Lse Middle East Centre Podcasts

This event is the launch of the report titled ‘Public Payroll Expansion in Iraq: Causes and Consequences’ published under the LSE Conflict Research Programme by Principal Investigator Ali Al-Mawlawi. The public payroll in Iraq has grown unchecked since 2003, commensurate with the country’s vastly expanding oil wealth. With few alternative sources of government income, the state budget’s growth poses worrying questions about whether this ongoing trend can be sustained without risking economic ruin. The report offers policy recommendations for a realistic path to address unemployment and job creation. At the same time, the current protest movement in Iraq, centred around demands for jobs and against corruption and nepotism, also raises concerns about Iraq’s economic trajectory, including in relation to public sector employment growth. This report will be discussed in relation to developments on the ground in Iraq. Ali Al-Mawlawi is head of research at Al-Bayan Centre for Planning and Studies, a public policy

This event launches the paper “Yazidis and ISIS: The Causes and Consequences of Sexual Violence in Conflict” published under the LSE Conflict Research Programme by Principal Investigator Dr. Zeynep Kaya. It has been five years since ISIS brought the Yazidi community in Iraq to the brink of destruction. Some women and children held by ISIS have been re-captured by criminal gangs to be trafficked or sold to their families. Those that managed to escape the brutal attacks have ended up in displacement camps scattered around Iraqi Kurdistan, with a small number relocating to Western countries as refugees. This report shows that preventing sexual violence in conflict is not possible without tackling the underlying structural factors that foster this form of violence. Militant radical groups such as ISIS use specific gender norms in connection with perceived religious/sectarian identities in order to morally justify and organise violence. ISIS’s attacks on the Yazidis showed again that gender (and gendered violen

This event launches the book Methodological Approaches in Kurdish Studies: Theoretical and Practical Insights from the Field. It is a volume that presents thirteen contributions that reflect upon the practical, ethical, theoretical and methodological challenges that researchers face when conducting fieldwork in settings that are characterized with deteriorating security situations, increasing state control and conflicting inter-ethnic relations. More precisely, they shed light to the intricacies of conducting fieldwork on highly politicized and sensitive topics in the region of Kurdistan in Iraq, Syria and Turkey as well as among Kurdish diaspora members in Europe. Bahar Baser is associate professor at the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations, Coventry University. Yasin Duman is a Ph.D. candidate at the Center for Trust, Peace, and Social Relations (CTPSR), Coventry University. His research focuses on the role of intergroup relations in the integration of Syrian refugees in Turkey. Begüm Zorlu is a

Please note that this event involved a translator, as a result there may be some background noise in parts of the recording where translation is taking place. This event will analyse current developments on the ground in Northern Syria with Ilham Ehmed, co-president of the Executive Council of the de-facto autonomous region of North and East Syria. Following the recent Turkish incursion and US withdrawal, the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) have stated that they are ready to negotiate with Damascus. This event will take a look at a general overview of what led up to this decision, what the future holds for the Kurdish project in North and East Syria and how these negotiations will impact the future of Syria in all it's regions. Ilham Ehmed is a Syrian-Kurdish politician. Until July 2018, she was a co-chair of the SDC, the political wing of the Syrian Democratic Forces in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. She is a senior member of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and a member of the

This event is a book launch for Eric Rouleau's autobiographical work titled Truths and Lies in the Middle East: Memoirs of a Veteran Journalist, 1952-2012. Eric Rouleau was one of the most celebrated journalists of his generation, a status he owed to his extraordinary career, which began when Hubert Beuve-Méry, director of Le Monde, charged him with covering the Near and Middle East. Alain Gresh, French journalist and former editor of Le Monde Diplomatique, who also wrote the foreword for this book will be speaking at this event about Rouleau's life and work. The event will be chaired by Jim Muir, Visiting Senior Fellow at the LSE Middle East Centre and BBC Middle East Correspondent. Writing between Cairo and Jerusalem, Rouleau was a chief witness to the wars of 1967 and 1973, narrating their events from behind the scenes. He was to meet all the major players, including Nasser, Levi Ashkol, Moshe Dayan, Golda Meir, Yasser Arafat, Ariel Sharon, and Anwar Sadat, painting striking portraits of each. More than

With continuous protests ongoing across Lebanon for the last two weeks, this event will analyse this largest demonstration of public disobedience for the past decade. The situation will be contextualised against the backdrop of failing state services, a system that has gradually drifted apart from society, and also a society that has reached its consumerist limits. This event is part of a series being organised by the LSE Institute for Global Affairs responding to the Lebanese protests. For further information, please contact Dr. Bilal Malaeb. Jamil Mouawad is a lecturer in political studies and public administration at the American University of Beirut. His research interests in state-society relations span the subfields of comparative politics and political economy. He specializes in the politics of the Middle East, with a focus on governance and limited statehood. He was a Max Weber Fellow at the European Univesrity Institute, finalizing his book based on his PhD thesis. The book presents a critique to t

This event launched the paper “Response to and Reparations for Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Iraq: The Case of Shi’a Turkmen Survivors in Tel Afar” published under the LSE Conflict Research Programme by Principal Investigator Güley Bor. During the most recent Islamic State conflict, thousands of Yazidi, and hundreds of Shi’a Turkmen and Christian women were kidnapped and subjected to various forms of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV). The situation of Shi’a Turkmen survivors of CRSV in Tel Afar in the Nineveh Governorate demonstrates how the Government of Iraq’s inaction, together with its discriminatory laws and practices, continue to fail women, and survivors in particular. Recent efforts to establish a reparations program are commendable, yet challenges remain. Iraq is in urgent need of wider reform in addressing sexual violence and ensuring its non-repetition. Given the emergency nature of CRSV, this paper explores the need for all survivors in Iraq to be provided with timely, comprehensive

This is a recording of the Q&A section of LSE MEC's event screening Benedetta Argentieri's documentary I am the Revolution which focuses on feminist revolutions taking place in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan. These countries has been torn apart by decades of war, and are, according to international indexes, among the worst places on earth to live as a woman. By following three women, Selay Ghaffar, Rojda Felat, and Yanar Mohammed, and the movements around them, the documentary explores how they are leading the way for a new future for women in their countries. Each country reflects the groundswell of feminist revolutions: political revolution in Afghanistan, armed in Syria, and grassroots activism in Iraq. Taking a journalistic approach, the film challenges the images of veiled, silent, and timid women in the Middle East and instead shows the strength of women rising up on the front lines, in remote villages, and in city streets, to claim their voice and their rights. Benedetta Argentieri is an independent

This event launches The Kurds of Northern Syria: Governance, Diversity and Conflicts, written by Harriet Allsopp and Wladimir van Wilgenburg and published by Bloomsbury in July 2019. Based on unprecedented access to Kurdish-governed areas of Syria, including exclusive interviews with administration officials and civilian surveys, The Kurds of Northern Syria sheds light on the socio-political landscape of northern Syria. The first English-language book to capture the momentous transformations that have occurred since 2011, the authors move beyond idealized images of Rojava and the PYD to provide a nuanced assessment of the Kurdish autonomous experience and the prospects for self-rule in Syria. The book draws on unparalleled field research, as well as analysis of the literature on the evolution of Kurdish politics and the Syrian war. The event is the first in the LSE Middle East Centre Kurdish Studies Series programme for 2019–20. Wladimir van Wilgenburg is an analyst of Kurdish politics and a journalist livi

The Iraqi media landscape has been characterised by partisan ownership, in the main based on political and religious affiliations. Comparative ethnographic research has revealed highly irregular practices and the struggles of Iraqi journalists to adhere to the norms of professionalism, suggesting that these practices are contributing to and fuelling the on-going context of conflict and violence in Iraq. Within this challenging environment, there have been some attempts to develop media platforms that carve out spaces which can contribute to better journalism and, ultimately, better local and national governance. This report explores, in the context of this environment, the challenges that these media are facing. It examines a number of barriers to the development of independent media in Iraq, providing some recommendations to how these obstacles might be be tackled. Based on interviews with key media and political stakeholders that took place in Iraq in January and February 2019, it provides some insight into

Women have been at the forefront of many of the political and military struggles in the Kurdish Middle East, most visibly so since the outbreak of the ‘Rojava Revolution’ in 2012. But women have in fact since the foundation of the PKK in 1978 played an integral role in the ideological and political development of the Liberation Movement as a whole; as guerrillas, activists, politicians, mothers and prisoners. Isabel Käser will trace the complex history of the Kurdish Women’s Liberation Movement, discuss how women’s autonomous organisational structures have emerged and how they operate today between the mountains and the cities of the four different parts of Kurdistan. Her talk analyses the emancipatory power this movement holds but also unpacks some of the tensions that emerge from the interplay between militarism, the party’s body politics and the movement’s revolutionary quest for a more democratic Middle East. Recorded on 4 June. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Since free elections were introduced in Turkey, no other party has been able to retain its incumbency as much as the Justice and Development Party (AKP). Given incumbents’ tendency to lose support over time, what are the factors which explain the electoral durability of the party? In this event, Dr Luca will explore the rising consolidation of power by the AKP through the lens of distributive politics, aiming to assess how the ruling party has deployed the geographical distribution of public monies towards distinct political ends. Throughout the 2000s, Turkey was portrayed as a model of social and economic success for other countries in the Middle East and North Africa region. Yet, the incumbent government and its economic development model face increasing criticism for corrupt and discretionary practices and arbitrary decision-making. The talk will ultimately argue that the AKP has skilfully used public monies and abused state resources to cement its power and develop its populist, electoral authoritarian re

There has been much discussion whether the 1953 should be understood in the context of the Cold War or that of economic conflicts between the industrial West and developing countires--in other words, as precursor of the rise of OPEC and oil nationalisation by emerging states in the 1960s and 1970s. In this talk, Professor Abrahamian will focus on how far the newly released State Department and CIA documents help answer this question. Recorded on 29 May 2019. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ervand Abrahamian is Professor Emeritus of History at Baruch College and the Graduate Center in the City University of New York. He is also the author of: Iran Between Two Revolutions (Princeton University Press, 1982); The Iranian Mojahedin (Yale University Press, 1989); Khomeinism (University of California Press, 1993); Tortured confessions: Prisons and Public Reactions in Iran (University of California Press, 2004); A History of Modern Iran (Cambridge Uni

Since February 2019 and President Bouteflika’s announcement that he intended to stand for a fifth term, hundreds of thousands of protesters have descended upon Algeria’s streets to demand his resignation. In the face of pressure from the street and the army, Bouteflika, who suffered a debilitating stroke in 2013, finally stepped down after 20 years in power on 2 April. Hugh Roberts, expert in Algerian constitutional law and its political regime, will explore the implications of ‘L’Après-Bouteflika’: the prospects that now exist for Algeria's political and economic future. Recorded on 3 May 2019. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr Hugh Roberts, a specialist on North African and particularly Algerian history and politics, founded the Society for Algerian Studies in 1992. He was its Secretary from 1992 to 2001 and has been its Vice President since 2002. He is currently the Edward Keller Professor of North African and Middle Eastern History at Tuf

Stuart Hall once wrote that we mustn’t use Gramsci like ‘an Old Testament prophet who, at the correct moment, will offer us the consoling and appropriate quotation.’ Instead, we must ‘think’ our problems in a Gramscian way. What would it mean to ‘think’ some of the problems facing Egypt and the broader Middle East in such a way, and what are some of the challenges and productive encounters this might produce? This talk looks at how Gramsci has ‘travelled’ to the Middle East, and what made this travel possible. In particular, Sara Salem traces some of the ways in which Gramsci’s concepts have been thought with in contexts such as Egypt, and argues that the productive debates that have emerged around this suggest a continuing usefulness of Gramsci for scholars of the region. More importantly, Salem also argues that the particularities of capitalism in the colony and postcolony pose important challenges to prominent interpretations of Gramsci’s work. She suggests that thinking about Gramsci through ‘traveling t

This report assesses widespread claims that pan-Arab satellite news channels have been responsible for inciting sectarian violence during the Arab uprisings. Based on an empirical study of how three of the most popular channels – Al-Jazeera Arabic, Al-Arabiya and Al-Mayadeen - have framed seminal events involving violence between sects in Syria and Iraq, the report finds that while often geo-politically charged, some of these claims are valid. While abusive language or direct promotion of violence is rare in a mainstream context, incitement to sectarian violence has primarily been invoked through linguistic, stylistic and thematic tropes that forge legitimacy claims and narratives of victimhood. The paper draws on these findings to make recommendations for UK policymaker engagement with the Arab media. Recorded on 1 May 2019. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jessica Watkins is Research Officer at the Middle East Centre, currently working on a DFI

BRISMES and LSE Middle East Centre are delighted to host this panel event on Middle East Careers where speakers will talk briefly about their current role and career path and give advice to students. There will be plenty of opportunity for questions. Followed by networking reception. Recorded on 7 March 2019. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr Omar Al-Ghazzi (@omar_alghazzi), Assistant Professor, Department of Media and Communications, LSE Sophie Rudland (@EditorSophie ), Editor Middle East and Islamic Studies, IB Tauris Dr Priscilla Toffano, Visiting Fellow, LSE Middle East Centre (on sabbatical from the Middle East and Central Asia Department, International Monetary Fund) Dr Angeline Turner, Research Analyst, Iraq, Middle East & North Africa Directorate, Foreign and Commonwealth Office Sinéad Murphy is responsible for the organisation of the BRISMES Annual Conference and deals with all aspects of administration. Sinéad is a PhD candidate in th

One of the most prominent sticking points in Israeli–Palestinian negotiations is the right of return for Palestinian refugees. Yoav Kapshuk investigates how the concept of ‘transitional justice’, often used in post-conflict political bargaining, could be utilised in future peace talks to reach a settlement. In addition to analysing previous rounds of negotiations that sought to resolve the refugee issue, he also looks to the negotiations between the Colombian government and the FARC (which successfully concluded with a peace agreement in 2016) and asks what lessons can be learned from the transitional justice measures used in this process. Recorded on 28 February 2019. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yoav Kapshuk is Lecturer at Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee, Israel, and a former Visiting Fellow at the LSE Middle East Centre and at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt. His research focuses on peace processes, transitional justice, conflic

Apologies for the abrupt start of the podcast. The first two minutes of the recording were corrupted. A panel of academics and activists will make critical interventions on sexualities and approaches to LGBT activism in and across the MENA. Specifically, by foregrounding voices from the region and its diaspora, this lecture pushes to challenge debates and discussions that sometimes look in on the region from the outside. Recorded on 26 February 2019. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mehammed Mack is Associate Professor of French Studies at Smith College. He earned his doctorate in French and comparative literature from Columbia University, where he completed a dissertation titled "Immigration and Sexual Citizenship: Gender, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Contemporary France." His first book, Sexagon: Muslims, France, and the Sexualization of National Culture, was released from Fordham University Press in January 2017. Cenk Özbay is Associate Professor

The national armed forces of Arab states have been undergoing a radical transformation. New fluid coalitions of armed state and non-state actors engage in complex patterns of coexistence and contestation, set within a wider context of geopolitical rivalry between their external backers. Renowned Middle East scholar Yezid Sayigh examines the re-emergence of militaries as central political actors. Recorded on 13 February 2019. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Yezid Sayigh is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, where he leads the program on Civil-Military Relations in Arab States (CMRAS). His work focuses on the comparative political and economic roles of Arab armed forces and nonstate actors, the impact of war on states and societies, and the politics of post-conflict reconstruction and security sector transformation in Arab transitions, and authoritarian resurgence. Jessica Watkins is Research Officer at the Middle East Centre, currently working o