Lse Middle East Centre Podcasts

There has been much discussion whether the 1953 should be understood in the context of the Cold War or that of economic conflicts between the industrial West and developing countires--in other words, as precursor of the rise of OPEC and oil nationalisation by emerging states in the 1960s and 1970s. In this talk, Professor Abrahamian will focus on how far the newly released State Department and CIA documents help answer this question. Recorded on 29 May 2019. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ervand Abrahamian is Professor Emeritus of History at Baruch College and the Graduate Center in the City University of New York. He is also the author of: Iran Between Two Revolutions (Princeton University Press, 1982); The Iranian Mojahedin (Yale University Press, 1989); Khomeinism (University of California Press, 1993); Tortured confessions: Prisons and Public Reactions in Iran (University of California Press, 2004); A History of Modern Iran (Cambridge Uni

Since February 2019 and President Bouteflika’s announcement that he intended to stand for a fifth term, hundreds of thousands of protesters have descended upon Algeria’s streets to demand his resignation. In the face of pressure from the street and the army, Bouteflika, who suffered a debilitating stroke in 2013, finally stepped down after 20 years in power on 2 April. Hugh Roberts, expert in Algerian constitutional law and its political regime, will explore the implications of ‘L’Après-Bouteflika’: the prospects that now exist for Algeria's political and economic future. Recorded on 3 May 2019. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr Hugh Roberts, a specialist on North African and particularly Algerian history and politics, founded the Society for Algerian Studies in 1992. He was its Secretary from 1992 to 2001 and has been its Vice President since 2002. He is currently the Edward Keller Professor of North African and Middle Eastern History at Tuf

Stuart Hall once wrote that we mustn’t use Gramsci like ‘an Old Testament prophet who, at the correct moment, will offer us the consoling and appropriate quotation.’ Instead, we must ‘think’ our problems in a Gramscian way. What would it mean to ‘think’ some of the problems facing Egypt and the broader Middle East in such a way, and what are some of the challenges and productive encounters this might produce? This talk looks at how Gramsci has ‘travelled’ to the Middle East, and what made this travel possible. In particular, Sara Salem traces some of the ways in which Gramsci’s concepts have been thought with in contexts such as Egypt, and argues that the productive debates that have emerged around this suggest a continuing usefulness of Gramsci for scholars of the region. More importantly, Salem also argues that the particularities of capitalism in the colony and postcolony pose important challenges to prominent interpretations of Gramsci’s work. She suggests that thinking about Gramsci through ‘traveling t

This report assesses widespread claims that pan-Arab satellite news channels have been responsible for inciting sectarian violence during the Arab uprisings. Based on an empirical study of how three of the most popular channels – Al-Jazeera Arabic, Al-Arabiya and Al-Mayadeen - have framed seminal events involving violence between sects in Syria and Iraq, the report finds that while often geo-politically charged, some of these claims are valid. While abusive language or direct promotion of violence is rare in a mainstream context, incitement to sectarian violence has primarily been invoked through linguistic, stylistic and thematic tropes that forge legitimacy claims and narratives of victimhood. The paper draws on these findings to make recommendations for UK policymaker engagement with the Arab media. Recorded on 1 May 2019. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jessica Watkins is Research Officer at the Middle East Centre, currently working on a DFI

BRISMES and LSE Middle East Centre are delighted to host this panel event on Middle East Careers where speakers will talk briefly about their current role and career path and give advice to students. There will be plenty of opportunity for questions. Followed by networking reception. Recorded on 7 March 2019. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr Omar Al-Ghazzi (@omar_alghazzi), Assistant Professor, Department of Media and Communications, LSE Sophie Rudland (@EditorSophie ), Editor Middle East and Islamic Studies, IB Tauris Dr Priscilla Toffano, Visiting Fellow, LSE Middle East Centre (on sabbatical from the Middle East and Central Asia Department, International Monetary Fund) Dr Angeline Turner, Research Analyst, Iraq, Middle East & North Africa Directorate, Foreign and Commonwealth Office Sinéad Murphy is responsible for the organisation of the BRISMES Annual Conference and deals with all aspects of administration. Sinéad is a PhD candidate in th

One of the most prominent sticking points in Israeli–Palestinian negotiations is the right of return for Palestinian refugees. Yoav Kapshuk investigates how the concept of ‘transitional justice’, often used in post-conflict political bargaining, could be utilised in future peace talks to reach a settlement. In addition to analysing previous rounds of negotiations that sought to resolve the refugee issue, he also looks to the negotiations between the Colombian government and the FARC (which successfully concluded with a peace agreement in 2016) and asks what lessons can be learned from the transitional justice measures used in this process. Recorded on 28 February 2019. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yoav Kapshuk is Lecturer at Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee, Israel, and a former Visiting Fellow at the LSE Middle East Centre and at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt. His research focuses on peace processes, transitional justice, conflic

Apologies for the abrupt start of the podcast. The first two minutes of the recording were corrupted. A panel of academics and activists will make critical interventions on sexualities and approaches to LGBT activism in and across the MENA. Specifically, by foregrounding voices from the region and its diaspora, this lecture pushes to challenge debates and discussions that sometimes look in on the region from the outside. Recorded on 26 February 2019. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mehammed Mack is Associate Professor of French Studies at Smith College. He earned his doctorate in French and comparative literature from Columbia University, where he completed a dissertation titled "Immigration and Sexual Citizenship: Gender, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Contemporary France." His first book, Sexagon: Muslims, France, and the Sexualization of National Culture, was released from Fordham University Press in January 2017. Cenk Özbay is Associate Professor

The national armed forces of Arab states have been undergoing a radical transformation. New fluid coalitions of armed state and non-state actors engage in complex patterns of coexistence and contestation, set within a wider context of geopolitical rivalry between their external backers. Renowned Middle East scholar Yezid Sayigh examines the re-emergence of militaries as central political actors. Recorded on 13 February 2019. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 post-conflict reconstruction and security sector transformation in Arab transitions, and authoritarian resurgence. Jessica Watkins is Research Officer at the Middle East Centre, currently working o

On 19 July 2018, the Israeli parliament passed the controversial Basic Law, which defines the nature of the State of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people. This talk analyses the different clauses of the law, reflects on their meaning with the help of the discussions that took place in the Knesset during the legislation period, and ties them with broader political and social processes taking place in Israeli society and politics. Recorded on 30 January 2019. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amal Jamal is Professor of Political Science at Tel Aviv University, where he heads the International Graduate Program in Political Science and Political. He is also Chair of the Walter Lebach Institute for Jewish-Arab Coexistence. He is Co-Editor in Chief of the journal The Public Sphere published in Hebrew. Michael Mason is Director of the Middle East Centre. He is also Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Environment and Associate of the Gra

In recent years Israel has forged closer links with Arab Gulf states with which it has no diplomatic relations, unlike Egypt and Jordan. The main factors in their converging interests are shared alarm about Iran’s rise as a regional power, opposition to Barack Obama’s Middle East policies and the marginalization of the divided Palestinians. Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain all have business, security and intelligence ties with Israel, though since they are largely “below the horizon” it is hard to judge their extent. Qatar and Oman have links too – illustrated by Binyamin Netanyahu’s recent visit to Muscat and Doha’s role mediating with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. But these connections are more visible than ever before. Donald Trump’s wooing of the Saudis briefly promoted hopes for a role for Riyadh in the president’s long-trailed “deal of the century.” The US decision to abandon the international nuclear deal with Iran and reimpose sanctions was greeted by Israel and the Gulf states, raising the possibility of

Speaker: Jim Muir, BBC News and LSE Middle East Centre Visiting Senior Fellow Chair: Ian Black, LSE Middle East Centre Visiting Senior Fellow Jim Muir has lived in and reported on the Middle East since he arrived in Beirut in January 1975, armed with a Cambridge degree in Arabic. Expecting Lebanon to be a stable base from which to cover a turbulent region, he spent the next 15 years reporting on the tortuous conflict which engulfed the country itself. He was in northern Iraq during the Kurdish uprising against Saddam Hussein in 1991 and covered the dramatic flight of the Kurds to the mountains. After a spell reporting the Bosnia conflict, he moved to Cairo as BBC Middle East correspondent in 1995, followed by five years in Tehran, where he chronicled the doomed hopes raised by the election of the reformist President Khatami. In 2004, he returned to Beirut, covered the 2006 Israel–Hezbollah war, and spent much time in Iraq until the Arab Spring diverted attention to Egypt, Tunisia and especially Syria, on who

Speaker: Mehmet Kurt, LSE and Yale University Chair: Robert Lowe, LSE Middle East Deputy Director Islam has returned to the Turkish and Kurdish public and political spheres, becoming an effective means to mobilise voters and recruit supporters during the AKP era. In this talk, Mehmet Kurt highlights two distinctive approaches to the Kurdish issue adopted by Kurdish Hizbullah (Huda-Par) and the wider Kurdish movement. While the former relies on an explicitly Islamist political agenda to subsume Kurdish society into part of a pan-Islamist entity, the latter pursues a secular but increasingly pluralist agenda to expand its base among religious Kurds. This in turn determines both groups’ connection to Kurdish political identity. While Hizbullah embraces a form of ‘Kurdishness’ that mainly makes reference to Islam, the wider Kurdish movement incorporates Islam into its pluralist notion of ‘the people of Turkey’. Recorded on 17 December 2018. ---------------------------------------------------------------------

Speaker: Farea Al-Muslimi, Chairman and co-founder of Sana'a Center for Strategic Studies. Chair: Michael Mason, LSE Middle East Centre Director. For the last four years, Yemen has been suffering one of the bloodiest wars in the Middle East. In a manner surpassing even Syria, state institutions have collapsed, health and education systems are largely dysfunctional, millions continue to suffer from malnutrition, and over one million civil servants have not been paid their salaries for two years. In the meantime, local alliances are dramatically shifting and evolving, while regional actors are increasingly involved to varying degrees. In particular, Saudi Arabia, Iran and the UAE exercise control militarily, either directly or through proxies, while Qatar, Oman and Western countries remain indirectly involved. How have the diplomatic efforts to solve the conflict in Yemen failed since 2011, and what lessons have been learned? What challenges face the current UN-lead peace process, and what are its prospects

Speaker: Martin Chulov, The Guardian Chair: Ian Black, LSE Senior Visiting Fellow With the battle for Syrian soil near an end, the most brutal conflict of modern times is becoming a fight for who gets to shape what emerges from the ruins. Backed by his allies, Bashar al-Assad has all but won and – abandoned by theirs – the myriad forces who stood against him have lost. The battlefield is now now potently geopolitical. Iran and Russia, who saved Damascus, want a strategic return on their blood and treasure, but both have very different visions for post-war Syria. Turkey too is demanding an outcome that suits it's interests. As is Israel. A waning USA, Saudi Arabia and Qatar also want a say in how the regime is aligned in a fast changing and volatile region.The stakes have rarely been higher in the modern Middle East. The next few years will test the modern borders of the region, and further strain an ethnic sectarian balance that has neared breaking point from Tartous to Qom. Recorded on 27 November --------

Apologies for the abrupt ending of the podcast. The recording was cut short. You can watch the full lecture online on our facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/lsemiddleeastcentre/videos/363890584359536/ Speakers: Madawi Al-Rasheed, Ian Black and Steffen Hertog, LSE Middle East Centre Chair: Michael Mason, LSE Middle East Centre Saudi Journalist Jamal Khashoggi entered the Saudi embassy in Istanbul on 2 October 2018 to never leave. Having denied knowing his whereabouts, Saudi Arabia now admits that Khashoggi had been killed, but the leadership claims to have no knowledge of – or connection to – the murder. The death of the Saudi journalist has taken over international headlines; but what are the long-term implications of this event? This panel brings together LSE Middle East Centre experts to discuss internal, international and economic repercussions. Recorded on 22 November 2018. ------------------------------ Madawi Al-Rasheed (@MadawiDr)is Visiting Professor at the LSE Middle East Centre. Ian B

Speakers: David McDowall and Zeynep Kaya, LSE Middle East Centre. David McDowall’s ground-breaking modern history of the Kurds was first published in 1996. It became a foundation text for the subsequent growth of scholarship on the Kurds and, revised and updated three times, remains an essential part of the literature. David is currently updating the book again and will share his thoughts on developments in the field and, in particular, on areas which have gained in importance and understanding over the last 25 years. David McDowall studied Islamic History under Albert Hourani for his first degree and wrote his post-graduate dissertation on the Druze revolt in Syria, 1925-27. He is a generalist, having worked for the British Council and UNRWA, before becoming a full-time writer, writing on Britain, Palestine, Lebanon and the Kurds. After 20 years writing and self-publishing a series of British landscape books, he has reverted to updating his history of the Kurds. The event marks the launch of the Kurdish S

Speakers: Salman Sheikh, The Sheikh Group and Courtney Freer, LSE Middle East Centre Salman Shaikh is a negotiations specialist with eight years of experience in running Track II diplomacy with a wide spectrum of Syrian communities and constituencies. With Syria divided into zones of influence dominated by external players, he will address the question of what options remain for a political process – and what is at stake. At a time when world and regional powers are once again attempting to negotiate a political breakthrough that would serve their interests, he will argue that a path to an inclusive political process must – and can – be found. In this regard, he will also draw on years of engagement with key regional and international capitals, including Washington, Moscow, Ankara, Riyadh and London. Recorded on 13 November 2018. --------------------------------- Salman Shaikh (@Salman_Shaikh1) is the Founder and CEO of The Shaikh Group (TSG). Courtney Freer (@courtneyfreer) joined the Kuwait Programme, LS

Speakers: Hendrik Kraetzschmar, University of Leeds, Paola Rivetti, Dublin City University, Courtney Freer, LSE Middle East Centre, Craig Larkin, King’s College London. Chair: Katerina Dalacoura, LSE What are the consequences of the Arab uprisings for Islamist actors and organisations across the region? Have regime change, revolution, counter-revolution and reform worked to strengthen the power and influence of Islamists, or have they weakened them? Presenting the recently published volume Islamists and the Politics of the Arab Uprisings: Governance, Pluralisation and Contention (EUP, 2018), panellists will critically discuss the impact of the uprisings looking at how Islamists' political and ideological stances have shifted as a result of a dramatically changing social and political environment. Cross-regional dynamics will be explored and assessed, alongside discussions of the national specificities of Islamist trajectories in those countries of the Middle East and North Africa impacted by the waves of pop

Speakers: Youssef Cherif, Deputy Director of Columbia Global Centers, Tunis, member in Carnegie's Civic Research Network. Youssef Cherif analyses how the Maghreb region is another theatre of the cold war raging between the Gulf Cooperation Council's (GCC) members. By means of fake news, political pressures and transfer of weapons, the three leading protagonists of the GCC are influencing the political, security and economic situation in North Africa which in turn deepens their crises and risks destabilizing the region. Recorded on 10 October 2018. ---------------------------- Youssef Cherif (@Faiyla) is a political analyst who specializes in North African affairs. He is Deputy Director of Columbia Global Centers, Tunis, member in Carnegie's Civic Research Network and is contributing to a number of think-tanks. Courtney Freer (@courtneyfreer) is Research Officer at the Middle East Centre at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Her work focuses on the domestic politics of the Arab G

Speakers: Courtney Freer, Toby Doge, LSE Middle East Centre; Stéphane Lacroix, Sciences Po, Paris; John Jenkins, Policy Exchange, London. Scholars of Middle Eastern politics have long overlooked the role played by political Islam in domestic politics of the wealthy monarchical states of the Arabian Gulf, so-called 'rentier states'. While rentier state theory assumes that citizens of such states will form opposition blocs only when their stake in rent income is threatened, this book demonstrates that ideology, rather than rent, has motivated the formation of independent Islamist movements in the wealthiest states of the region, specifically, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The book therefore argues that Brotherhood movements have managed to use the links between the social (i.e. informal personal networks) and political (i.e. government institutions) to gain influence in policymaking in such states. Using contemporary history and original empirical research, Courtney Freer updates tradition