MED2015 Speakers and Topics
Middle East Dialogue 2015: Glorious Past, Uncertain Future
Thursday February 26th
Historic Whittemore House, Dupont Circle
1526 New Hampshire Avenue, Washington DC
Below you will find a list of speakers who presented at the Middle East Dialouge 2015: Please click on the titles to browse the abstracts of each topic.
PLENARY SESSION
Who is the Enemy? From Al Qaida to ISIS and Paris...
A talk given by Alain Bauer
President of the French National Strategic Research Council to the President, Professor of Criminology at the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts in Paris, Senior research Fellow at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York and the University of Law and Political Science of China in Beijing
Commentator:
Alon Ben Meir- Professor, Center for Global Affairs, New York University. Columnist, Huffington Post, Jerusalem Post. Author Middle East: Imperative and Choices, In Defiance of Time: Framework for Arab-Israeli Peace, A War We Must Win, Iraq Divided
Panel Sessions:
Libya and Syria: The Failings of Western Policy
Siwar Al-Assad- Vice President, United Nationals Democratic Alliance and Director of Arab News Netword and Al Alamia satellite television channels
Mark Hambley- United States Ambassador to Qatar and Lebanon. Consul General, Alexandria and Jeddah. United States Envoy to the United Nations Commision on Sustainable Development, and the Special Negotiator for Climate Change (Kyoto)
William Morris- Secretary General, Next Century Foundation. Chair, the International Council for Press and Broadcasting. Chair, Election Monitoring Commissions, Iraq. Formerly adviser, Sultanate of Oman, Liaison for relief of Misrata, Libya, 2011, Labour candidate for Police Commissioner of England and Wales, 2012
Causes Behind the Rise of Islamic Extremism and How to Address It
A discussion led by Alon Ben Meir with:
Fred Hof- Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council's Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East. Former special advisor for transition in Syria at US Department of State.
Robert F. Worth- Middle East Correspondent, New York Times
Radwan Ziadeh- Director and Co-Founder, Syrian Center for Political and Strategic Studies. Visiting Scholar at Lehigh University, and Fellow at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU) in Washington D.C.
Religious Dimension of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict- Warren Clark, Executive Driector, Churches for Middle East Peace, Patrick Theros, US Ambassador to Qatar (1995-1998), Rabbi Charles Feinberg, Adas Israel, Johnathan Brown, Georgetown, and Alon Ben Meir, New York University
Food Security and the Wheat Value Chain in the Middle East and North Africa- A panel with Ghada Ahmed, Danny Hamrick and Gary Gereffi, of Duke University
Suicide Terrorism: Competing Explanations and Policy Implications- Ivan Sascha Sheehan, University of Baltimore and David V. Sheehan, (Professor Emeritus) University of South Florida
INDIVIDUAL PRESENTATIONS
Saudi Arabia at a Cross Road- Ali Alyami, Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia
Dr. Ali Alyami is a native of Saudi Arabia and the founder and director of the Washington-based Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia, CDHR
Intergroup Dialogue as a Just Dialogue: How to Avoid Normalization in Campus Dialogues- Diala Khalife, University of Michigan and Adrienne Dessel Program on Intergroup Relations, University of Michigan
Unholy Matrimony: Religion and Women's Rights in the State of Israel- Michal Allon, Tel Aviv University
How the WomanStats Database Advances Empirical Research that Reveals Disparities in Saudi Arabia and Yemen regarding the Security Status of Women and its Impact on Regional Security- Jason Anderson, American Military University
Can Corporal Punishment Verses in the Qur'an be Reinterpreted to Counter Extremist Practices without Reneging on Rich Islamic Tradition?- Wayel Azmeh, Muslim Public Affairs Council
The "Arab Spring", Democracy and Religiosity: Is Tunisia an exception?- Hedi BenAicha, American Public University
Middle East and Global Trans-national Terrorism – How can the West Win?- Sariel Birnbaum, San Diego State University
Assessing Iranian Security Capabilities: The Case of the Green Movement Protests, 2009-2012- Martin Scott Catino, American Military University/APUS
Dynamics of Foreign Policy-Making in China, with a Focus on the Middle East- Yiyi Chen, Center for Middle East Peace Studies Shanghai Jiao Tong University
An Optimistic Possibility for the Future Middle East- Lawrence Davidson, West Chester University
Constitutional Politics in Turkey – A Civil War in the Judiciary- Leslie Esbrook, Yale Law School
Ethnocentrism and Negotiations in International Settings- Bagher Fardanesh, University of Maryland, R. H. Smith School of Business
Lessons from Iran's System of Compensated Kidney Donation- Sigrid Frye-Revere, American Living Organ Donor Fund
The Onymic War in Syria: What Names for the New Landscape?- Jack Keilo, Université Paris IV Sorbonne
Political Blogging and Socio-Political Transformation: The Case of Egypt- Sahar Khamis, University of Maryland
Global Islamic Fundamentalism- Susmit Kumar, Kumar Consultancy
Water and War in the Modern Age: the Enduring Hydro-Politics of The Nile- Justin D. Leach, Troy University
Instilling Hope for Resolution in the Context of Intractable Intergroup Conflicts- Oded Adomi Leshem, School of Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University
The Diaspora of transformation: Islamism as case study- Baballah Mahmoud, University Abdelmalek Saadi
Islams in Morocco and Moroccan Islamic Movements- Najah Mahmi, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Morroco
Understanding the Sunni Realignment in Iraq Using Complexity Theory- Diane Maye, George Mason University
Past and Present: The Role of Historic Narratives in the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict- Josef Olmert, University of South Carolina
The Status of Entrepreneurship in Iran: Opportunities and Obstacles- Leila Piran, George Mason University and Azadeh Tajdar, ECAS Consulting Ltd.
The Shi'a Crescent- Arash Reisinezhad, Florida International University
Iran's Nuclear Program- Arash Reisinezhad, Florida International University
Surveying and Assessing Iran: Ideology, Proxies, and Technology in the 21st Century- Tony Rivera, Laboratory for Unconvential Conflict Analysis & Simulation
Italy the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and Human Rights: Which Commitment?- Mauro Saccol, University of Genoa
Freedom in Islam in the Thought of Tarek al-Suwaidan- Bader Al-Saif, Georgetown University
The Egyptian Constitutions of 2012 and 2014: a Comparative Analysis- Anja Schoeller-Schletter, Independent Researcher and former Max-Planck Fellow
The Role of Social Media in the Arab Spring: The Libyans Fall- Abir El Shaban, Washington State University
Dialectic Between the States in Middle East and Army Groups- Haoues Taguia, Al Jazeera Centre for Studies
Syrian Refugees in Jordan: Carriers of Sectarianism?- Sarah Tobin, Brown University
The Contending Logics of Interventionism within Today's Middle East: a Telling Sign of Conundrums in the Late-Modern Age- Andrew Wender, University of Victoria
The Use and Abuse of Transitional Justice Norms in the Wake of the Arab Spring- Eric Wiebelhaus-Brahm, University of Arkansas at Little Rock