MIDDLE EAST
May 6, 2008
"Assessing Repression in Syria"
In the News
By Robert Rotberg, Director, Program on Intrastate Conflict and Conflict Resolution
Even as evidence mounts pointing to a partnership between Syria and North Korea in the construction of a Syrian nuclear reactor, Syria and North Korea continue to deny the allegations, leading the U.S. to condemn both countries’ secrecy.
May 1, 2008
"Global Action Institute: Arab and American Dialogue"
Event Report
By Ant Bozkaya, Research Fellow, The Dubai Initiative/Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program
During the March 14-15 Young Arab Leaders Global Action Forum in New York, DI Research Fellow Ant Bozkaya moderated a session on the establishment of a YAL Global Action Institute in the United States.
Access the full session brief here.
May 2008
Financing Entrepreneurship
Book
By Ant Bozkaya, Research Fellow, The Dubai Initiative/Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program and Philip Auerswald, Associate, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program
This important collection comprises foundational papers which offer an understanding of the conceptual and historical substructure of entrepreneurial finance and more recent seminal works about entrepreneurs and the obstacles that they systematically seek to overcome. Further articles describe the variety of institutional forms that have evolved to address the challenges inherent in entrepreneurial finance and the role of government in the process of innovation, entrepreneurship and the financing of new ventures. These papers, complemented by the editors' comprehensive introduction, are essential for scholars, researchers, policy makers and entrepreneurs wishing to advance their understanding of this important and expanding field of study.
For more information on the book, click here.
AP Photo
2008
"The Shia Factor"
Journal Article, Heartland: Eurasian Review of Geopolitics, (The Pakistani Boomerang Issue), issue 1
By Kayhan Barzegar, Research Fellow, Project on Managing the Atom/International Security Program
The new rivalry between two main Muslim communities is the result of the political developments in Iraq. The pragmatic relationship between Iran and the Shia factions in other countries. The fears of Sunni regimes of a Shia crescent moon.
April 29, 2008
"Washington Cedes its Role"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Dubai Initiative Senior Fellow, Director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, and Editor-at-Large of the Daily Star
It is telling of the damage the United States has done to its influence in the Middle East that the potentially most important diplomatic development in the past generation -- a possible Israeli-Syrian treaty -- seems to be taking place without any significant American role.
April 28, 2008
International Security Program "Paths to Violence" Research Workshop
News
The International Security Program (ISP) at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs hosted a research workshop in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on April 25, 2008. Workshop organizers Erica Chenoweth (ISP) and Adria Lawrence (ISP/Intrastate Conflict Program) brought together leading scholars to explore the conditions under which non-state actors resort to violence and the various strategies state actors use to address aggrieved populations. Workshop participants addressed issues such as why the use of violence varies among non-state actors, how the decision to use violence affects strategic outcomes of internal and international conflicts, and how states arrive at decisions to accommodate, assimilate, or ethnically cleanse minority groups. Participants received feedback on original research papers prepared in advance of the workshop. The final drafts of the papers will be compiled into an edited volume, which will be submitted for review in fall 2008.
April 28, 2008
"As Northern Ireland, So the Middle East"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Dubai Initiative Senior Fellow, Director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, and Editor-at-Large of the Daily Star
There may be important parallels today between the IRA cease-fire in 1994 and Hamas' offer of a mutual, not a unilateral, truce. Israel and its friends would seem sensible to respond to Hamas by testing its sincerity about shifting from armed resistance to political negotiation, through a carefully calibrated and negotiated series of steps that simultaneously gives both sides important gains.
AP Photo
April 24, 2008
Case Study: Red Teaming Iran's Supreme Leader
Memorandum
By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government; Faculty Chair, Dubai Initiative
When the key finding of the December National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran was emerging, the intelligence community assigned a group to "red team" Iran's behavior. They were asked to assume that Iran's intention was to deceive the United States into concluding that the Iranian nuclear program had been halted. Although the red team made a persuasive case that Iran's actions were consistent with this objective, the intelligence community ultimately rejected that hypothesis and came to the conclusion it reported.
AP Photo
April 24, 2008
Blocking Iran's Nuclear Bomb
Testimony
By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government; Faculty Chair, Dubai Initiative
Belfer Center Director Graham Allison testified before a subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs on April 24, 2008. He discussed Iran’s nuclear ambitions, current U.S. strategy, and future policy options for blocking Iran’s nuclear bomb.
April 23, 2008
"Two Causes of Arab Political Incoherence"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Dubai Initiative Senior Fellow, Director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, and Editor-at-Large of the Daily Star
How much are the Arabs responsible for their own political dysfunction, national fragmentation and rampant violence, and how much of their troubles can be blamed on foreign interference and military interventions in the region? Two recent articles in quality American journals highlight how low-class Arab politics that are widely dissatisfying to their own citizens can reflect both indigenous autocracy and foreign mischief-making.
