On Thursday, the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University hosted the second panel of its two-day annual symposium “The People want the fall of the Regime: The Arab Uprisings and the future of Arab Politics.” The panel featured Mohammed Bamyeh, professor of Sociology at the University of Pittsburgh, and Asli Bali, professor of international law at the University of California Los Angeles. Osama Abi-Mershed of Georgetown University chaired ...

On Thursday, the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University hosted the first panel of its two-day annual symposium “The People want the fall of the Regime: The Arab Uprisings and the Future of Arab Politics.” The panel featured Professor Lisa Wedeen of the University of Chicago, Professor Eva Bellin of Brandeis University, and Joseph Sassoon of Georgetown University. The panelist discussed authoritarian politics in the Arab world, addressing ...

On Tuesday, the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings hosted members of the U.N. Human Rights independent international Commission of Inquiry for Syria to discuss the findings of their recently released report. Paulo Pinhiero, the chairman of the commission, along with commissioners Yakin Erturk and Karen AbuZayd provided an overview of their investigation and described the current human rights situation in Syria. Senior Brookings Fellow Ted Piccone, deputy ...

On Wednesday, the Reserve Officers Association, in conjunction with the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP), hosted an event examining Iran, Syria, and the ramifications that their relationship has for U.S. regional strategy. The event featured Jay Solomon, foreign affairs correspondent of the Wall Street Journal, and Daniel Brumberg, USIP’s senior adviser in the Center for Conflict Management. The event was moderated by Steven Heydeman, the senior adviser for Middle East ...

On Tuesday, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) hosted a panel addressing the challenges and issues that Yemen must address in order to successfully move forward into a democracy. The speakers were Elobaid Ahmed Elobaid, director of the U.N. Human Rights Training and Documentation Center for South West Asia and the Arab Region, Grant Kippen, the IFES chief of party for Yemen, and Ibrahim Sharqieh, deputy director of the ...

On Wednesday, the Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs within the House Appropriations Committee held a Budget Hearing for which Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was the witness. Chairwoman of the Subcommittee Kay Granger (R-TX) and ranking member Nita Lowey (D-NY) presided; Chairman of the Appropriations Committee Hal Rogers (R-KY) also gave an opening statement. For the full text of the hearing, continue reading below or click here ...

On Thursday, the Center for National Policy hosted a panel discussing choices facing the international community and the implications of an ever increasingly violent conflict in Syria. Among the panelists were Middle East Project Director Mona Yacoubian, Washington Bureau Chief of Al-Arabiyya Hisham Melham, and Professor Daniel Serwer from Johns Hopkins University. The event was moderated by Bloomberg News correspondent Indira Lakshmana. For full event notes, continue reading below or click ...

On Tuesday, The American University International Law Review hosted a symposium discussing “The Impact of the Arab Spring throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa: Building the Rule of Law and the Role of the International Community in Domestic Conflicts.” The fourth of a series of five consecutive panels addressed legal reforms and democratization in the wake of the Arab Spring. The panel featured Simon Adams, executive director of the ...

On Tuesday, The American University International Law Review hosted a symposium discussing “The Impact of the Arab Spring Throughout The Middle East and Northern Africa: Building the Rule of Law and the Role of the International Community in Domestic Conflicts.” The second of a series of five consecutive panels addressed legal reforms and democratization in the wake of the Arab Spring. The panel featured Yussef Auf, Judge at the Supreme ...

On Wednesday, the Woodrow Wilson Center hosted an event called “Post-Occupation Iraq: The Brittleness of Political Institutions. The guest speaker was Adeed Dawisha, Public Policy Scholar, Woodrow Wilson Center and Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Miami University, to discuss the state of Iraq’s political institutions. Dawisha argued that Iraqi political institutions are not working in terms of the stated goal of advancing democracy. Rather, Iraq’s politicians are committed to democracy ...

On Wednesday, Freedom House hosted three Bahraini human rights activists to discuss the situation on the ground, prospects for political reform, and U.S.foreign policy in Bahrain. Speakers were: Maryam Al-Khawaja, the head of the Foreign Relations section of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, Husain Abdulla, director of Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain, and Jalil Al Radhi, a Bahraini activist who has fled the country. Dr. Robert ...

On Tuesday, the American University International Law Review hosted a symposium discussing “The Impact of the Arab Spring throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa: Building the Rule of Law and the Role of the International Community in Domestic Conflicts.” The first of a series of five consecutive panels addressed the social and legal origins of the Arab Spring. The panel featured Jonathan Brown, assistant professor at Georgetown University, Stephen ...

On Tuesday, the National Press Club hosted a panel to address the challenges that media and journalists have experienced during the Arab Spring. Speakers included Courtney Radsch, program manager of the Freedom of Expression Campaign at Freedom House, Jeff Ghannam, Author of Digital Media in the Arab World One Year After the Revolutions, Abderrahim Foukara, Al Jazeera’s bureau chief in Washington, Clare Morgana Gillis, freelance journalist, and Nada Alwadi, Bahraini ...

On Monday, the International Religious Freedom Caucus and Congressman Dan Lungren (R-CA) hosted a panel of experts/advocates/victims to present a status report on the current human rights situation in Iran. The speakers were Doctors Arash Alaei and Kamiar Alaei, former prisoners in Evin prison in Tehran, Iran, now with Physicians for Human Rights; Mr. Anthony Vance, director of the Baha’i Office of External Affairs for the National Spiritual Assembly; and ...

On Thursday, The Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings hosted a panel discussing the ongoing crises in Syria and Iran, the potential for escalation, and America’s role in the situation. Panelists included Saban Senior Fellows Robert Moran and Suzanne Maloney, and next generation fellow from The Washington Institute for Near East Policy and Syria Expert Andrew Tabler. Brookings Senior Fellow and Director of the Saban Center Kenneth Pollack ...

On Wednesday, the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia chaired by Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH) held a hearing on the U.S. Government’s policies towards the ever-changing situation in Syria and what kind of policy stances the White House should take in appropriately dealing with Syria. Fredric C. Hof, Special Coordinator for Regional Affairs at the Office of the U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Peace ...

On Thursday, the Middle East Institute in concert with Freedom House hosted a discussion panel on the implications of the Arab Spring for US policy and interests in the Middle East region. The discussion panel was also charged with introducing a planned and authored by numerous scholars in cooperation with MEI entitled, The Arab Spring: Implications for US Policy and Interests. Discussants on the panel were scholars who participated in ...

On Tuesday, the Middle East Institute Brookings Institution co-hosted an event entitled "Syria Under Growing International Pressure." Speakers included Murhaf Jouejati of the Middle East Institute and the National Defense University, Andrew Tabler of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and Omer Taspinar of the Brookings Institution. Saban Center Senior Fellow Michael Doran moderated the discussion, while Kate Seelye provided an introduction. For full event notes, continue reading. Or, click ...

On Wednesday, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems held a panel discussion to discuss the current spate of post-revolutionary elections that have occurred in places like Tunisia and Egypt, and elections that are being prepared for currently in Libya. The discussion also focused on the technical hurdles that numerous countries face when planning and carrying out credible elections. All discussants but one were members of IFES including Nicolas Kaczorowski, IFES ...

Last Thursday, The New America Foundation held a panel discussion about the revolution in Yemen and the implications of President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s resignation from office and the formation of a new government. Program Associate Jonathan Guyer of the New America Foundation moderated the discussion panel, which consisted of Laura Kasinof, Yemen correspondent for The New York Times, and Mohammed Albasha spokesman for the Embassy of the Republic of Yemen. For ...