Lse Middle East Centre Podcasts

This keynote lecture took place at the Gramsci in the Middle East & North Africa Conference organised by the LSE Middle East Centre in cooperation with Ghent University from 9-10 May, 2022. The conference explored, through empirically-grounded research, how Gramsci’s work can help us make sense of our contemporary moment in the region marked by a significant expansion in resistance and uprising. Alia Mossallam is a cultural historian interested in songs that tell stories and stories that tell of popular struggles behind the better-known events that shape world history. She was previously a post-doctoral fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Berlin where she was writing a book on the visual and musical archiving practices of the builders of the Aswan High Dam and the Nubian communities displaced by it. She is also a visiting scholar at Humboldt University’s Lautarchiv exploring the experiences of Egyptian, Tunisian and Algerian workers and subalterns on the fronts of World War I (and resulting re

This keynote lecture took place at the Gramsci in the Middle East & North Africa Conference organised by the LSE Middle East Centre in cooperation with Ghent University from 9-10 May, 2022. The conference explored, through empirically-grounded research, how Gramsci’s work can help us make sense of our contemporary moment in the region marked by a significant expansion in resistance and uprising. Patrizia Manduchi is Director of the GramsciLab and Associate Professor of History of the Contemporary Arab World at the Department of Political and Social Sciences of the University of Cagliari. She has published numerous works on the topic of Islamic radicalism, such as: 'The fury of Allah' (Quaderni di Orientalia Karalitana); 'From pen to mouse: Dissemination tools of the concept of jihad' (curated by Franco Angeli); 'This world is not a place for rewards: Life and works of Sayyid Qutb, martyr of the Muslim Brothers' (Aracne) and 'Voices of dissent: Student movements, opposition politics and democratic transition

This event was the launch of Jessica Watkins' latest book 'Creating Consent in an Illiberal Order: Policing Disputes in Jordan' published by Cambridge University Press. Middle Eastern police forces have a reputation for carrying out repression and surveillance on behalf of authoritarian regimes, despite frequently under enforcing the law. But what is their role in co-creating and sustaining social order? In this book, Jessica Watkins focuses on the development of the Jordanian police institution to demonstrate that rather than being primarily concerned with law enforcement, the police are first and foremost concerned with order. In Jordan, social order combines the influence of longstanding tribal practices with regime efforts to promote neoliberal economic policies alongside a sense of civic duty amongst citizens. Rather than focusing on the 'high policing' of offences deemed to threaten state security, Watkins explores the 'low policing' of interpersonal disputes including assault, theft, murder, traffi

This panel explored the interconnectedness of Turkey’s domestic and foreign politics over the past two decades. How do geopolitical histories and imaginaries affect Turkey’s foreign policy? What are the links between everyday culture and Turkey’s foreign policy? To what extent have global and regional developments impacted on and informed domestic politics? In what ways has foreign policy been used as a technique of governance? Evren Balta is Professor of International Relations and chair of the International Relations Department at Özyeğin University. She is the author of 'The American Passport in Turkey: National Citizenship in the Age of Transnationalism' (with O Altan-Olcay, UPenn, 2020), 'Age of Uneasiness' (İletisim, 2019) and 'Global Security Complex' (İletisim, 2012). She is the editor of 'Neighbors with Suspicion: Dynamics of Turkish-Russian Relations' (with G. Ozcan and B. Besgul, İletisim, 2017); 'Introduction to Global Politics' (Iletisim, 2014) and 'Military, State and Politics in Turkey' (with

This event was the launch of three papers authored by Courtney Freer and Spyros Sofos of the LSE Middle East Centre as part of the Global Transitions Series, a research output from PeaceRep – the Peace and Conflict Resolution Evidence Platform funded by the UK Aid from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO). 1. Qatar and the UAE in Peacemaking and Peacebuilding by Courtney Freer 2. Peacebuilding in Turbulent Times: Turkey in MENA and Africa by Spyros Sofos 3. MENA Regional Organisations in Peacemaking and Peacebuilding: The League of Arab States, Gulf Cooperation Council and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation by Courtney Freer. Courtney Freer is Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellow at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia and Visiting Fellow at the LSE Middle East Centre. Previously, Courtney was Assistant Professorial Research Fellow at the LSE Middle East Centre. From 2015-2020, Courtney was a Research Officer for the Kuwait Programme at the LSE Middle East Centre. Her work focuses on the dom

The Arabic-language news environment is facing significant challenges. Arab journalists work under multiple pressures including the lack of political freedoms, the proliferation of digital technologies and social media, the assumed disinterest of younger audiences and financial constraints facing many outlets. As part of the research project Arab News Futures (led by Dr Omar Al-Ghazzi, LSE and Dr Abeer Al-Najjar, AUS), in this webinar, we hear from London-based Arab journalists and editors, who discuss the state of Arab news as viewed from London. They address questions such as: what are the critical issues facing Arab journalists and news media? What are the future trends in news making and consuming? How are digital technologies changing the understandings of the audience? And finally: Is London still relevant as a hub of Arabic news? About the speakers: Najlaa Aboumerhi is Senior Journalist, Presenter and Writer with with Alaraby TV since 2017 when she joined after 10 years of working for BBC Arabic TV

This event was the launch of Leïla Vignal's latest book 'War-Torn: The Unmaking of Syria, 2011–2021' published by Hurst. In order to consider the future of Syria, it is crucial to assess not only what has been destroyed, but also how it was destroyed. It is equally vital to address the structural and possibly enduring results of large-scale destruction and displacement. These dynamics are not only at play in Syrian society, but are tearing at the economic fabric and very territorial integrity of the country. If war is a powerful process of human and material destruction, it is equally a powerful process of spatial, social and economic reconfiguration. Nor does it stop at national borders—the unravelling of Syria, and of the idea of Syria, has affected and will continue to affect the entire Middle East. War-Torn explores these transformations and the processes that fuel them. The book throws light on neglected aspects of the Syrian war, and contributes towards understanding conflicts in the twenty-first cent

This webinar was the launch of Mariam Salehi's latest book Transitional Justice in Process: Plans and Politics in Tunisia published by Manchester University Press. Transitional Justice in Process is the first book to comprehensively study the Tunisian transitional justice process. After the fall of the Ben Ali regime in 2011, Tunisia swiftly began dealing with its authoritarian past and initiated a comprehensive transitional justice process, with the Truth and Dignity Commission as its central institution. However, instead of bringing about peace and justice, transitional justice soon became an arena of contention. Mariam Salehi is a researcher at the intersection of peace and conflict studies, international politics, and international political sociology. Salehi is broadly interested in (conflictive) internationalised processes of change, (transitional) justice and the production and circulation of knowledge and ideas. Salehi is currently a research group leader at Freie Universität Berlin and is involved

This webinar, as part of the LSE Middle East Centre's Kurdish Studies Series, was the launch of Marouf Cabi's latest book 'The Formation of Modern Kurdish Society in Iran: Modernity, Modernization and Social Change 1921-1979' published by Bloomsbury Publishing. Although the Kurds have attracted widespread international attention, Iranian Kurdistan has been largely overlooked. This book examines the consequences of modernity and modernisation for Iran's Kurdish society in the 20th century. Marouf Cabi argues that while state-led modernisation integrated the Kurds in modern Iran, the homogenisation of identity and culture also resulted in their vigorous pursuit of their political and cultural rights. Focusing on the dual process of state-led modernisation and homogenisation of identity and culture, Cabi examines the consequences of modernity and modernisation for the socioeconomic, cultural, and political structures as well as for gender relations. It is the consequences of this dynamic dual process that expl

This webinar presented the results of two LSE Kuwait Programme research projects: 1. Urban Governance and Spatial Patterns in Kuwait: Exploring the Links Between the Physical and the Socioeconomic - Dhari Alrasheed and Nuno F. da Cruz 2. Can Smart Cities Solve the Housing Crisis? A Study on Korea-Kuwait Partnership for a New Smart City in Kuwait - Hyun Bang Shin and Do Young Oh Nuno F. da Cruz is Assistant Professorial Research Fellow at LSE Cities, London School of Economics and Political Science. His work on urban and metropolitan governance is multidisciplinary in nature and global in reach, engaging with a wide range of public policy issues. Nuno has previously worked in cooperation with various non-government and multilateral organisations such as UCLG, Metropolis, UN Habitat and Transparency International. Dhari Alrasheed is an Assistant Professor of Economics in the College of Business Administration at Kuwait University. His research activity spans two fields. The first is urban economics, studyi

This event, with research drawn from Dr. Golnar Nikpour's book manuscript 'The Incarcerated Modern: Prisons and Public Life in Iran', examined the making of the carceral state in modern Iran. Until the turn of the 20th century, prisons were virtually nonexistent in Iran. Even by the 1920s, as the first modern prison network was being built in central Tehran, there were only a few hundred detainees being held by the centralising Pahlavi government. By the eve of the 1979 revolution, that number had ballooned to approximately 20,000 detainees. Now, in the Islamic Republic of Iran, there are at least a quarter of a million detainees being held in 268 official jails and prisons. How and why did this extraordinary transformation and expansion occur? How did Iranians come to understand their increasingly policed and punished social worlds? What does Iran’s penal history tell us about the expansion of prisons across the world? Golnar Nikpour is Assistant Professor of History at Dartmouth University. Nikpour is a

This event was the launch of Yaniv Voller's latest book Second-Generation Liberation Wars: Rethinking Colonialism in Iraqi Kurdistan and Southern Sudan published by Cambridge University Press. The formation of post-colonial states in Africa, and the Middle East gave birth to prolonged separatist wars. Exploring the evolution of these separatist wars, Yaniv Voller examines the strategies that both governments and insurgents employed, how these strategies were shaped by the previous struggle against European colonialism and the practices and roles that emerged in the subsequent period, which moulded the identities, aims and strategies of post-colonial governments and separatist rebels. Based on a wealth of primary sources, Voller focuses on two post-colonial separatist wars: in Iraqi Kurdistan, between Kurdish separatists and the government in Baghdad, and Southern Sudan, between black African insurgents and the government in Khartoum. By providing an account of both conflicts, he offers a new understanding o

The Algerian Higher Education system has evolved significantly over the past six decades, responding to the changing economic and political contexts of the country. After inheriting the French colonial education system in the sixties with minor adjustments, the seventies saw a democratisation of the space. During the eighties, the role of the single national party was affirmed with a marked Arabization of the social sciences and the establishment of several universities across the country. But from the eighties onwards, there was also a loss of autonomy and independence of the university, with increased centralisation of management by the Ministry of Higher Education, and academic leadership positions being filled by administrators. As a result, scientific research, creative innovation, and emergence of new ideas at all levels declined significantly. This loss of autonomy resulted in the migration of academics and graduates abroad. Today, the Algerian higher education system has over 1.7 million students and

Please note: this is the English language recording of this event. At times there may be pauses due to the use of an interpreter. This event was the launch of 'Challenging Narratives of ‘Fate and Divine Will’: Access to Justice for Gender-Based Violence in Iraq' co-authored by Taif Alkhudary, Marwa Abdul Ridah, Anfal Abed and Amal Kabashi as part of the LSE Conflict Research Programme (CRP)–Iraq. This study draws on data collected from 34 interviews to examine access to justice for gender-based violence (GBV) in the family and criminal law systems of federal Iraq. It finds that it remains near impossible for women to access effective protection, with the government of Iraq (GoI) falling short of every one of the six components identified by the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW Committee) as essential for women’s access to justice. The paper highlights the urgent need for the GoI to work with civil society to enact the draft anti-domestic violence law. It als

تشكّل هذه الفعّالية فرصة لإطلاق تقرير'تحدي سرديات ”القضاء والقدر“: اللجوء للقضاء في قضايا العنف القائم على النوع الاجتماعي في العراق‘ الذي شارك في كتابته طيف الخضيري، مروة عبد الرضا، أنفال عبد و أمل كباشي. و هذا التقرير هو جزء من "برنامج أبحاث الصراع - العراق" التابع لكلية لندن للاقتصاد و العلوم السياسية تعتمد هذه الدراسة على بيانات جمعت من خلال 34 مقابلة لفحص مدى قدرة النساء على اللجوء للقضاء في قضايا العنف القائم على النوع الاجتماعي وفقاً لقانون الأحوال الشخصية والقانون الجنائي في العراق الاتحادي. وتوصلت الدراسة إلى أن إمكانية حصول النساء على حماية فعلية لا يزال شبه مستحيل، نظراً لتقصير الحكومة العراقية حيال كل مكون من المكونات الستة التي حددتها اللجنة المعنية بالقضاء على التمييز ضد المرأة .على أنها ضرورية لإمكانية لجوء المرأة للقضاء وتسلط الدراسة الضوء على ضرورة أن تعمل الحكومة العراقية مع المجتمع المدني على سن قانون مناهضة العنف الأسري. كما توصي بأن تتخذ الحكومة العراقية تدابير شاملة وذات مدى أبعد، بما في ذلك معا

This event was the launch of Isabel Käser's latest book 'The Kurdish Women's Freedom Movement: Gender, Body Politics and Militant Femininities' published by Cambridge University Press. Amidst ongoing wars and insecurities, female fighters, politicians, and activists of the Kurdish Freedom Movement are building a new political system that centres gender equality. Since the Rojava Revolution, the international focus has been especially on female fighters, a gaze that has often been essentialising and objectifying, brushing over a much more complex history of violence and resistance. Going beyond Orientalist tropes of the female freedom fighter and unpacking the movement's own discourse and practices around the 'free woman', Isabel Käser's new book looks at personal trajectories and everyday processes of becoming a militant in this movement. Based on in-depth ethnographic research in Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan, with women politicians, martyr mothers and female fighters, she looks at how norms around gender and

Kuwait’s nationality and citizenship rules have been contentious since the country’s independence in 1961. The rightful claim to full citizenship rights in the oil-rich Gulf state is highly restricted and divided along lines of kinship, religion, gender, ethnicity and nationality, leaving the majority of Kuwait’s population excluded from many social privileges. Shaping youth civic identities through education and media messaging has been an important part of the state’s construction of nationalist narratives of Kuwaiti citizenship. While young people’s voices are largely absent from official discourses, they have been creating their own spaces and means of participation. This webinar presented findings from the LSE Kuwait Programme project ‘Empowering Democratic Citizenship through Education: Exploring Rights-Based Approaches to Educational Policymaking in Kuwait’. The study explored the tensions between young people’s perspectives and Kuwaiti official discourses around citizenship identities, rights and part

This event was co-organised by the LSE Middle East Centre and the Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa at the LSE. On 25 October 2021, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan declared a state of emergency in Sudan, dissolving the government and detaining civilian leadership. Burhan is leader of the joint ruling council. The council's official goal is to hand over leadership to civilians ahead of elections in 2023 Since the beginning of the coup, the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors, an independent union of medics, have estimated that more than 200 people have been wounded in anti-coup protests and at least 23 been killed (as of 15 November 2021). Civilians have been taking to the streets daily, promising to keep up the pressure on the transitional military-civilian authority. Speakers will discuss the historical and political context of the latest coup, the effects of the military crackdown on the ground and the international response. Muzan Alneel is a Nonresident Fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East P

This webinar was co-organised with the Society for Algerian Studies. Historically Algeria has had its ups and downs with the Gulf states. During the Arab Spring, Algeria was at odds with the assertive and proactive approach from GCC states, most notably in Libya, where Algeria opposed interventions and involvement from Qatar and the UAE. In line with its commitment to non-interventionism, the country also rejected involvement in the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen in 2015. More recently, Algiers remained neutral throughout the intra-GCC rift, an easier accomplishment due to the lack of economic engagement and personalised ties it has with the monarchies, when compared with its neighbours. During this webinar, speakers explored this historical background, and took stock of the geo-political and economic relations between Algeria and the countries of the GCC. Arslan Chikhaoui is Chairman of Nord Sud Ventures, a consultancy company established in Algeria in 1993. He is a member of the Defense and Security Forum

This event was the launch of the special issue 'Building Sustainable Peace in Iraq' published in the Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding. Peacebuilding and transitional justice are viewed as integral components of statebuilding in post-conflict spaces. This special issue critically evaluates statebuilding and peacebuilding in Iraq through macro and micro-level analyses of Iraq's political development following foreign-imposed regime change. Ruba Ali Al-Hassani is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Lancaster University's Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion and Project SEPAD. Her research employs interdisciplinary methodologies in the study of state-society relations in Iraq and beyond to centre and amplify voices on the ground in public discourse, analysis, and policy. Ruba's research interests also include the Sociology of Law, transitional justice, crime, social control, and social movements. She has taught Sociology at her alma maters York University and Trent University. Ruba holds