Middle East Initiative

Anina Hewey, Farida El-Gueretly, and Sonya Temko received summer internship funding to travel to Jordan in 2016. They graduated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education with Masters in International Education Policy the same year. In Jordan they evaluated the TIGER Program at Za'atari Refugee Camp.

Thanks to generous support from the Middle East Initiative, we, Anina Hewey, Farida El-Gueretly and Sonya Temko, (HGSE International Education Policy 2016) traveled to Za’atari Refugee Camp in Jordan in June to conduct a process evaluation of the pilot TIGER program. TIGER (These Inspiring Girls Enjoy Reading) is a community-based, non-formal education initiative for adolescent Syrian girls in Za’atari funded through the UNHCR Innovation fund, implemented by IRD and designed and supported by Open Learning Exchange. The program aims to keep girls in school once they reach the at-risk age of adolescence and re-enroll out-of-school girls into formal schooling. The program also seeks to enhance girls’ sense of agency, meaning and connection in their lives. To achieve these goals, the program is comprised of three essential parts: academic support, project-based learning, and a personalized learning system on tablets. Across six districts of Za’atari, 120 TIGER girls meet daily in teams of about ten guided by a co-teaching pair of Syrian women.

The purpose of our trip was to evaluate these goals and determine what more, if anything, could be done to strengthen the program. Through our interviews with coaches, focus group discussions with TIGER girls, and observations of each of the TIGER teams, we found the program to be successful in increasing girls’ motivation to go to and stay in school. The combination of direct academic support, community service projects, and strong trusting relationships with coaches, made the TIGER girls and their families part of a “network of girl change makers” within the camp. Many girls reported feeling increased confidence at school and developed new skills in collaborative problem solving.

The projects the girls have done as part of the TIGER program demonstrate their creativity and power. The first round of projects centered on the theme of recycling. Teams did projects varying from creating decorations out of recycled materials, creating and performing a play about recycling, to conducting interviews in the camp about how the community recycles. The current project cycle is focused on the theme of education and teams are doing projects including peer-learning with non-TIGER girls, publishing an article about social issues in the community magazine, creating their own magazine on the importance of education, organizing a “girl pool” to have all girls walk safely together to and from school, organizing a registration drive to re-enroll girls into school, and organizing a girls’ soccer tournament.

Our biggest recommendation for the program is to expand it to reach as many girls as possible in the camp. This should be done through systematic training that leverages the knowledge and experience of the current coaches to train oncoming coaches in project-based learning. Because of the impact that the peer-learning project has had on TIGER and non-TIGER girls, this model should be expanded to all TIGER teams and could be considered as a route for expansion of the program at-large.

James Fallon, Master in Public Administration in International Development Candidate, received summer internship funding to travel to Algeria in 2016. He will graduate in the spring of 2017. 

With the help of a grant from the Middle East Initiative at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, I spent ten weeks with the Bank of Algeria during the summer of 2016. The internship was undertaken in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master in Public Administration in International Development (MPA/ID).

As Algeria’s central bank, the bank manages the country’s monetary policy and provides foreign exchange services for all of the country’s international trade. It prints and manages the circulation of the Algerian dinar, and also plays a role in bank regulation and supervision.

Over the course of my time with the bank, I was able to focus on the particular challenges that major commodity exporters face in managing monetary policy. Given Algeria’s status as a major oil and gas exporter and a state-centered economy, these challenges have become especially salient for the country since the 2014 fall in oil prices.

My time with the bank was a fantastic learning experience, and fit well with my coursework on development economics at the Kennedy School. I rotated through all major departments of the bank, including the research department, foreign exchange trading, capital controls and bank inspection. I was able to engage with the practical challenges of central banking for an economy that exports almost exclusively oil and gas, while also participating in the broader discussion of how to encourage diversification in economies that rely heavily on commodity export earnings.

Importantly, the experience also gave me a chance to build relationships with Algerian policymakers and bank employees, while also exposing me to a broader community of interest for economic policy in Africa and the Middle East that spent time visiting the bank or attending conferences hosted there. The experience lent a strong grounding to my academic work in economic policy, and helped me envision various ways to apply that interest to my career.

Heli Mishael, Maser of Public Policy Candidate and current teaching fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, received summer internship funding to travel to Israel in 2016. She will graduate in the spring of 2017.

In the summer of 2016, I spent two months interning at ANU, a nonprofit organization organizing for socioeconomic issues in Israel. Through ANU, I was able to put my skills learnt in the Kennedy School into action in the social justice organizing campaigns and learn from dozens of organizations collaborating under the umbrella of ANU.

My responsibility was to organize and train activists in public narrative, a skill that I learnt in Prof. Ganz’s Public Narrative class. I coached over 80 individuals in their stories of self and worked with eight different campaigns for their narratives. I also got to help ANU’s organizing coalitions with their campaign strategy. I identified best cases, benchmarks and data that were useful for campaigns to utilize and was able to help them with “infographics” that could communicate the coalitions’ issues to the public especially through social media.

One of my favorite experiences in my summer internship was the advocacy work done in the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament. With the activists of ANU’s coalitions, we presented issues and the work of the coalition in to Members of the Knesset (MKs) and in the relevant Committees. We also staged actions in the Knesset hallways, calling for MKs to support our campaigns. I got to see many different campaigns in different stages: from planning many of them to celebrating the win of the public summer camp affordability campaign. I was able to get a lot of insight into the dynamics of the civil society, the media’s and the MKs’ collaboration.

My summer experience was the first time I transitioned from nonprofit programming into advocacy and direct organizing work. I learnt that this is a path that I would like to continue on, because I saw how social justice change happened before my very eyes, and that it can be and is initiated by the civil society working directly to pressure the government to change its policies.

How can societies move from poverty to prosperity? How can weak, stagnant, and dependent countries become strong, innovative, and influential? Does the answer lie in the transformation of cultural and religious norms? Does it require the adoption of institutions employed by “successful” societies? What is the role of leadership in effecting (or inhibiting) what needs to be done for states and their peoples to maximize their potential? Taught by Faculty Director Professor Tarek Masoudand supported by MEI, this for-credit module brings HKS students to the Arab Middle East to explore these questions.   

Learn more here.

MEI supports an experiential field study course in the region each year taught by Professor Claude Bruderlein (Harvard Humanitarian Initiative). The January 2020 course brought students to Lebanon and explored the larger response to the significant burden of war injury in the Middle East region, including Yemen, Syria, Libya and Iraq. Specifically, it examined the negotiation strategies involved in facilitating the access of war-affected civilians in need of reconstructive surgery.

This course aims to advance professional dialogue on complex humanitarian and political issues and to further exchanges between graduate students and practitioners in the field. 

This weekly study group will look at art production in North Africa and West Asia through the prism of important historical moments and socio-political events throughout the region. The participants will survey the political underpinnings of Arab art in the 20th century and the socio-political conditions that shaped cultural production in the region. Whether it is under the Ba’athist regimes of Syria and Iraq or under Egypt’s pan-Arabism championed by Gamal Abdel Nasser, painting and sculpture, in addition to film and performance, have been employed by various governments as a tool of soft power to propagate their policies in their respective states and beyond. Despite widespread government patronage of the arts, many artists have chosen to challenge their authorities through subversive movements and practices, which we will address at different moments in the semester. This study group, through its focus on the strategic use of the arts, will grapple with an often-neglected dimension of the modern history of the Arab World and other parts of the Middle East.

MEI Senior Fellow Study Group | Spring 2021

James Snyder in Conversation: A series of dialogues on art, culture, politics, and the possibilities for transcending conflict in the modern Middle East

with James Snyder, MEI Senior Fellow and Executive Chairman, Jerusalem Foundation, Inc.;  Director Emeritus, Israel Museum.

Dance in Israel
Wednesday, February 24, 2021, 12:00pm

James S. Snyder in conversation with Ohad Naharin, Artistic Director and Choreographer of the Batsheva Dance Company, Israel’s premiere contemporary dance ensemble, and a seminal personality worldwide, talking about interpreting the challenges of the region through dance.   

The Universal Museum through a Middle Eastern Lens
Wednesday, March 24, 2021, 12:00pm

James Snyder in conversation with Manuel Rabate, Director of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, talking about the special meaning of a universal museum in the Middle East today, as distinct from the founding mandate and mission of “universal” museums in the western world. 

Jewish Arabs | Arab Jews
Wednesday, April 14, 2021, 12:00pm

James Snyder in conversation James Snyder,  HKS/MEI Senior Fellow, in conversation with Sasson Gabay, award-winning Israeli stage, film, and television actor, notably for his performance in the acclaimed The Band’s Visit. Born in Iraq of Sephardi Jewish heritage, Gabay's history will inform this conversation on the merging sensibilities of the Arab Jew and the Jewish Arab across the Middle Eastern landscape and their depictions on stage and screen.

Another Kind of Other in Israel and Palestine 
Wednesday, May 19, 2021, 12:00pm 

James Snyder in conversation with the contemporary Israeli artist Zoya Cherkassky, who arrived as a child from the Soviet Union, talking about other kinds of outsiders who are also an integral part of the landscape of Israel and Palestine and about how art makes the complexity of their experiences comprehensible for others.

James S. Snyder is the Executive Chairman of the Jerusalem Foundation, Inc. and Director Emeritus of the Israel Museum. He served as the Israel Museum’s Anne and Jerome Fisher Director from 1997-2016 and then its International President through 2018.

As Director, Snyder led the Museum through the most dramatic period of growth since its founding and secured its stature as one of the world’s foremost museums. During his tenure, the Museum more than doubled its annual attendance to nearly one million visitors and increased its endowment more than fivefold to $200 million. Snyder also conceived and realized a series of successful initiatives to upgrade and enhance the experience of art and architecture across the Museum’s 20-acre campus, culminating in a comprehensive $100-million, 300,000-square-foot expansion and renewal designed to resonate with the Museum’s original architectural plan and a dynamic reinstallation of its wide-ranging collections. During his subsequent term in the newly created role of International President, Snyder continued to spearhead the development of the Museum’s extensive international network of Friends organizations; to build the Museum’s relationships with sister institutions and collectors worldwide; and to support the Museum’s leadership in strategic planning, professional staff development, and program planning.

Israel’s largest cultural institution, the Museum is universal in scope, comprising over 500,000 objects under the jurisdiction of curatorial wings for archeology, Jewish world culture, and the fine arts extending to contemporary art worldwide. Snyder led a staff of over 350 complemented by a volunteer force equal in size. He also fostered substantial growth of the Museum’s International Friends network, expanding it across 16 countries on four continents and strengthening the Museum’s global foundation for operating, exhibition and programming, and capital support. Given its cross-communal reach in Jerusalem – serving local visitors, tourists, and over 100,000 students each year from all of its diverse communities – and its global profile, the Museum has become an important center for cultural diplomacy in Israel and internationally from the Middle East to North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Under Snyder’s leadership, the Museum also greatly expanded its encyclopedic holdings across all collecting areas, with the addition of more than 55,000 individual objects and works of art, including a collection-building campaign during the Museum’s 50th Anniversary in 2015, which attracted gifts of more than 20 collections numbering several thousand objects and nearly 500 individual works of art. Among the notable works acquired during Snyder’s tenure include: in Archaeology, the Renée and Robert Belfer Collection of Ancient Glass and Greek and Roman Antiquity and the Demirjian Family European Bronze Age Collection; in Jewish Art and Life, an illuminated Mishneh Torah of Maimonides (ca. 1457), acquired jointly with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the restored 18th-century Tzedek ve-Shalom Synagogue from Paramaribo, Suriname; and, in the Fine Arts, Nicolas Poussin’s Destruction and Sack of the Temple of Jerusalem (1625), Rembrandt van Rijn’s St. Peter in Prison (1631), the Arturo Schwarz Collection of Dada and Surrealist Art, Jackson Pollock’s Horizontal Composition (1949), the Noel and Harriette Levine Collection of Photography, Yayoi Kusama’s Ironing Board (1963), Alina Szapocznikow’s Cleaning Woman (1965), and Gerhard Richter’s Abstraktes Bild (1997); together with acquisitions of emerging contemporary art and site-specific commissions by such artists as Ai Weiwei, Olafur Eliasson, Anish Kapoor, and Doug and Mike Starn.

Snyder strengthened the Museum’s regional and international presence with an ambitious series of collection and loan exhibitions in Jerusalem and traveling exhibitions worldwide, extending to North and South America, Europe, and Asia. These included: Ai Weiwei: Maybe, Maybe Not (2017); the Museum’s 50th Anniversary exhibitions, among them A Brief History of Humankind (2015), featuring 14 pivotal objects from across the Museum’s collections from prehistoric times through the present day, complemented by signature works from the Museum’s contemporary holdings, and Twilight over Berlin: Masterworks from the Nationalgalerie, 1905-1945 (2015); James Turrell: Light Spaces (2014); Dress Codes: Revealing the Jewish Wardrobe (2014); Herod the Great: The King’s Final Journey (2013); A World Apart: Glimpses into the Lives of Hasidic Jews (2012); William Kentridge: Five Themes (2011); Looking for Owners and Orphaned Art (2008), two ground-breaking exhibitions on art looted during World War II; and Surrealism and Beyond (2007), which completed major international tours in 2009 and then again in 2014-15.

Snyder’s publications include: Museum Design: Planning and Building for Art (Oxford University Press) in 1993; and RENEWED: The Israel Museum Campus Renewal Project (Israel Museum) in 2011 and 2015 (revised).

Prior to his appointment at the Israel Museum, Snyder held a number of positions at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, culminating as Deputy Director from 1986 to 1996. During his tenure at MoMA, he oversaw the $60-million, 350,000-square-foot expansion of the Museum in 1984 and had significant organizational responsibility for major international loan exhibitions, including Pablo Picasso: A Retrospective (1980) and Henri Matisse: A Retrospective (1992).

In recognition of his leadership in the arts, Snyder has been awarded the Commendatore dell’Ordine della Stella della Solidarietà Italiana (Commander of the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity) by the Republic of Italy and the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) of the French Republic. In 2011, he was awarded the Jerusalem Foundation’s Teddy Kollek Award for Significant Contribution to Jerusalem, and, in 2012, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat conferred on him the title of Honorary Citizen of Jerusalem.

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Snyder is a graduate of Harvard University and a Loeb Fellow of Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, and he holds an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Hebrew Union College. He is married to Tina Davis, a graphic artist and designer, and they have two children.

MEI Senior Fellow Study Group | Fall 2020

James Snyder in Conversation: A series of dialogues on art, culture, politics, and the possibilities for transcending conflict in the modern Middle East

with James Snyder, MEI Senior Fellow and Executive Chairman, Jerusalem Foundation, Inc.;  Director Emeritus, Israel Museum.

The Power of Place
Wednesday, September 16, 2020, 5:00pm

James S. Snyder, HKS/MEI Senior Fellow, in conversation with MEI Faculty Director Tarek Masoud, speaks personally about his experience living and working among Jerusalem’s Christian, Jewish, and Muslim communities, reflecting on the meaning of place and identity and the role of culture and the cultural landscape as sources of unity and division. 

Making Monotheism: Scholarly and Artistic Interpretations
Wednesday, October 14, 2020, 5:00pm (date and time TBC)

James Snyder in conversation with Moshe Halbertal, Biblical scholar specializing in the legacy of Maimonides, and Anthony Roth Costanzo, American countertenor who portrayed Akhenaten in the Philip Glass opera “Akhenaten” in the Metropolitan Opera’s 2019-2020 season, discussing creative interpretations of the emergence of the Middle East’s most significant contribution to the history of world religion—the belief in a single, all-powerful God.

Antique Inspirations, Fresh Creations
Wednesday, November 18, 2020, 5:00pm (date and time TBC)

James Snyder in conversation with award-winning Palestinian Israeli architect Senan Abdelqader on the influences of Arab culture across time on art, architecture, and design in Israel, Palestine, and the world today.

Israel and Palestine on Screen 
Wednesday, December 16, 2020, 5:00pm (date and time TBC)

James Snyder and Tarek Masoud in conversation with Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers Joseph Cedar and Tawfik Abu Wael, collaborating writers and directors for the HBO series Our Boys, discussing serial television as a medium for exploring cross-cultural narratives in Israel and Palestine and strategies for doing so with accuracy and sensitivity.

James S. Snyder is the Executive Chairman of the Jerusalem Foundation, Inc. and Director Emeritus of the Israel Museum. He served as the Israel Museum’s Anne and Jerome Fisher Director from 1997-2016 and then its International President through 2018.

As Director, Snyder led the Museum through the most dramatic period of growth since its founding and secured its stature as one of the world’s foremost museums. During his tenure, the Museum more than doubled its annual attendance to nearly one million visitors and increased its endowment more than fivefold to $200 million. Snyder also conceived and realized a series of successful initiatives to upgrade and enhance the experience of art and architecture across the Museum’s 20-acre campus, culminating in a comprehensive $100-million, 300,000-square-foot expansion and renewal designed to resonate with the Museum’s original architectural plan and a dynamic reinstallation of its wide-ranging collections. During his subsequent term in the newly created role of International President, Snyder continued to spearhead the development of the Museum’s extensive international network of Friends organizations; to build the Museum’s relationships with sister institutions and collectors worldwide; and to support the Museum’s leadership in strategic planning, professional staff development, and program planning.

Israel’s largest cultural institution, the Museum is universal in scope, comprising over 500,000 objects under the jurisdiction of curatorial wings for archeology, Jewish world culture, and the fine arts extending to contemporary art worldwide. Snyder led a staff of over 350 complemented by a volunteer force equal in size. He also fostered substantial growth of the Museum’s International Friends network, expanding it across 16 countries on four continents and strengthening the Museum’s global foundation for operating, exhibition and programming, and capital support. Given its cross-communal reach in Jerusalem – serving local visitors, tourists, and over 100,000 students each year from all of its diverse communities – and its global profile, the Museum has become an important center for cultural diplomacy in Israel and internationally from the Middle East to North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Under Snyder’s leadership, the Museum also greatly expanded its encyclopedic holdings across all collecting areas, with the addition of more than 55,000 individual objects and works of art, including a collection-building campaign during the Museum’s 50th Anniversary in 2015, which attracted gifts of more than 20 collections numbering several thousand objects and nearly 500 individual works of art. Among the notable works acquired during Snyder’s tenure include: in Archaeology, the Renée and Robert Belfer Collection of Ancient Glass and Greek and Roman Antiquity and the Demirjian Family European Bronze Age Collection; in Jewish Art and Life, an illuminated Mishneh Torah of Maimonides (ca. 1457), acquired jointly with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the restored 18th-century Tzedek ve-Shalom Synagogue from Paramaribo, Suriname; and, in the Fine Arts, Nicolas Poussin’s Destruction and Sack of the Temple of Jerusalem (1625), Rembrandt van Rijn’s St. Peter in Prison (1631), the Arturo Schwarz Collection of Dada and Surrealist Art, Jackson Pollock’s Horizontal Composition (1949), the Noel and Harriette Levine Collection of Photography, Yayoi Kusama’s Ironing Board (1963), Alina Szapocznikow’s Cleaning Woman (1965), and Gerhard Richter’s Abstraktes Bild (1997); together with acquisitions of emerging contemporary art and site-specific commissions by such artists as Ai Weiwei, Olafur Eliasson, Anish Kapoor, and Doug and Mike Starn.

Snyder strengthened the Museum’s regional and international presence with an ambitious series of collection and loan exhibitions in Jerusalem and traveling exhibitions worldwide, extending to North and South America, Europe, and Asia. These included: Ai Weiwei: Maybe, Maybe Not (2017); the Museum’s 50th Anniversary exhibitions, among them A Brief History of Humankind (2015), featuring 14 pivotal objects from across the Museum’s collections from prehistoric times through the present day, complemented by signature works from the Museum’s contemporary holdings, and Twilight over Berlin: Masterworks from the Nationalgalerie, 1905-1945 (2015); James Turrell: Light Spaces (2014); Dress Codes: Revealing the Jewish Wardrobe (2014); Herod the Great: The King’s Final Journey (2013); A World Apart: Glimpses into the Lives of Hasidic Jews (2012); William Kentridge: Five Themes (2011); Looking for Owners and Orphaned Art (2008), two ground-breaking exhibitions on art looted during World War II; and Surrealism and Beyond (2007), which completed major international tours in 2009 and then again in 2014-15.

Snyder’s publications include: Museum Design: Planning and Building for Art (Oxford University Press) in 1993; and RENEWED: The Israel Museum Campus Renewal Project (Israel Museum) in 2011 and 2015 (revised).

Prior to his appointment at the Israel Museum, Snyder held a number of positions at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, culminating as Deputy Director from 1986 to 1996. During his tenure at MoMA, he oversaw the $60-million, 350,000-square-foot expansion of the Museum in 1984 and had significant organizational responsibility for major international loan exhibitions, including Pablo Picasso: A Retrospective (1980) and Henri Matisse: A Retrospective (1992).

In recognition of his leadership in the arts, Snyder has been awarded the Commendatore dell’Ordine della Stella della Solidarietà Italiana (Commander of the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity) by the Republic of Italy and the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) of the French Republic. In 2011, he was awarded the Jerusalem Foundation’s Teddy Kollek Award for Significant Contribution to Jerusalem, and, in 2012, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat conferred on him the title of Honorary Citizen of Jerusalem.

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Snyder is a graduate of Harvard University and a Loeb Fellow of Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, and he holds an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Hebrew Union College. He is married to Tina Davis, a graphic artist and designer, and they have two children.

With Rami Khouri, MEI Senior Fellow and Senior Fellow, Issam Fares Institute; Visiting Adjunct Professor of Journalism; and Journalist-in-Residence, American University of Beirut.

Open to Harvard ID holders and invited Boston-area writers and journalists only. Learn more and apply: www.belfercenter.org/ShadidJournalism. Questions? Email chris_mawhorter@hks.harvard.edu.

Overview

The late Anthony Shadid was one of the most honored foreign correspondents in modern U.S. journalism. He won two Pulitzer Prizes for coverage of the U.S. presence in Iraq, in 2004 while Baghdad bureau chief for The Washington Post and in 2010 while Beirut bureau chief for The New York Times, where he worked until his untimely death in 2012, while on assignment in Syria. He was also a finalist for the 2007 Pulitzer and received numerous other awards for his reporting. This study group will be a hands-on, workshop-style approach to learning from veteran Middle East journalist Rami Khouri’s archival research in Shadid’s personal papers now deposited at the American University of Beirut and interviews with over 50 of Shadid’s colleagues. Participants will learn about key elements in Shadid’s “narrative reporting” style – employing techniques of narrative non-fiction writing to cover foreign affairs. Through discussion of narrative reporting craft, analysis of texts by Shadid and other outstanding writers, and producing and reviewing each other’s reporting, participants will learn why and how narrative reporting works, and how to benefit from the legacy of Shadid’s craft. The group will also discuss the implications of Shadid’s style for other sectors of society today beyond journalism, including diplomacy, education, commerce, religion, and civil society engagement.

led by and for HKS students, this working group aims to critically engage on current topics to promote and generate iterative discussion.

Open to Harvard students with the priority given to HKS students. Learn more and apply: https://forms.gle/dXXxWCmc59oR6rek6. Applications are due Tuesday, September 24 at 12:00pm (noon) Questions? Email maura_james@hks.harvard.edu.

Overview

This study group aims to generate engagement on economic and social policy issues in the Middle East and North Africa region and to create opportunities for Harvard students and fellows to delve into evidence-based strategies using case studies. The first session will explore the political context of governance by discussing the social contract, the form of governance that it generates, and how it has shaped the social and economic issues the region currently faces. 

The following two sessions will more deeply explore a policy area selected by study group participants. Possible topics include: social welfare, labor markets, and forced migration/refugees.

The study group will conclude by analyzing gaps in governance in the region. The discussion will explore the ways in which these gaps have caused civil society to organize alternative methods for public service provision. The first session will be led by HKS students. Ideally, subsequent sessions will be led by guest speakers with expertise in the topic area.

The sessions will be held on Tuesdays, October 1, 15, 29 and November 5 at 4:15pm.

Is there a Pathway to Democracy in the Arab World? with Salam Fayyad

MEI Senior Fellow Study Group | Spring 2016

How Should the Next President of the United States Handle the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict?

with Dr. Robert M. Danin

In November 2015, President Obama acknowledged publicly that there will not be a negotiated peace between Israel and Palestine during the lifespan of his administration. The Israeli-Palestinian situation is stalemated. There are no diplomatic contacts between the two parties, and virtually all international attention towards the Middle East is focused on hot wars and conflicts raging in Syria, Iraq, Libya, and Yemen. When President Obama’s successor takes office in January 2017, he or she will confront a myriad of foreign policy challenges in the Middle East, including an Israeli-Palestinian conflict that continues to seethe and simmer on the ground. What should he or she do, if anything?

Over the course of three sessions, the study group examined the realities and challenges that the next American president will face when trying to craft a coherent Israel-Palestine policy. The purpose of the course is to look at a major American foreign policy challenge the way that senior U.S. government officials, from the President down, are forced to confront them. The seminar examined the geo-strategic, diplomatic, and political contexts and the policy options that the next U.S. administration will face.

Calendar and Resources

Session 1: How did we get here?
Tuesday, February 9, 4:00-6:00pm
Kalb Seminar Room, Taubman Building, Room 275, HKS

Session 2: Today's picture.
Tuesday, March 1, 4:00-6:00pm
Allison Dining Room, Taubman Building, Fifth Floor, HKS

Session 3: What can be done, what should be done?
Tuesday, March 29, 4:00-6:00pm
Allison Dining Room, Taubman Building, Fifth Floor, HKS

Readings: Click to Download Reading List

Robert M. Danin is a non-resident senior fellow at the Belfer Center's Middle East Initiative. He is also a senior fellow for Middle East studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Prior to joining CFR, he headed the Jerusalem mission of the Quartet representative, Tony Blair, from April 2008 until August 2010. A former career State Department official with over twenty years of Middle East experience, Dr. Danin previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs with responsibilities for Israeli-Palestinian issues and Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt. He also served at the National Security Council for over three years, first as Director for Israeli-Palestinian affairs and the Levant and then as acting Senior Director for Near East and North African affairs. A recipient of the State Department's Superior Honor Award, Dr. Danin served as a Middle East and Gulf specialist on the Secretary of State's Policy Planning Staff, and as a State Department senior Middle East political and military analyst. Prior to joining the State Department, he worked as a Jerusalem-based journalist covering Israeli and Palestinian politics. He has served as a thought leader for the World Economic Forum since 2012.

Dr. Danin has published widely, including in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the Financial Times, CNN, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and The Atlantic; and he has been a frequent guest on a wide range of U.S. and international television and broadcast media.. He is a contributing author of Pathways to Peace: America and the Arab-Israeli Conflict (Palgrave Macmillan 2012), and Iran: The Nuclear Challenge (CFR, 2012).

Dr. Danin holds a BA in history from the University of California, Berkeley, an MSFS degree from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, and a doctorate in the international relations of the Middle East from St. Antony's College, Oxford University.

MEI Visiting Scholar Study Group | Fall 2015

Rewriting the Arab Social Contract: Toward Inclusive Development and Politics in the Arab World

with Minister Hedi Larbi

The Middle East Initiative hosted a series at Harvard Kennedy School, led by Minister Hedi Larbi. Mr. Larbi is the Fall 2015 Kuwait Foundation Visiting Scholar at the Middle East Initiative and former Minister of Economic Infrastructure and Sustainable Development and Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister, Tunisia. The series ran for seven sessions during the Fall 2015 semester at Harvard Kennedy School. Please see the calendar below, and click on each of the titles for more information about individual sessions.

Resources

LISTEN: Podcasts of all sessions are available online. Access the playlist by clicking here.

READ: The full report on the study group from Minister Larbi, including his notes from each presentation, conclusions from the semester, and avenues for further research, is available to read and download here.

PHOTOS: Check out highlights of pictures from the sessions on the Belfer Center Flickr page.

MEI Visiting Scholar Study Group | Spring 2015

Rethinking the Arab State: The Collapse of Legitimacy in Arab Politics

with Professor Michael C. Hudson

This series was led by professor Michael C. Hudson, Spring 2015 Kuwait Foundation Visiting Scholar at the Middle East Initiative and Seif Ghobash Professor of Arab Studies and International Affairs, Emeritus at Georgetown University. Please see the calendar below, and click on each of the titles for more information about the talks.

Resources

LISTEN: Podcasts of all sessions - except Lisa Wedeen's - are available online. Check out the entire playlist by clicking here. In addition, listen to short interviews with study group speakers: Samer Shehata, Madawi Al-Rasheed, and Bassam Haddad.

READ: The full report on the study group from Professor Hudson, including his notes from each presentation, conclusions from the semester, and avenues for further research, is available to read and download here.

PHOTOS: Check out highlights of pictures from the sessions on the Belfer Center Flickr page.

About the Series

The Arab uprisings that began in 2011 and the ensuing turbulence have forced scholars to re-examine previously accepted propositions about legitimacy, the state, civil society, religion, and regional stability. New information technologies and social media have galvanized civil society and provide platforms for public expression. Radical Islamist ideology is challenging nationalism as a basic legitimizing principle. Transnational Islamist networks and ISIS have shaken states and the regional state system. And foreign interventions have contributed to the destablization of a region already wracked by internal conflicts. No longer, it seems, is the United States able to guarantee regional stability.

The following book served as an overview for the series:

Beyond the Arab Spring: Authoritarianism and Democracy in the Arab World. Brynen, Rex, Moore, Pete W., Salloukh, Bassel F., Zahar, Marie-Joelle, Lynne Reinner Publishing, November 2012.

Calendar

The Arab States in Crisis: The Collapse of Old Legitimacy Formulas and the Search for New Ones
Tuesday, February 17, 4:00-5:30pm
Michael C. Hudson, Seif Ghobash Professor of International Relations and Arab Studies, Emeritus, Georgetown University and Visiting Scholar, Middle East Initiative, Harvard Kennedy School

Islamist Politics in the Age of ISIS
Wednesday, February 25, 4:00-5:30pm
Jillian Schwedler, Professor of Political Science, Hunter College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York

The Resurgence of Egypt's 'Deep State'?
Tuesday, March 3, 4:00-5:30pm
Samer Shehata, Associate Professor of Middle East Studies, University of Oklahoma

Not So Good to be King: the Saudi Monarchy at Crossroads
Tuesday, March 10, 4:00-5:30pm
Madawi Al-Rasheed, Visiting Professor, Middle East Centre, London School of Economics

ISIS: a ‘State in Waiting’
Tuesday, March 31, 4:00-5:30pm
Yezid Sayigh, Senior Associate and Professor, Carnegie Middle East Center, Beirut

The Syrian State: A Stateless Regime or State with Many Regimes?
Thursday, April 2, 4:00-5:30pm
Bassam Haddad, Associate Professor, School of Policy, Government, and International Affairs, and Director, Middle East and Islamic Studies Program, George Mason University
*Co-sponsored by the Center for Middle Eastern Studies

United States Military Deployments and the Status of Women in the Arab World
Tuesday, April 7, 4:00-5:30pm
Amaney Jamal, Edward S. Sanford Professor of Politics, Princeton University

Abandoning 'Legitimacy': Reflections on Syria and Yemen
Tuesday, April 14, 4:00-5:30pm
Lisa Wedeen, Mary R. Morton Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago

Can the United States 'Manage' the Middle East? Should It Try?
Wednesday, April 29, 4:00-5:30pm
Stephen M. Walt, Robert and Renee Belfer Professor of International Relations, Harvard Kennedy School

The Syrian Refugee Crisis

This study group aimed to generate engagement around the Syrian refugee crisis, contribute to the identification of long-term strategies to address the rehabilitation challenges facing refugees and refugee host nations, and create opportunities for Harvard students and fellows to contribute to an evidence-based dialogue about strategic approaches to respond to this crisis. The one-year initiative used an evidence-based approach to understand refugee needs and to support a dialogue on refugee rehabilitation among professionals and policymakers with impact on the refugee situation in the Middle East. This required gathering information about rehabilitation needs; discussion of regional engagement on policy options; and networking between key stakeholders at the technical, professional, and political levels. Through experiential learning, students and fellows from Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard's Center for Middle Eastern Studies developed research and policy expertise, and contributed directly to this transformational policy process. Among their achievements: Presented on partnerships at UNHCR's Sharjah Conference on MENA refugees (October 2014) Prepared the ICRC for the Berlin Ministerial Meeting on the Syrian Refugee Rehabilitation Needs (October 2014) Co-hosted and presented at the IPI Roundtable on Innovative Approaches to the Needs of those Affected by the Syrian Refugee Crisis (December 2014) Presented at a roundtable event in Jordan on Business-Humanitarian co-operation in the Syrian Refugee Crisis (January 2015) Completed field assessment missions in Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon (January 2015); Published an article on social tensions in the Syrian Refugee Crisis through Spanish think tank, IEMed (June 2015) Presented the IEMed article at the Migration Policy Center's Annual Conference on seeking sustainable solutions to vulnerability and instability in the Syrian Refugee Crisis to migration policy experts (July 2015).

The Politics and Economics of Transitions in the Middle East

This series was led by Professor Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, Fall 2013 Kuwait Foundation Visiting Scholar at the Middle East Initiative and Professor of Economics at Virginia Tech. It focused on the serious economic challenges facing countries in the Middle East, both old ones inherited from the past and new ones created by uprisings and revolutions. The seminars aimed to illuminate the politics and economics of the choices countries in the region were grappling with: how to stabilize their economies at a time when revolutions have raised expectations for redistribution and jobs, while also dealing with the almost contradictory demands for radical change to economic structures that had given rise to inequality, unemployment and poverty, the very circumstances that had brought the revolutions in the first place.

Please see the calendar below and click on each of the titles for more information about the talks.

About the Series:

Countries in the Middle East that have experienced uprisings and revolutions confront serious economic challenges, old ones inherited from the past and new ones created by the uprising itself. They face the need to stabilize their economies at a time when revolutions have raised expectations for redistribution and jobs. At the same time they have to deal with the almost contradictory demands for radical change to economic structures that had given rise to inequality, unemployment and poverty, the very circumstances that had brought the revolutions in the first place. The seminars aimed to illuminate the politics and economics of these choices, as well as the experience of actual transitions in Egypt and Tunisia.

The following paper served as an overview for the series:

After the Spring: Economic Transitions in the Arab World
Magdi, A., R. Assaad, et al. Oxford University Press, 2012.

Calendar

The Politics and Economics of Transitions in the Middle East: An Introduction
Wednesday, September 11, 4:00-5:30pm
Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, Professor of Economics, Virginia Tech, and Visiting Scholar, Middle East Initiative, Harvard Kennedy School

Making Sense of Arab Labor Markets: The Enduring Legacy of Dualism
Wednesday, September 18, 4:00-5:30pm
Ragui Assaad, Professor of Planning and Public Affairs, Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota

Obstacles to Egypt's Economic Development
Wednesday, October 9, 4:00-5:30pm
Robert Springborg, Professor in the Department of National Security Affairs, Naval Postgraduate School

Business Elites and Institutional Change in Turkey
Wednesday, October 16, 4:00-5:30pm
Sevket Pamuk, Professor of Economics and Economic History, Bosphorus University, Turkey

Documenting Crony Capitalism in Egypt
Wednesday, October 23, 4:00-5:30pm
Ishac Diwan, Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School

Community and Economic Development in Egypt
Wednesday, October 30, 4:00-5:30pm
Heba Handoussa, Founder, Egypt Network for Integrated Development (ENID)

Iran’s Political Economy in Flux: The Shifting Terrain in the Islamic Republic
Wednesday, November 13, 4:30-6:00pm
Kevan Harris, Sociologist and Postdoctoral Research Associate, Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University

The Dynamics of Regime Transitions: Insights from Theory and Historical Experiences for the Arab Transitioning Countries
Wednesday, November 20, 4:00-5:30pm
Melani Cammett, Associate Professor of Political Science, Brown University

• Aida Kayali International Public Service Fellowship - For students, preferably women, who are committed to public service in Africa, the Middle East, or Latin America. A three-year commitment to public service in their home country is required after graduation. 

• Bashir Al-Haffar Public Service Fellowship - For students from the Arab League who are committed to public service. A three-year commitment to public service in their home country is required after graduation. 

• Emirates Leadership Initiative Fellowship - Established by the government of the United Arab Emirates to support students from the United Arab Emirates and other Arab countries to receive advanced training in public management and leadership development.

• Mary and David Boies Fellowship - For students from Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Palestine, and the former Soviet Union countries in Central Asia who demonstrate a capacity to lead, with a vision for their countries or region, and potential to make a significant, positive difference when they return to their home country.

• Middle East-North Africa Graduate Fellowship Fund -For MC/MPA Mason Fellows from Iraq's Kurdistan region, Somaliland, Tunisia, and Yemen. 

• Princess Banderi Al-Faisal Public Service Fellowship - Established to support students from the Arab League, women preferred. As a demonstration of their commitment to public service, the successful applicant must be professionally employed in the public sector in their home country, broadly defined, for three years upon graduation. If the three-year commitment is not met, recipients must repay the fellowship.

• The Sammy Ofer Fellowship for Emerging Leaders from Israel and Palestine - For students from Israel and Palestine. Established in memory of Israeli businessman Sammy Ofer to pay tribute to his desire to make the world a better place.

• Sheikh Abdulaziz A. Al-Tuwaijiri Public Service - Established in honor of Sheikh Abdulaziz Al-Tuwaijri for students from the Middle East who show commitment to global peace and conflict resolution. A three-year commitment to public service in their home country is required after graduation.

• Sheikh Suhaim bin Hamad Al Thani Fellowship - Established to commemorate H.E. Sheikh Suhaim bin Hamad Al Thani, one of the founders and visionaries who shaped modern day Qatar. It supports MC/MPA Mason Fellows from Egypt, Iraq, Liberia, PAlestine, Rwanda, Senegal, Sudan, Vietnam, and Yemen.

• Rawabi Fellowship for Leaders from Palestine - Established to support promising students from Palestine, with a preference for those students with demonstrated financial need. Ideally, fellowship recipients will use their knowledge, networks and expertise to improve opportunities for the people of Palestine.

• Tamer Fellowship - Established to support students from Lebanon, Jordan, Morocco, Egypt, Yemen, Congo, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Somalia and Tanzania.

• Turkish Secretariat General for European Union Affairs Graduate Fellowship - Established in honor of the Secretariat General's dedication to further the education of Turkish government officials. It supports Mason program students with at least five years of service at the Turkish Secretariat General.

• Wexner Israel Fellowship - Established to support  outstanding Israeli government and public service professionals as they pursue a mid-career Master's Degree in Public Administration at HKS.