The Geostrategic Curse in the Middle East: Regional Rivalries and Western Powers

When: Monday September 26, 2022, 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM (Edmonton time)
Where: Online Zoom Webinar. For registration, please CLICK HERE.

Abstract:
In his keynote address, Professor Fawaz Gerges examines the impact of the geostrategic curse on impeding progress in the Middle East, beginning from the Cold War to the post-Arab Spring uprisings. He asks how and in what ways does the strategic curse impede social and political progress in the region. More specifically, the lecture covers geostrategic rivalries in the MENA region as well as the role of the Western powers, particularly the United States. 

Bio:
Fawaz A. Gerges is Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and holder of the Emirates Professorship in Contemporary Middle East Studies. He was also the inaugural Director of the LSE Middle East Centre from 2010 until 2013. Professor Gerges’ most recent books are Making the Arab World: Nasser, Qutb, and the Clash that Shaped the Middle East (Princeton University Press, 2018), ISIS: A History (Princeton University Press, 2016) and The New Middle East: Protest and Revolution in the Arab World (Cambridge University Press, November 2013). He is also the author of several acclaimed books: Journey of the Jihadist: Inside Muslim Militancy (Harcourt Press, 2007), and The Far Enemy: Why Jihad Went Global (Cambridge University Press, 2005). His forthcoming book is The Hundred Years’ War for Control of the Middle East: From Sykes-Picot to the Deal of the Century (Princeton University Press).