- 16 Jun 2014
BREAKING NEWS DIALOGUE : IRAQ ON THE BRINK – MAJOR NEW CRISIS IN THE MIDDLE EAST
The military takeover of Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul, and surrounding territory by the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq (ISIS) could be a game-changer in the chaotic Middle East. Now ISIS, with its extreme Islamist ideology, occupies substantial territory and possesses formidable military and financial assets. Not only does it threaten the territorial integrity of Iraq, it adversely affects the security of the neighboring states of Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia and poses a major challenge to American strategic interests.
– What is the immediate background to this new situation?
– What are the new internal dynamics in Iraq and Syria?
– Is the Middle East state system crumbling?
– What does this mean for the Sunni and Shi’a communities?
– What are the implications for Middle East oil exports?
– Will the United States and regional powers resort to military action?
– What are future scenarios?
MEI asked four of its researchers with Iraq and regional security expertise to discuss these and other issues. Two of them, Ali Allawi and Fanar Haddad, had recently returned from field research in Iraq.
About the Speakers
Professor Peter Sluglett “Introduction to the Latest Crisis”
Peter Sluglett has taught Middle Eastern History at the University of Durham (1974-1994) and at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City (1994-2011), where he was Director of the University’s Middle East Center. He has published widely on the modern history of Iraq, including Iraq since 1958: from Revolution to Dictatorship, 3rd edn., (2001, with Marion Farouk-Sluglett), and Britain in Iraq: Contriving King and Country (2007). He has also edited and contributed to The Urban Social History of the Middle East 1750-1950 (2008), Syria and Bilad al-Sham under Ottoman Rule: Essays in Honour of Abdul-Karim Rafeq, (2010, with Stefan Weber), and Writing the Modern History of Iraq: Historiographical and Political Challenges (2012). He is currently co-authoring a book on the modern history of Syria.
Professor Ali A. Allawi “Internal Dynamics: Sunnis, Shi’ites, and Kurds”
Ali A. Allawi is a writer, biographer and former government minister in Iraq. He received his education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at Harvard University. He served in the World Bank group for a number of years before founding his own investment firm. Following the changes in Iraq in 2003, he served as the Minister of Trade, and then the first civilian Minister of Defence. In 2005 he was elected to the Constituent Assembly of Iraq and then served as Minister of Finance. In 2007, he left public service to pursue scholarly and academic interests. He has authored four books including The Occupation of Iraq (Yale: 2007) and The Crisis of Islamic Civilisation (Yale: 2009). His book Faisal I of Iraq will be issued in September 2013 (Yale). It will be the first comprehensive biography of this seminal figure set against the formative years of the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the founding of the state system in the Middle East. At various times, Ali Allawi has been associated with Oxford University (Senior Associate Member); University of Exeter (Fellow); Princeton University (Fellow); and Harvard University (Fellow). He has made numerous media appearances, and his articles and essays have appeared in major international journals and newspapers. He is the recipient of several public policy and diplomacy awards, and his books have garnered prizes. He is currently working on a book on the economic history of the modern Arab/Islamic worlds.
Professor Michael Hudson “The View from Washington, Tehran, Riyadh and Ankara”
Michael Hudson is Director of the Middle East Institute and Professor of Political Science at the National University of Singapore. He is also Professor Emeritus at Georgetown University, where he served as Director of the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies for many years. He has edited and contributed to numerous books, including Middle East Dilemma: The Politics and Economics of Arab Integration (Columbia University Press/CCAS, 1999), The Palestinians: New Directions (CCAS, 1990), and Alternative Approaches to the Arab-Israeli Conflict (CCAS, 1984). His other works include The Precarious Republic: Political Modernization in Lebanon (Random House, 1968, 1985) and Arab Politics: The Search for Legitimacy (Yale University Press, 1977), numerous chapters, and articles appearing in Middle East Journal, Middle East Policy, International Affairs, Comparative Politics, Al-Mustaqbil al-‘Arabi, and other scholarly journals. Hudson was awarded the 2011 Jere L. Bacharach Service Award from the Middle East Studies Association (MESA), of which he is a past president.
Dr. Fanar-Haddad “Future Scenarios”
Fanar Haddad (BSc LSE, MPhil Cantab, DPhil Exon) previously lectured in modern Middle Eastern history at the University of Exeter and, most recently, at Queen Mary, University of London. Prior to obtaining his DPhil, Haddad was a Research Analyst at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office where he worked on North Africa. He has since published widely on issues relating to historic and contemporary Iraq. His main research topics are identity, historical memory, nationalism, communal conflict and minority politics. He is the author of Sectarianism in Iraq: Antagonistic Visions of Unity (London/New York: Hurst/Columbia University Press, 2011). His research at the MEI will focus on historical memory and narratives of state in the Middle East.
