- 30 Oct 2024
ME 101 Lecture Series 2024
MEI in collaboration with the SUSS DBA Alumni Graduate Student Community (DBAC) and the SUSS School of Business
Throughout history, the Middle East has been at the forefront of global change, engaging with the West through crusades, wars, colonialism, and terrorism. Beyond these familiar narratives lies a region undergoing profound economic transformation, cultural evolution, and facing pressing environmental challenges. This lecture series examined these key aspects and drivers of change, with an emphasis on how these transformations impact regional stability and present significant economic opportunities, particularly for Singapore’s strategic interests.
This year, we introduced a new format for the ME 101 series in collaboration with the SUSS DBA Alumni Graduate Student Community (DBAC) and the SUSS School of Business. The series is specifically designed for top business leaders and professionals who are interested in exploring the economic potential that the Middle East holds.
This series was conducted bi-weekly, both in person and online via Zoom, opening session started on 21 August 2024, 5pm to 8pm SGT. All other sessions were from 6pm – 7.30pm SGT.
Please find more details about the topics and speakers here.
Description and source: The Saudi Hawks aerobatics team performs during an airshow before the start of the third practice session of the Saudi Arabian Formula One Grand Prix at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Jeddah on March 8, 2024. (Photo by JOSEPH EID / AFP)
Last Session:
Closing Session (30 Oct 2024) – The Mirage of Stability in the Middle East
Watch the full talk here:
Listen to the full event here:
Mr Bilahari Kausikan, Honorary Fellow, Middle East Institute, NUS
Eight days before Hamas launched its deadly attack on Israel, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, in an article written for The Atlantic, described the Middle East as “quieter” than it had been in two decades. This statement has now been shredded. The final lecture of the ME101 series will draw on the findings of previous lessons to offer a regional assessment of the political and economic environment of the Middle East. Specifically, we will consider the prospects for regional stability, looking at the main risks (political, security, economic, social) faced by the countries in the area.
Completed Sessions:
Opening Session (21 Aug 2024): Transformations in the Reforming Economies of the Gulf
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Listen to the full event here:
Speaker: Dr Clemens Chay, Research Fellow, Middle East Institute, NUS
Please find the slides of the session here.
Session Two (4 Sept 2024): The UAE Paddling Faster Ahead of the Gulf Pack
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Listen to the full event here:
Speaker: Dr Jean-Loup Samaan, Senior Research Fellow, Middle East Institute, NUS
Please find the slides of the session here.
Session Three (18 Sept 2024): Saudi Arabia, A Giant Awakened
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Dr Clemens Chay, Research Fellow, Middle East Institute, NUS
Please find the slides of the session here.
Session Four (2 Oct 2024) – Israel: Start – Up Nation Longing for Stability
Dr Jean-Loup Samaan, Senior Research Fellow, Middle East Institute, NUS
Please find the slides of the session here.
Session Five (16 Oct 2024) – Renewable Energy Sources: Pre-empting a Sunset Oil Industry
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Listen to the full event here:
Dr Aisha Al Sarihi, Research Fellow, Middle East Institute, NUS
Please find the slides of the session here.
About the Speakers
Chairman
Middle East Institute, NUS
Bilahari Kausikan was Ambassador-at-Large in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), Singapore. From 2001 to May 2013, he was the Second Permanent Secretary and subsequently the Permanent Secretary of MFA. He retired in June 2013 after 33 years in the public sector.
He held a variety of appointments in the MFA, such as Director for Southeast Asia, Director for East Asia and the Pacific and Deputy Secretary for Southeast Asia. He was the Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York from 1995 to 1998 and Ambassador to the Russian Federation from 1994 to 1995.
He has been awarded the Public Administration Medal (Gold) and the Pingat Jasa Gemilang (Meritorious Service Medal) by the Singapore government. He was also awarded the Order of Bernardo O’Higgins with the rank of Gran Cruz by the President of the Republic of Chile and the Oman Civil Merit Order by the Sultan of Oman.
He was educated at Raffles Institution, the University of Singapore and Columbia University in New York.
Senior Research Fellow
Middle East Institute, NUS
Dr Jean-Loup Samaan is a Senior Research Fellow specialising in Middle East strategic affairs, with a particular focus on Israel–Hizballah conflict and the evolution of the Gulf security system. Prior to joining MEI, he held various positions in the policy sector. He worked as a visiting scholar with the RAND Corporation (2007-2008) and as an advisor at the directorate for strategic affairs of the French Ministry of Defense (2008-2011). He then gained extensive experience in the domain of military education and training, first as a deputy director for the Middle East Faculty of the NATO Defense College (2011-2016) and as an associate professor in strategic studies with the UAE National Defense College (2016-2021).
Dr Samaan has written four books as well as various articles for academic and policy journals. He holds a PhD in political science from University of Paris La Sorbonne (2009) and an accreditation to supervise research (2017) by the doctoral school of Sciences Po, Paris.
Research Fellow
Middle East Institute, NUS
Dr Clemens Chay is a research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute. His research focuses on the history and politics of the Gulf states, with a particular emphasis on Kuwait, Oman and Qatar. At MEI he spearheads a public education series entitled “Bridging the Gulf”. His recent academic publications include a chapter that examines Kuwait’s parliamentary politics in The Routledge Handbook of Persian Gulf Politics (2020), a chapter in the edited volume Informal Politics in the Middle East (Hurst, 2021), and a study appearing in the Journal of Arabian Studies, titled “The Dīwāniyya Tradition in Modern Kuwait: An Interlinked Space and Practice.” His commentaries also feature across different outlets, including ISPI, KFCRIS, and AGSIW. He is currently working on a book project related to Kuwait’s diwaniyas (affectionately known as diwawin, and more widely known as majalis outside Kuwait), the reception rooms for informal meetings that have implications for society, politics and diplomacy.
Prior to joining MEI, Dr Chay was the Al-Sabah fellow at Durham University, where he taught and completed his PhD in Middle Eastern and Islamic studies, and where he also received an MSc in defence, development and diplomacy. He is also a Sciences Po Paris alumnus, having read his BA at the Menton campus.
Research Fellow
Middle East Institute, NUS
Dr Aisha Al-Sarihi’s areas of research expertise and interest include clean energy policy and climate economics, policies and governance, with a focus on the Arab region.
Following her PhD, from 2016 to 2017, she was a research officer at the London School of Economics and Political Science’s Middle East Centre. She was also a former visiting scholar at Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington (2017) and Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies (2018). Before joining MEI, Dr Al-Sarihi was a research associate in the Climate and Environment Program at King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC) from 2019 to 2021.
She holds a PhD from the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London and a MSc and a BSc, with distinction, in environmental science from Sultan Qaboos University.
Event Details
Venue: Marketing Institute of Singapore
229 Mountbatten Road, #03-02
Mountbatten Square
Singapore 3980072
Time: 6.30pm – 8.00pm
All sessions available via Zoom
