges exist as the two countries attempt to formulate new terms of engagement. What should U.S. policy be towards Iran after the nuclear agreement? Can the agree­ment open the door to effective collaboration on areas of mutual interest, especially given the rising security challenges and rapidly changing dynamics of the Middle East? Or, will strategic rivalries between Iran and the United States con­tinue to shape and impede cooperation?

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

Rebel Recruitment

| Spring 2016

For the past three years, I have conducted interviews and surveys of men fighting in the Syrian Civil War. My interviews were with Syrian citizens, mostly young, and all men. Some of them joined Al Nusra (Al Qaeda branch in Syria), while the majority joined one of the other 1000 rebel brigades. My goal was to determine why they decided to fight, why they joined the group they did, and why some changed groups or quit fighting completely.