Lse Middle East Centre Podcasts

The United Nations Security Council endorsed the UN Secretary-General's call last month for warring parties in Yemen to immediately cease fighting and focus on reaching a peace agreement whilst countering the outbreak of the coronavirus. The coalition, led by Saudi Arabia, responded with a two week ceasefire which was renewed for another month. While the cross border hostilities de-escalated, the conflict fronts inside Yemen continued to boil. This event will reflect on the challenges and possibilities for a comprehensive and inclusive peace agreement in Yemen. The speakers will discuss lessons learned from previous peace talks and ceasefire initiatives. They will also shed light on the national and regional dynamics affecting the peace process in Yemen. This event is co-organised with the Peace Track Initiative, an organisation that works on localising and feminising the peace process by supporting inclusive peace processes. Their role in holding Track II consultations with women’s groups and the role of w

Join us online for this public webinar where we will be joined by Amel Boubekeur, Visiting Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. After the first presidential election since the removal of Abdelaziz Bouteflika in December 2019, this event will discuss the origins of the Hirak, it's liabilities and assets, and to what extent Algeria can be looked at as a case study for transition in the region. Amel Boubekeur researches at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences) and is a visiting fellow at the European Council for Foreign Relations. Her research focuses on the Maghreb countries' politics, democratization in the Arab world, Euro-Arab/US–Arab relations, and Islam in Europe. She has been a research associate at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies and the Centre Jacques Berque, a non-resident fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP-Berlin), a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Center, a resident s

This is the first of our webinar series where we were joined by Jim Muir, veteran Middle East correspondent based in Beirut, where he began his career in the region in 1975. In this video linkup, he discussed the impact of the coronavirus on Lebanon, its uprising, and its future. Even before the coronavirus struck, Lebanon was in the grip of an existential crisis. On March 7th, it defaulted on its Eurobond debt servicing, for the first time ever. The "revolution" which erupted on 17 October 2019 accelerated a dire economic and financial crisis and challenged 30 years of incompetent sectarian governance. Hundreds of businesses have had to close, sending more jobless people onto the streets. The coronavirus may have given the new government a political breathing space, but it will aggravate further a crisis which has already destroyed the credibility of the country's banking system, always seen as its sacred spinal column. Jim Muir is a British journalist and BBC Middle East Correspondent. After taking a fi

Civilian state-owned enterprises in Egypt are in trouble, but military companies are being used to expand the state's stake in the economy. In this talk, Yezid Sayigh will explore the ramifications of this military economy, and how it makes it easier to shift costs and hide losses to the public purse, while continuing to secure the core constituencies of the administration of President Abdel-Fattah Sisi and his governing coalition in the civilian bureaucracy and, especially, the military. Yezid Sayigh is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, where he leads the program on Civil-Military Relations in Arab States (CMRAS). His work focuses on the comparative political and economic roles of Arab armed forces and nonstate actors, the impact of war on states and societies, and the politics of postconflict reconstruction and security sector transformation in Arab transitions, and authoritarian resurgence. Previously, Sayigh held teaching and research positions at King’s College London, the Un

This event launches Crony Capitalism in the Middle East: Business and Politics, from Liberalization to the Arab Spring edited by Ishac Diwan, Adeel Malik, and Izak Atiyas. The popular uprisings in 2011 that overthrew Arab dictators were also a rebuke to crony capitalism, diverted against both rulers and their allied businessmen who monopolize all economic opportunities. While the Middle East has witnessed a growing nexus between business and politics in the wake of liberalization, little is discussed about the nature of business cronies, the sectors in which they operate, the mechanisms used to favour them, and the possible impact of such crony relations on the region's development. Combining inputs from leading scholars in the field, Crony Capitalism in the Middle East presents a wealth of empirical evidence on the form and function of this aspect of the region. Crony Capitalism in the Middle East is unique in both its empirical focus and comparative scale. Analysis in individual chapters is empirically gr

Decolonisation is a commonly used term in today's cultural sphere. We regularly hear of the decolonisation of syllabi, of academic institutions, of literature, and of the arts. Yet, there is an ironic dissonance between prevalent agendas of decolonisation in western countries and the actual realities of contemporary colonialism. Can there be meaningful decolonisation without genuine anti-colonialism? Can cultural and academic decolonisation be detached from internationalist solidarity? These are some of the questions that will be posed by Professor Abdel Razzaq Takriti in this talk, with specific reference to Palestinian history and politics. Abdel Razzaq Takriti is Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Arab History and Director of the Center for Arab Studies at the University of Houston. His research focuses on the history of revolutions, anti-colonialism, global intellectual currents, and state formation in the modern Arab world. He is the author of Monsoon Revolution: Republicans, Sultans,

This event will explore the fallout of the recent murders of Qasim Soleimani, Commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the senior commander of al-Hashd al-Shaabi and the founder of Kata'ib Hezbollah. The assassination, on 2 January 2020, of Qasim Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis has thrown Iraqi and wider regional politics into turmoil. Soleimani was one of the most senior figures controlling Iranian foreign policy. Al-Muhandis, as the senior military commander in al-Hashd al-Shaabi, wielded as much if not more influence in Iraq than any other government figure. The speakers will discuss the likely regional and Iraqi fallout from their murders, how Soleimani’s death will influence Iranian power projection across the region, what retaliatory moves Iran is likely to undertake, the ramifications for Iraqi politics and security and how the ongoing protest movement will be affected. Toby Dodge is Kuwait Professor and Director of the Kuwait Programme

This event is a launch for Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist Sam Dagher's latest book Assad or We Burn the Country: How One Family's Lust for Power Destroyed Syria. In spring 2011, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad turned to his friend and army commander, Manaf Tlass, for advice about how to respond to Arab Spring-inspired protests. Tlass pushed for conciliation but Assad decided to crush the uprising -- an act which would catapult the country into an eight-year long war, killing almost half a million and fueling terrorism and a global refugee crisis. Assad or We Burn the Country examines Syria's tragedy through the generational saga of the Assad and Tlass families, once deeply intertwined and now estranged in Bashar's bloody quest to preserve his father's inheritance. By drawing on his own reporting experience in Damascus and exclusive interviews with Tlass, Dagher takes readers within palace walls to reveal the family behind the destruction of a country and the chaos of an entire region. Dagher shows how

This event is the launch of the report titled ‘Public Payroll Expansion in Iraq: Causes and Consequences’ published under the LSE Conflict Research Programme by Principal Investigator Ali Al-Mawlawi. The public payroll in Iraq has grown unchecked since 2003, commensurate with the country’s vastly expanding oil wealth. With few alternative sources of government income, the state budget’s growth poses worrying questions about whether this ongoing trend can be sustained without risking economic ruin. The report offers policy recommendations for a realistic path to address unemployment and job creation. At the same time, the current protest movement in Iraq, centred around demands for jobs and against corruption and nepotism, also raises concerns about Iraq’s economic trajectory, including in relation to public sector employment growth. This report will be discussed in relation to developments on the ground in Iraq. Ali Al-Mawlawi is head of research at Al-Bayan Centre for Planning and Studies, a public policy

This event launches the paper “Yazidis and ISIS: The Causes and Consequences of Sexual Violence in Conflict” published under the LSE Conflict Research Programme by Principal Investigator Dr. Zeynep Kaya. It has been five years since ISIS brought the Yazidi community in Iraq to the brink of destruction. Some women and children held by ISIS have been re-captured by criminal gangs to be trafficked or sold to their families. Those that managed to escape the brutal attacks have ended up in displacement camps scattered around Iraqi Kurdistan, with a small number relocating to Western countries as refugees. This report shows that preventing sexual violence in conflict is not possible without tackling the underlying structural factors that foster this form of violence. Militant radical groups such as ISIS use specific gender norms in connection with perceived religious/sectarian identities in order to morally justify and organise violence. ISIS’s attacks on the Yazidis showed again that gender (and gendered violen

This event launches the book Methodological Approaches in Kurdish Studies: Theoretical and Practical Insights from the Field. It is a volume that presents thirteen contributions that reflect upon the practical, ethical, theoretical and methodological challenges that researchers face when conducting fieldwork in settings that are characterized with deteriorating security situations, increasing state control and conflicting inter-ethnic relations. More precisely, they shed light to the intricacies of conducting fieldwork on highly politicized and sensitive topics in the region of Kurdistan in Iraq, Syria and Turkey as well as among Kurdish diaspora members in Europe. Bahar Baser is associate professor at the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations, Coventry University. Yasin Duman is a Ph.D. candidate at the Center for Trust, Peace, and Social Relations (CTPSR), Coventry University. His research focuses on the role of intergroup relations in the integration of Syrian refugees in Turkey. Begüm Zorlu is a

Please note that this event involved a translator, as a result there may be some background noise in parts of the recording where translation is taking place. This event will analyse current developments on the ground in Northern Syria with Ilham Ehmed, co-president of the Executive Council of the de-facto autonomous region of North and East Syria. Following the recent Turkish incursion and US withdrawal, the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) have stated that they are ready to negotiate with Damascus. This event will take a look at a general overview of what led up to this decision, what the future holds for the Kurdish project in North and East Syria and how these negotiations will impact the future of Syria in all it's regions. Ilham Ehmed is a Syrian-Kurdish politician. Until July 2018, she was a co-chair of the SDC, the political wing of the Syrian Democratic Forces in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. She is a senior member of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and a member of the

This event is a book launch for Eric Rouleau's autobiographical work titled Truths and Lies in the Middle East: Memoirs of a Veteran Journalist, 1952-2012. Eric Rouleau was one of the most celebrated journalists of his generation, a status he owed to his extraordinary career, which began when Hubert Beuve-Méry, director of Le Monde, charged him with covering the Near and Middle East. Alain Gresh, French journalist and former editor of Le Monde Diplomatique, who also wrote the foreword for this book will be speaking at this event about Rouleau's life and work. The event will be chaired by Jim Muir, Visiting Senior Fellow at the LSE Middle East Centre and BBC Middle East Correspondent. Writing between Cairo and Jerusalem, Rouleau was a chief witness to the wars of 1967 and 1973, narrating their events from behind the scenes. He was to meet all the major players, including Nasser, Levi Ashkol, Moshe Dayan, Golda Meir, Yasser Arafat, Ariel Sharon, and Anwar Sadat, painting striking portraits of each. More than

With continuous protests ongoing across Lebanon for the last two weeks, this event will analyse this largest demonstration of public disobedience for the past decade. The situation will be contextualised against the backdrop of failing state services, a system that has gradually drifted apart from society, and also a society that has reached its consumerist limits. This event is part of a series being organised by the LSE Institute for Global Affairs responding to the Lebanese protests. For further information, please contact Dr. Bilal Malaeb. Jamil Mouawad is a lecturer in political studies and public administration at the American University of Beirut. His research interests in state-society relations span the subfields of comparative politics and political economy. He specializes in the politics of the Middle East, with a focus on governance and limited statehood. He was a Max Weber Fellow at the European Univesrity Institute, finalizing his book based on his PhD thesis. The book presents a critique to t

This event launched the paper “Response to and Reparations for Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Iraq: The Case of Shi’a Turkmen Survivors in Tel Afar” published under the LSE Conflict Research Programme by Principal Investigator Güley Bor. During the most recent Islamic State conflict, thousands of Yazidi, and hundreds of Shi’a Turkmen and Christian women were kidnapped and subjected to various forms of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV). The situation of Shi’a Turkmen survivors of CRSV in Tel Afar in the Nineveh Governorate demonstrates how the Government of Iraq’s inaction, together with its discriminatory laws and practices, continue to fail women, and survivors in particular. Recent efforts to establish a reparations program are commendable, yet challenges remain. Iraq is in urgent need of wider reform in addressing sexual violence and ensuring its non-repetition. Given the emergency nature of CRSV, this paper explores the need for all survivors in Iraq to be provided with timely, comprehensive

This is a recording of the Q&A section of LSE MEC's event screening Benedetta Argentieri's documentary I am the Revolution which focuses on feminist revolutions taking place in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan. These countries has been torn apart by decades of war, and are, according to international indexes, among the worst places on earth to live as a woman. By following three women, Selay Ghaffar, Rojda Felat, and Yanar Mohammed, and the movements around them, the documentary explores how they are leading the way for a new future for women in their countries. Each country reflects the groundswell of feminist revolutions: political revolution in Afghanistan, armed in Syria, and grassroots activism in Iraq. Taking a journalistic approach, the film challenges the images of veiled, silent, and timid women in the Middle East and instead shows the strength of women rising up on the front lines, in remote villages, and in city streets, to claim their voice and their rights. Benedetta Argentieri is an independent

This event launches The Kurds of Northern Syria: Governance, Diversity and Conflicts, written by Harriet Allsopp and Wladimir van Wilgenburg and published by Bloomsbury in July 2019. Based on unprecedented access to Kurdish-governed areas of Syria, including exclusive interviews with administration officials and civilian surveys, The Kurds of Northern Syria sheds light on the socio-political landscape of northern Syria. The first English-language book to capture the momentous transformations that have occurred since 2011, the authors move beyond idealized images of Rojava and the PYD to provide a nuanced assessment of the Kurdish autonomous experience and the prospects for self-rule in Syria. The book draws on unparalleled field research, as well as analysis of the literature on the evolution of Kurdish politics and the Syrian war. The event is the first in the LSE Middle East Centre Kurdish Studies Series programme for 2019–20. Wladimir van Wilgenburg is an analyst of Kurdish politics and a journalist livi

The Iraqi media landscape has been characterised by partisan ownership, in the main based on political and religious affiliations. Comparative ethnographic research has revealed highly irregular practices and the struggles of Iraqi journalists to adhere to the norms of professionalism, suggesting that these practices are contributing to and fuelling the on-going context of conflict and violence in Iraq. Within this challenging environment, there have been some attempts to develop media platforms that carve out spaces which can contribute to better journalism and, ultimately, better local and national governance. This report explores, in the context of this environment, the challenges that these media are facing. It examines a number of barriers to the development of independent media in Iraq, providing some recommendations to how these obstacles might be be tackled. Based on interviews with key media and political stakeholders that took place in Iraq in January and February 2019, it provides some insight into

Women have been at the forefront of many of the political and military struggles in the Kurdish Middle East, most visibly so since the outbreak of the ‘Rojava Revolution’ in 2012. But women have in fact since the foundation of the PKK in 1978 played an integral role in the ideological and political development of the Liberation Movement as a whole; as guerrillas, activists, politicians, mothers and prisoners. Isabel Käser will trace the complex history of the Kurdish Women’s Liberation Movement, discuss how women’s autonomous organisational structures have emerged and how they operate today between the mountains and the cities of the four different parts of Kurdistan. Her talk analyses the emancipatory power this movement holds but also unpacks some of the tensions that emerge from the interplay between militarism, the party’s body politics and the movement’s revolutionary quest for a more democratic Middle East. Recorded on 4 June. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Since free elections were introduced in Turkey, no other party has been able to retain its incumbency as much as the Justice and Development Party (AKP). Given incumbents’ tendency to lose support over time, what are the factors which explain the electoral durability of the party? In this event, Dr Luca will explore the rising consolidation of power by the AKP through the lens of distributive politics, aiming to assess how the ruling party has deployed the geographical distribution of public monies towards distinct political ends. Throughout the 2000s, Turkey was portrayed as a model of social and economic success for other countries in the Middle East and North Africa region. Yet, the incumbent government and its economic development model face increasing criticism for corrupt and discretionary practices and arbitrary decision-making. The talk will ultimately argue that the AKP has skilfully used public monies and abused state resources to cement its power and develop its populist, electoral authoritarian re