Islamic-Christian Celebration, March 25th, National Day of “The Annunciation” – Together Around Our Lady Mary March 25th 2013, Garden of Forgiveness, Downtown Beirut, Lebanon For the second year running, people of various religions gathered at the Garden of Forgiveness, Hadiqat as-Samah, to celebrate the occasion of “The Annunciation” and a national holiday in Lebanon. Muslims…
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Currently, the Healing the Wounds of History program is redesigning ESPERE for the specific situation of Lebanon, as one of its training programmes. The aim of the ESPERE is to transform narrations of blame and victimhood into an understanding of one’s own responsibilities for action. This constitutes a shift from what is typically viewed as the only possible responses…
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In October 2012, The Centre in collaboration with the Lebanese Association for Educational Studies. And the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Media Studies at the American University of Beirut, organized a workshop on “Historical Thinking: An Approach for Teaching History in Conflict Areas-Lessons from the Greek Cypriot – Turkish Cypriot Experience” Historical Thinking seeks to develop…
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The Lebanese Association for History (LAH), in collaboration with In collaboration with The Centre for Lebanese Studies, the Finnish Institute in the Middle East, Open Society Foundation Education, and the Center for Arab and Middle Eastern Studies. The workshop took place at the American University of Beirut on the 18-19 June 2013. The workshop focused…
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In an attempt to improve access to sidewalks by all the population including wheelchair users and parents with pushchairs, many municipalities including Beirut’s municipality have started the process of equipping pavements with drop-kerbs. However, this development has not been accompanied by awareness campaigns around the purpose of drop-kerbs for the general public. As a result,…
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As a follow up of the workshop and a previous conference on history education organized by the Lebanese Association for Education Studies (LAES), both CLS and LAES facilitated meetings and discussions among a group of history teachers in public and private schools in Lebanon to develop a Lebanese Association for History Educators. The group meets…
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The 2013 labour movement displayed several unique features that distinguished it from previous union strikes which were worth studying. One of the main questions this project explored is the issue of linking the strikers demands to fighting corruption and political reform breaking the status quo of March 8 and 14. This project focused more specifically on…
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One of the few things that the majority of Lebanese from various spectrums of life seem to agree on is the urgency to develop a common History textbook, which will somehow unite the nation and solve the problem of confessionalism. There appears to be a conventional wisdom even amongst educationalists and intellectuals that by learning…
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The study investigated the political, social and civics attitudes of 900 students (15 to 17 years old) in 26 schools public and private (secular and faith schools) spread over the 6 Cazas (districts) in Lebanon. It also examined some of the conventional wisdoms regarding the effect of public schools versus private ones, faith versus secular…
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The education reforms and policies which followed since the end of the Lebanese civil war in 1990 emphasized the role of education in promoting social cohesion. The Taif Agreement (1989) which put an end to the civil war proposed education as a major means for promoting social cohesion. Consequently the main objective of the curriculum…
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UNICEF partnered with the Center for Lebanese Studies (CLS) and the Center for Education Research and Development to conduct a review of the citizenship curriculum. The review is focused on the integration of the principles of children’s rights, gender, violence and conflict management, and dialog into the new curriculum.
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The situation of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon is generally defined as “unique in degree of political, economic and social exclusion” (Sayigh, 2001). Indeed, since their arrival to Lebanon their civic, social and economical rights have been constricted by laws and practices. This research explored students’ perception of their schooling and learning experience as well as…
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The Consultation and Research Institute in collaboration with CLS conducted a human right-based and equity-focused situation analysis (SITAN) of education in Lebanon. The study was commissioned by UNICEF. The Situation Analysis SITAN follows a human rights-based approach (HRBA). According to the HBRA, educational equity were examined by looking at three complementary dimensions: The right of access…
Read articleThe purpose of this joint project between the Council for the Advancement of Arab British Understanding (CAABU) and the Centre for Lebanese Studies was to undertake a one-year research programme, which aimed to collate and evaluate information about efforts towards national reconciliation in Lebanon since 1989. Lebanon’s population, especially the youth, emerged from the years…
Read articleA workshop organised by the Centre for Lebanese Studies and was held in collaboration with the Middle East Centre at St. Antony’s College, Oxford. It brought young scholars working on Lebanon in Britain, France and the United States together with established academics in order to assess the state-of the-art of Lebanese studies. Participants included Dr…
Read articleA two day conference held at St. Antony’s College Oxford. The launch of a programme of revision of Lebanon’s history. This conference, organised by the Centre for Lebanese Studies was essentially a re-examination and a re-assessment of Lebanon’s history. The aim of the conference was to investigate the nature, causes and limits of the alternations…
Read articleOne-day seminar organised jointly with the Centre for Near and Middle Eastern Studies at SOAS, University of London The seminar brought together a number of scholars and specialists to discuss the economic and social issues prevailing at the time and analyse the political situation and Lebanon’s international relations. Participants addressed the issue of inflation and…
Read articleA conference organised jointly by the Centre for Lebanese Studies and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, in co-operation with the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University. The conference aimed to analyze the aftermath of the war in Lebanon and to think about the process of healing and recovery…
Read articleA conference organised jointly by the Centre for Lebanese Studies, the Centre d’etudes de l’Orient Contemporain (Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris III), the Centre de Formation et de Perfectionnement des Journalistes, and the Centre d’etudes et de Recherches sur le Moyen-Orient Contemporain. It sought both to analyse the complexity of the Lebanese crisis and to look for…
Read articleA three-day conference which launched a long term programme of interest in Lebanese Emigration and brain drain issues. The programme developed to include several publications and the Transfer of know-how through Expatriate Nationals (TOKTEN) project in collaboration with UNESCO and UNDP. The conference brought together an international group of scholars to discuss the history of…
Read articleA conference organised by the Centre for Lebanese Studies in collaboration with the International Peace Research Association, UNESCO, the International Peace Research Institute (PRIO), the Permanent Delegation of Lebanon to UNESCO, and the Movement Break the Silence. The aim was to bring together Lebanese and international NGOs in order to promote and develop co-ordination between…
Read articleThe Centre for Lebanese Studies organised a special panel on Lebanon at the BRISMES/AFEMAM conference. Participants included Prof Leila Fawaz, Dr George Jabbour, Dr Yann Mens, Dr Chibli Mallat.
Read articleA two-day conference brought together scholars who had worked on the subject of Lebanese emigration in sub-Saharan Africa, journalists, concerned Lebanese-Africans as well as officials. The conference aimed at encouraging frank and constructive debate on issues confronting African countries such as Benin, Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, the Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Senegal,…
Read articleA conference organised jointly with the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI). The conference brought together a number of specialists who analysed the various issues that southern Lebanon faced at a critical period of the country’s history. The conference dealt with the following issues: the country’s regional importance, its strategic significance and its security implications…
Read articleA conference organised jointly with the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI). The conference brought together a number of specialists who analysed the various issues that southern Lebanon faced at a critical period of the country’s history. The conference dealt with the following issues: the country’s regional importance, its strategic significance and its security implications…
Read articleA one-day conference on the master plan for the reconstruction of the Beirut Central Business District and its implementation by a private real estate company held at the Town and Country Planning Association. The aim of the conference was to have an open and structured discussion with the participation of experts who have been studying…
Read articleA two-day conference organised by the Centre for Lebanese Studies in co-operation with the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs and the International Peace Academy. The discussions were aimed at assessing the impact of Lebanon’s first parliamentary elections in twenty years and discuss the issue of international monitoring. The conference addressed the geo-political and diplomatic settings;…
Read articleA conference organised by the Centre for Lebanese Studies in co-operation with the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. The aim of the conference was to bring scholars working on the period of the 1950s, together with diplomats who served at that time, in order to exchange information and…
Read articleThe Centre for Lebanese Studies organised a special panel on Lebanon at the inaugural pan-European conference on Middle East studies where the European Association of Middle Eastern Studies (EURAMES) was launched. The panel addressed various topics such as The French Expedition of 1861; Civil Conflict in Comparative Perspective; Lebanon and the Conference for Peace in…
Read articleA workshop organised by the Centre for Lebanese Studies in association with the Middle East Centre at St Antony’s College. The aim of the workshop was to bring together scholars currently working on the topic with established experts who have written on the period. The conference addressed issues such as the National Pact; the nationalism…
Read articleA three-day workshop on the Palestinians in Lebanon organised jointly by the Centre for Lebanese Studies and the Refugee Studies Programme. It brought together representatives from the European Commission, UNRWA, various foreign ministries as well as scholars, human rights lawyers and experts on the affairs of the refugees in order to set the agenda for…
Read articleA three-day workshop organised jointly with the Electoral Reform International Services (ERIS). It brought together specialists on Lebanon, international experts on comparative electoral systems and Lebanese Members of Parliament in order to assess the Lebanese electoral system, identify ways in which the current system might be modified, and discuss alternative electoral systems and their applicability…
Read articleAn international conference was organised jointly with the Refugee Studies Programme, University of Oxford. Building on the research commissioned in an earlier phase of the project, the conference sought to discuss the future of the Palestinians in Lebanon. Participants included Palestinian and Lebanese experts; representatives from the European Commission; various local and international non-governmental organisations…
Read articleLebanon emerged from a state of war which suspended the function and role fulfilled by the country in the region. With recovery well on its way one needs to examine the new parameters that govern the shaping of a new role for Lebanon. The post war period now entering its eighth year, gives us hindsight…
Read articleThe conference was designed to enable a group of Arabs and Westerners to engage in a ‘brainstorming’ to examine the nature of preconceptions and prejudices, the reasons oral oxandrolone for sale for their formation and the ways in which they can be combated and replaced with more positive images under the patronage of HRH Prince…
Read articleThe second of a series of meetings examining current issues in the Lebanese economy. Sponsored by the World Bank, the Ford Foundation and the UK FCO.
Read articleWorkshop organised jointly with the Royal Institute of International Affairs, London. The launch of a two year project on this important issue for Lebanon. Sponsored by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the International Development Research Centre of Canada.
Read articleOrganised jointly with the Royal Institute of International Affairs, London. Part of the two-year project on the Refugee Issue in the Middle East Peace Process. Sponsored by the Swiss Foreign Ministry and the UK FCO.
Read articleOrganised jointly with the Royal Institute of International Affairs, London. Part of the two-year project on the Refugee Issue in the Middle East Peace Process. International Development Research Centre of Canada.
Read articleA one day conference organised in London in association with the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR).
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This piece of research, culminating in a conference, sought to understand through the multidisciplinary analysis of space and the processes of planning and reconstruction,in a historical context, and to reveal the various practices of space negotiation from a number of perspectives and scales, in an attempt to provide a fresh understanding of the making and…
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Introducing hands-on civic education and critical thinking to curricula, while promoting student councils at schools, will enhance social cohesion among students of various religious and ethnic backgrounds in Lebanon. These were some of the main recommendations made by a three-day international conference and workshop on education and social cohesion which wrapped up over the weekend.…
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“Healing the Wounds of History” Conference November 11-13, 2011 at LAU Byblos in Lebanon This three-day conference initiated by the Centre for Lebanese Studies launched the “Healing the Wounds of History” Program. The main concepts addressed at the conference were the following: 1) causes for violence are rooted in recent but also older and even…
Read articleWorkshop Program 18-19th May 2012 Centre for Lebanese Studies – MEC/ St Antony’s College – Oxford University This workshop focused on Lebanon’s contemporary borders/boundaries and their relationship with identity building. It aimed at studying three dimensions that ‘border studies’ used to separate for research purposes. First, the physical aspects of territorial delimitations and their implications…
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The goal of the conference was to understand violence and conflict in the country, and how these are perceived and inhabited in everyday life. The conference analyzed current political divisions, politics of sectarianism, affects of violence, civil society activism, and the everyday workings of clientalism that all serve to further our understanding of the socio-political…
Read articleUnder the High Patronage of His Excellency The Prime Minister Najib Mikati The Centre for Lebanese Studies at St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford, The Guerrand-Hermès Foundation for Peace, in partnership with The Institute of Diplomacy and Conflict Transformation at the Lebanese American University, have co-convened an international conference entitled: “Healing the Wounds of History:…
Read articleThe talk was about Bowen’s book on the Arab-Israeli 1967 war and his perspective on the current situation. Jeremy Bowen has been Special Correspondent for BBC news since March 2003. He was previously the BBC ME Correspondent and has covered conflicts in over 70 countries throughout the world. Jeremy has won a number of awards…
Read articleTalk entitled ‘The events of September 11th and the consequences’. The late Sir Marrack Goulding was Warden of St Antony’s College and former UN Under Secretary General.
Read articleTalk entitled ‘The Middle East peace process: where do we go from here’. Mr. Michael Binyon is leader writer for the Times and former Diplomatic correspondent for the Times from 1991-2000.
Read articleTalk entitled ‘Means versus ends: how to combat terrorism in the Middle East’. Dr Rosemary Hollis is head of the Middle East Programme at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House).
Read articleTalk entitled ‘The Middle East Peace Process: From breakthrough to breakdown’. Mr Afif Safieh was head of the Palestinian diplomatic delegation to the United Kingdom, the US and Russia.
Read articleTalk entitled ‘The Palestinian-Israeli conflict: what next?’. Avi Shlaim is Professor of International Relations at St Antony’s College, Oxford University and the author of the highly acclaimed book ‘The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World’ (Penguin, 2000). He is also a frequent contributor to newspapers (most recently the International Herald Tribune and the Guardian)…
Read articleTalk entitled ‘War crimes and the future of the Middle East: building on International Law’. Mr. Mallat is a lawyer at the Beirut bar and holds the Jean Monnet Chair in European Law at St Joseph’s University in Lebanon. He is also Amnesty International’s lawyer for the Middle East Regional Office which he helped establish…
Read articleTalk entitled ‘The United States and the Arabs -friendly regimes and angry populations’. Dr Yamani is a specialist in social, political and human rights issues in the Arab states, as well as on women and Islam. She is currently Associate Fellow in the Middle East Programme of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House)…
Read articleTalk entitled ‘September 11 and the War on Terrorism: consequences for US policy in the region, including Iraq’. Mr. Halliday is Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science since 1983. He is a former chairman of the Research Committee of the Royal Institute of International Affairs and is a…
Read articleTalk entitled ‘Civil and uncivil violence in Lebanon: a discussion on political violence and post-war reconstruction and rehabilitation’. Samir Khalaf is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for Behavioral Research at the American University of Beirut. Probably Lebanon’s best-known Sociologist, Professor Khalaf has also held academic appointments at Princeton, as a Fulbright Scholar…
Read articleTalk entitled ‘The future role of UN peacekeeping in South Lebanon post the Israeli withdrawal, and the challenges that lie ahead for the UN both in Lebanon and the Middle East’. The late Sir was Warden at St Antony’s College, Oxford University, and former Under-Secretary General for Political Affairs and Peace-keeping Operations at the United…
Read articleTalk entitled ‘Current events in the Middle East: the impending war against Iraq and prospects for US-Arab relations’. Former US Assistant Secretary of State for the Near East and South Asia from 1983 to 1989 in the Reagan administration, and also served as US Ambassador to Syria (1974 to 1978), Saudi Arabia and the Philippines.…
Read articleTalk entitled ‘The current crisis in the Middle East, the deterioration in US-Arab relations and the implications for Lebanon and the region’. Mr Tueni is one of Lebanon’s foremost statesmen and political writers. He is also the publisher and editor of Lebanon’s An-Nahar, one of the Arab world’s most credible and authoritative daily newspapers (established…
Read articleTalk entitled ‘The current situation in the Middle East, as the region braces itself for a potential new war’. Glass, the world famous veteran journalist and reporter lived in Lebanon from 1972 to 1976 and again from 1983 to the end of 1984, was the Chief Middle East correspondent for ABC News from 1983 to…
Read articleTalk entitled ‘The Bush Doctrine and Its Implications for US Foreign Policy’. Mr Polk was a member of the Policy Planning Council of the US Department of State. He then became Professor of History and founding Director of the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago, and the President of the Adlai…
Read articleTalk entitled ‘An assessment of economic and political prospects for Lebanon in the current regional climate’. Mr Lahoud is a former Ambassador to the United States, has served in the Lebanese Parliament as an MP for the Metn region, and was a Member of the Foreign Affairs, Budget and Finance Committees. In 2001, Mr Lahoud…
Read articleTalk entitled ‘The upcoming Israeli elections and the implications for the region’. Mr La Guardia is Diplomatic Editor of the Daily Telegraph, and formerly their Middle East correspondent based in Jerusalem between 1990 and 1998. He is also author of the best selling and highly acclaimed book ‘Holy Land, Unholy war: Israelis and Palestinians’ (John…
Read articleA talk entitled ‘Iraq and the Arab Future’. David Ignatius writes a twice-weekly column on global politics, economics and international affairs for the Washington Post. He is a former executive editor of the Herald Tribune and was foreign editor of the Washington Post (1990-1992) supervising the paper’s Pulitzer Prize winning coverage of the Iraqi invasion…
Read articleTalk entitled ‘The British Museum Excavations Project in Saida’. In a rare departure from our normal focus on current events and the politics of the Middle East, we were delighted to welcome Claude Doumet Serhal, one of Lebanon’s foremost archaeologists. She is a special assistant to the British Museum and since 1998 is the Director…
Read articleTalk entitled ‘The impact of the current situation in the Middle East on Lebanon and prospects for the country’s economic recovery in 2003’. Marwan Hamadeh, Former Minister for the Displaced, and Member of Parliament is a former journalist and a highly respected and articulate politician.
Read articleTalk entitled ‘The Battens Come Down: How the Institutional Media Stifle Middle East Reporting’. Tim Llewellyn was the BBC Middle East correspondent based in Beirut from 1976 to 1980 and in Nicosia from 1987 to 1992. He has covered all the major stories in the Middle East in the past quarter century, including the Lebanese…
Read articleTalk entitled ‘The Future of British- Arab Relations in Light of Current Events’. Sir David Gore-Booth, KCMG, KCVO was a distinguished diplomat who served as UK Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and India and was also head of the Middle East and North Africa Department at the Foreign Office.
Read articleTalk entitled ‘What Future for the Palestinian Authority?’. Yezid Sayigh is Academic Director of the Cambridge Programme for Security in International Society and a Teaching Fellow in the Politics and History of the Modern Middle East, Centre of International Studies, University of Cambridge. He is also a consulting Senior Fellow for the Middle East at…
Read articleTalk entitled ‘Syria: Friend or Foe of the West?’. Dr. Alan George, freelancer and broadcaster, has been closely involved with the Middle East since 1967. His first degree was from Oxford and his MA and PhD (on Syria) were from Durham. He frequently commentates on Middle East affairs on TV and radio. He is a…
Read articleTalk entitled ‘The Middle East Road Map: Are the Parties Ready for Peace?’. Dr. Khalil Shikaki, an Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research (Ramallah) Dr. Shikaki took his Ph.D. from Columbia University and taught at several universities including Bir Zeit, Al Najah National University. He…
Read articleTalk entitled ‘Is A Two-State Solution Still Possible?’. Ghada, a leading Palestinian activist, academic, writer and a research Fellow at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter. She also held posts at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, London and at the School of Oriental and African Studies. She was…
Read articleTalk entitled ‘Lebanon, the Arabs, and the Emerging Global Scenarios’. Ambassador Clovis Maksoud, Professor of International Relations and Director of the Centre for the Global South at the American University in Washington DC. Dr. Maksoud, a Lebanese national, was the League of Arab States Chief Representative to India and South East Asia from 1961 to…
Read articleA talk entitled ‘The Relationship between Islam and the West post September 11th’. Yasmin Alibhai-Brown is a senior researcher at the Foreign Policy Centre, a leading independent think tank in the UK that was launched in 1998 by Tony Blair and the then Foreign Minister Robin Cook. She writes a weekly column for the Independent…
Read articleMr. Siegman is Senior Fellow and Director of the US-Middle East Center at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. He is a leading expert on the Middle East, Arab-Israeli relations and US Middle East policy. He was previously Executive Director of the American Jewish Congress from 1978-1994. He is a frequent contributor to…
Read articleA talk entitled ‘Oil: A Curse for the Arabs?’ given by Robert Mabro, a fellow of St. Antony’s College, Oxford University, the Director of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies and a Senior Research Officer in the economics of the Middle East at Oxford.
Read article‘Lebanon and the Region: The Challenges’. This dinner talk celebrated the 20th Anniversary of the Centre for Lebanese Studies under the patronage of H.E. Mr. Issam Fares, Deputy Prime Minister of Lebanon, who was the guest of honour and keynote speaker.
Read articleTalk entitled ‘Building the Lebanon Brand’. Fiona Gilmore is the founding partner of Acanchi, a London based independent consultancy which specialises in strategy development for country brands. During a career spanning 25 years, she has advised on communications, strategy, brand positioning, architecture, innovation, migration, internal communication and identity for global leaders such as Vodafone, Unilever,…
Read articleTalk entitled ‘The Lebanese abroad and how they can help the new Lebanon’. Dr. Philip Salem, the world renowned oncologist and cancer researcher, studied medicine at the American University of Beirut and began his career in cancer medicine in 1968 at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York. Back in Lebanon in 1971 he…
Read articleAn evaluation of, comparing and contrasting, the power sharing agreements that were used to regulate the ethno-national conflicts at different times in both divided societies in Northern Ireland, the 1973 Sunningdale Agreement and the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, and in Lebanon the 1943 National Pact and the 1989 Ta’if Accords. Michael R. Kerr is…
Read articleFormer Prime Minister of Lebanon and MP for Tripoli, Najib Mikati, spoke about the present situation in Lebanon and the Near East.
Read articleTalk entitled ‘The future of Lebanon’. Chibli Mallat is a Professor of Law at St. Joseph University, a senior fellow at Yale Law School, and principal partner at Mallat Law Offices in Beirut. Chibli was an active member of the Cedar Revolution in February 2005 and is a strong supporter of voting rights for Lebanese…
Read articleTalk entitled ‘Democracy and Sectarianism: lessons from the Iraqi Experience’: How setting out the principles of a democratic government are sometimes in contradiction with the political realities on the ground and may require a more imaginative form of political system. A parallel was drawn with Lebanon which, like Iraq, suffers from sectarianism and a form…
Read articleTalk entitled ‘The Future Role of Syria in the Region’. HE Mr. Sami Khiyami, Ambassador of Syria to the Court of St. James, spoke about The Future Role of Syria in the Region. In view of the aftermath of the Iraq invasion and in view of its relationship with Iran and Lebanon, Syria is called…
Read articleTalk entitled ‘Lebanon Under Western Eyes’. Alex discussed the Lebanon that emerged from her research trips and conversations with Lebanese of all communities and beliefs over the past three years. In particular she shared her observations about Lebanon’s special status as the quintessentially diverse, multi-confessional country of the Middle East, the evolving nature of Lebanese…
Read articleTalk entitled ‘Beirut: the City of Recurring Conflicts’. Since October 2004 Beirut has been rocked by a number of explosions in hitherto relatively safe districts which have targeted politicians, journalists and civilians. This mobile violence was coupled in the summer of 2006 by a war which damaged many of the roads and bridges connecting the…
Read articleTalk entitled ‘The Palestinian Triangle: Jordan, Israel and the Palestinians ‘. Largely from the perspective of the past, that of King Hussein.
Read articleTalk entitled ’60 Years of Damage: Israel and the Arab World since 1948′. Israel’s establishment in the Arab world sixty years ago impacted most immediately on the Palestinians. But what is often ignored is the extensive damage inflicted on the Arab frontline states and the Arab world in general. Lebanon especially has paid a heavy…
Read articleTalk entitled ‘Which Foreign Policy for Lebanon?. The interplay between the domestic and external environments affecting Lebanon’s foreign policy and the major changes in both environments which raise new challenges to foreign policy making’. Drawing on past experience and in light of a pro-active and successful foreign policy as a main source of national security,…
Read articlePatrick Seale, who is a well known British writer on Middle East Affairs, spoke on the theme of Syrian Geopolitics Under Bashar Al Asad (including Syria-Lebanon relations). Born in Ireland and educated at Oxford University, Patrick worked as a foreign correspondent in many parts of the world for Reuters and The Observer. For some fifteen…
Read articleDavid Gardner, Chief Leader Writer and Associate Editor of the Financial Times, gave a talk about ‘Arab Exception’, or why despotism, and Western collusion in preserving it, has held the Arab World back. David joined the Financial Times in 1978 and worked mainly as a foreign correspondent (Spain, Mexico & Central America, Brussels and New…
Read articleTalk entitled ‘New Prospects for Peace in the Middle East ?’. He analysed fresh aspects of the Arab Israeli conflict given the recently elected governments both in Israel and the United States. Henry Siegman is president of the US/Middle East Project, an independent policy institute which until 2006 was part of the Council on Foreign…
Read articleDr. Eugene Rogan’s spoke about his recent book ‘The Arabs: A History’ (published by Allen Lane November 2009). Dr. Rogan is a Faculty Fellow and University Lecturer in the Modern History of the Middle East at St. Antony’s College, Oxford, where he serves as Director of the Middle East Centre. The book is an authoritative…
Read articleTim Llwellyn, whose book ‘Spirit of the Phoenix: Beirut and the Story of Lebanon’, published by I.B. Tauris, spoke about the dangers for Lebanon and about the British media’s continued lack of enterprise and balance in reporting on Lebanon in particular – and its neighbours in general – in covering Hezbollah, the Lebanese South, the…
Read articleRami’s appointment in 2005 as the Director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut follows a long career in journalism in the Middle East, especially in Jordan and Lebanon where he still serves as editor at large of the Beirut- based Daily Star newspaper. His…
Read articleDr. Mansel, who made his reputation as a historian and authority on nineteenth century France, and later wrote two excellent works on Constantinople and the Ottoman Empire, has very recently published a highly acclaimed book entitled ‘Levant: Splendour and Catastrophe on the Mediterranean’ where the Levant is seen through the history of three key cities,…
Read articleNadim Houry is Human Rights Watch’s senior researcher for Lebanon and Syria and the director of the Beirut office. His talk was entitled ‘Is Lebanon Reformable?’ In the course of his work Nadim has documented violations of international humanitarian law during the July 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. He has also researched human rights…
Read articleLord Michael Williams talked about “Lebanon and the UN After the 2006 War”. Lord Michael Williams was the UN Special Coordinator in Lebanon from 2008 to 2011 appointed by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. He will offered his perspectives on the latest developments in the region, especially relating to Lebanon. Lord Williams is very…
Read articleDINNER LECTURE H.E. AMBASSADOR TOM FLETCHER HELD AT THE SLOANE CLUB, ON 16th SEPTEMBER 2012 AT 7:30 PM Our guest of honour was Ambassador Tom Fletcher, who is currently serving as Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Lebanon. He shared his insights on the current situation in Lebanon, and offered his perspective on the conflict in Syria…
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