The Middle East

Founded
1971
Seminar Number
525

The seminar usually meets once a month during the academic year. A prominent expert from here or abroad, commonly from the Middle East, leads a four-hour discussion at each meeting, assuring ample time for seri- ous dialogue on focused issues. The seminar provides a forum for the exchange of ideas and experiences by Middle East experts in various spheres—business, banking and investment, federal service, the foundations, the media, and the liberal professions as well as academia. The seminar has become a medium for carefully defined and informed evaluation of stubborn problems in a region that symbolizes mounting instability and proliferating crises. Detailed minutes are circulated to participating members for use without attribution to uphold the confidentiality of the discussion.

Chair
Gary Sick
Senior Research Scholar, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
ggs2@columbia.edu

Associate Chair
Lawrence Potter
Adjunct Professor of International Affairs, Columbia University
lgp5@columbia.edu

Rapporteur
Lydia Bassaly
lb3004@columbia.edu

Meeting dates and locations are subject to change. Please confirm details with the seminar rapporteur.

Welcome

Meetings

09/28/2016	Faculty House, Columbia University 5:00 PM	The Shah and the Revolution: What did he know and when did he know it? Andrew Scott Cooper, Columbia University

10/19/2016	Faculty House, Columbia University 5:00 PM	Muslims in Transition: Religion and Politics in Western Europe Kathryn Spellman Poots, Aga Khan University Abstract Abstract Although the situation of Muslims in Western Europe has occasionally come up in our seminars, for the first time we will have an expert address the situation explicitly. The spillover of refugees from Middle East conflict zones, the difficulties of assimilation and the prospect of increased restrictions on emigration and citizenship, has raised the prospect of continuing tensions both between and within European states. What has been the response of Muslim populations in Europe as they engage and respond to local, national, and global conditions?

11/16/2016	Faculty House, Columbia University 5:00 PM	New administration. Old Middle East. What next? Daniel Levy, U.S./Middle East Project

12/07/2016	Faculty House, Columbia University 5:00 PM	Saudi Arabia at the End of the Obama Era Bernard Haykel, Princeton University

01/25/2017	Faculty House, Columbia University 5:00 PM	Dark Clouds over Turkey: From Populist Authoritarianism to International Quagmire Henri Barkey, Lehigh University

02/15/2017	Faculty House, Columbia University 5:00 PM	Is Iraq a Failed State? Luay al-Khatteeb, Columbia University Abstract Abstract Iraq is at the very heart of the Middle East and developments there shape what happens in the rest of the region. It is the land of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, a country that has been the breadbasket of the region in the past, but it also sits on some of the richest oil reserves in the world. It is an Arab land but also majority Shia. Its relations with Iran in the past have been dominated by rivalry and warfare, but now have evolved into a complex relationship that is seen by many Arabs as threatening. The Kurdish population in the north has carved out a semi-autonomous political structure but relies on its relationship with Baghdad in many important ways. The northwest part of the country was taken over by ISIS, and it is there that the battle to defeat the so-called Caliphate is most intense. And many regard the Iraqi political system as incapable of dealing with so many contradictions and threats simultaneously. We are privileged to have one of the preeminent observers of Iraq’s political, economic and energy realities to lead us through this set of complications. Luay al-Khatteeb is the founding director of the Iraq Energy Institute, co-founder of Iraq Heritage, nonresident Fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy (Columbia University-SIPA), and honorary advisor to the Federal Parliament of Iraq on Energy and Economy. His past experience spans over twenty years in business development and public policy with executive capacities as director and senior advisor to various international oil companies, commercial banks and management consulting firms. In addition to his professional commitments, al-Khatteeb is an active participant and contributor to the Brookings Institution (as a former foreign policy fellow), Chatham House, Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and the Revenue Watch Institute. He is a frequent commentator in mainstream media on issues related to energy security, regional economy, and politics in the Middle East. His writing has appeared in Foreign Affairs, The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Al-Monitor, CNN, MEES, the Petroleum-Economist, About-Oil by AGI, The Oil & Gas Year and The National.

03/22/2017	Faculty House, Columbia University 5:00 PM	Revolution and its Aftermath in Tunisia and Egypt David B. Ottaway, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and The Washington Post

04/19/2017	Faculty House, Columbia University 5:00 PM	,

2nd Floor, Faculty House, 64 Morningside Drive, MC 2302 New York, NY 10027

Phone: 212.854.2389 | Fax: 212.854.8248 | Email: univ.seminars@columbia.edu

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The Middle East

Meetings

Abstract

Abstract

Additional Resources