The Middle East

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, Columbia University, International Affairs, and Director, Gulf 2000 Project, Columbia University ggs2@columbia.edu Associate Chair Lawrence Potter Staff Associate, Middle East Institute, Adjunct Associate Professor, Columbia University, International Affairs lgp5@columbia.edu Rapporteur Aline Sara ags2157@columbia.edu