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ICAR Undergraduate Program Brown Bag Lecture
Sense and Nonsense About Protests and Turmoil in Tunisia, Egypt, and Lebanon
Presented By: Bassam Haddad
The social upheaval and protests in Tunisia and Egypt recently cannot be underestimated, whether or not the outcome is what the protesters desired. The magnitude of the these developments cannot be adequately understood without a sober account of the authoritarian legacy of these regimes and their international supporters. One would also have to sift through the largely superficial accounts that pervade the mainstream press. As for Lebanon, the question of the International Tribunal on the assassination of former Prime Minister Hariri continues to cause ample conflict and turmoil in an already divided polity, with both regional and international implications. Both sets of developments will be addressed during this brown bag!
Bassam Haddad is Director of the Middle East Studies Program and teaches in the Department of Public and International Affairs at George Mason University, and is Visiting Professor at Georgetown University. He serves as Founding Editor of the Arab Studies Journal a peer-reviewed research publication and is co-producer/director of the award-winning documentary film, About Baghdad, and director of a critically acclaimed film series on Arabs and Terrorism, based on extensive field research/interviews. He is the author of Business Networks in Syria: The Political Economy of Authoritarian (Forthcoming, 2011, Stanford University Press). Bassam recently directed a film on Arab/Muslim immigrants in Europe, titled The “Other” Threat. He also serves on the Editorial Committee of Middle East Report and is Co-Founder of Jadaliyya Ezine.