Sixth Annual ASMEA Conference Schedule

Thursday, November 21
6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Welcome Reception
Remarks by: H.E. Mbarka Bouaida, Minister Delegate of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Kingdom of Morocco

Friday, November 22
7:45 a.m. – 8:15 a.m.
Breakfast

8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
Iran: Forcing Reforms by Threat, Intellect and the Law
Trials and Tribulations: Female Status in Khomeini’s Fiqh-e-Jafaria, 1979-1989
International Intervention in an Age of Terror: Oil Sanctions or Military Intervention
The Forqan Group of Iran: The Enemy within the Islamic Revolution
Scum of Tabriz: Ahmad Kasravi and the Impulse to Reform Islam

8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
War, Instability, and Continuity in Africa
Stabilizing the Sahel after the War in Libya: from Counterterrorism to Grand Strategy in Central and West Africa
Whack a Mole: Militant Islamism in Northern Africa
France in Mali: The Face of American Retreat?
Ethiopia’s Hegemony in the Horn of Africa: Internal Tensions and External Challenges Before and After Meles Zenawi

8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
Expressions of the Sensitive and the Divine in Literature, Film, and Architecture
Architecture and Spirituality
The Alhambra: Continuity & Change in an Islamic Palace-City
The Permitted and the Forbidden: Non-Conformist Writing in Modern Iraqi Literature
Israeli-Palestinian Encounters through French Cinematic Lenses

8:45 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
Roundtable A: From Kissinger to Kerry: Forty Years of Failed Attempts to Solve the Arab-Israeli Conflict

10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Grand Designs and Local Conflicts in the Middle East
Geneva Convention Regarding POWs in the Test of the War of Attrition (1969-1970) and the 1973 War
Ansar al-Sharia Tunisia’s Long Game: Dawa, Hisba, and Jihad Soviet-Yemen Relations During the Yemeni Civil War
United States Policy towards the Middle East, 1945-1967: A Counter-Narrative

10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Philosophy and Polemics: Islamic and Christian Thought
Islam and the Natural Law
A Fourth/Tenth-Century Muslim Critique of Christianity
Jihad and Just War
Muhammad Iqbal’s Metaphysics of the Self: A Response to Islamic Traditionalism

10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Mediterranean Dialogue: Faith, Migration, Quarantine and Partnerships
Kings of Jerusalem: Spain and the Ottoman Empire in the Eastern Mediterranean
Hamdan Bin Osman Hoca, Kasim Izzeddin, and the Complications of Quarantine and Plague Reform in the Late Ottoman Empire
Revolution and Mediterranean Migration: Looking Back at the Age of Unification [Risorgimento] in Italy and Moving Onward to the Arab Spring in Tunisia
Bashmur and its last uprising in the early Abbasid Caliphate: What Yusab, the Coptic Patriarch, and Dionysius, the Syriac Patriarch, Meant by “Peace” in the History of the Patriarchs and the Annals

10:45 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Roundtable B: Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Region, and Beyond

12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Banquet Luncheon and Keynote Address
The Arab Upheavals: A View from Beirut
Mr. Michael Young, Opinion Editor, Daily Star, Beirut, Lebanon

2:15 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Roundtable C: Delegitimization of Israel

2:15 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.
Progress and Disarray: Politics and Economy in Africa
The Political Economy of Overfishing in Coastal African States: Comparing Somalia with West Africa
Africa’s Economic Renaissance
Blaise Diagne Speaks: The Cosmopolitan and Anti-Colonial Resistance of a Little-Known West African Francophone Leader
The Politics of Labeling in International Politics: The Case of the So-Called “Coup d’Etat of March 2009” in Madagascar

2:15 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.
Islamic Democracy and Jihadist Strategy
The Rise of Jihadist Strategies: Geopolitics of Islamic Resistance, Revolution, and Offensive Warfare
The Egyptian Islamic Group’s Critique of Al-Qaeda: A Case Study in Leveraging Fiqh al-Jihad to Delegitimize Terrorism
How Ataturk Built the Turkish Republic and the Failure of Islamic Democracy in Egypt, Iraq, and Gaza
Political Power of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Middle East Geopolitics after the Arab Spring

2:30 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.
Roundtable D: Revolution, Revolt, and Reform in North Africa

4:15 p.m. – 5:45 p.m.
War, Peace, Identity, and Morale in Israel
The Evolution of Palestinian Arab Proto-Self-Determination and “Peoplehood” during the Mandate for Palestine
Jewish Cosmopolitanism, Israelisation and Halakhah: Critical Perspectives
Ethos-clash in Israel and the Balance of Forces in the Middle East
Looking Forward by Looking Back: Pre-State Zionist Visions of How Peace Could Ultimately Be Achieved

4:15 p.m. – 5:45pm
Great Men of the Middle East: Warriors, Activists, Poets
Jurji Zaydan: Activists and Reformer during the Arab Renaissance
Saladin: Islam’s Liberator of Muslim Lands
Charles Corm and Lebanon at the 1939 New York World’s Fair

4:15 p.m. – 5:45 p.m.
Defining the Struggle: Religion, Nationalism, Symbolism
Battles of al-Qadisiyyah in Iraq, Palestine, and Syria: Early Islamic History and Memory in Radical Islamist Discourse
Nationalism in Iraq and Syria: A Reacquired Taste?
Jihad and Power: A Historical Perspective

4:15 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Roundtable E: Great Power Involvement in the Arab Upheavals

8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
Film Screening: The Band’s Visit (2007)

Saturday, November 23
8:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.
Breakfast

8:45 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.
The Arab Spring: Provenance and Directions
The Arab Spring: Implications for U.S.-Israeli Relations
The Liberal Discourse on Democracy and the ‘Arab Spring’: Vision and Reality
The Jasmine Revolution between Secularism and Islamic Fundamentalism: The Case of Tunisia and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
The Arab Uprising and the Survival of the Monarchies: An Ideological – Institutional Analysis

8:45 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.
Energy and Attitudes in the Gulf
The Future Kingdom: A Quantitative Analysis of Contemporary Saudi Arabian Perspectives
The Rise of National Oil Companies: Energy Security in the Balance
Renewable Energy and Energy Security: A Niche Strategy for Small States in the Gulf

8:45 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.
Leaders and Legitimacy in Iran
Guarding the Nation: The Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Nationalism, and the Iran-Iraq War
Secularism and the Humanization of Islam: Iranian Muslim Intellectuals after the Islamic Revolution
Reconstruction of the City of Bam: National Identity or Political Legitimacy

8:45 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.
Who Calls the Shots? Syria, Russia, Hezbollah
Keeping Lebanese Politics Under Control, Interfering in Syria: Reflecting on Hezbollah’s Understanding of Power and State
Russian-Syrian Dialog: Myths and Realities
“Al-Za’im” Hezbollah: Reviewing Hezbollah’s Role in Lebanon

10:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
How Do They Fare? Jews and Christians in the Middle East
The Current Syrian Popular View of the Jews
Coping in Kurdistan: The Christian Diaspora
Naji Attallah’s Crew: Stereotypes of Jews, Arabs, and Americans in Egypt’s Most-Watched Ramadan 2012 Soap Opera
Globalization Processes and Christians in the Middle East: A Comparative Analysis

10:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Topics in Middle East Studies
Democracy and Punishment: Official and Unofficial Attitudes Toward the Harshest Punishment in Jewish Law and Modern Israel
An Examination of the Modern Discourse on Maqasid al-Sharia
Law of Contract and Obligation as a Unified Islamic Legal System
Arabic in the Lead-Up to the Arab Spring: Fusion or Diffusion?

10:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Give and Take: Subsidies, Security, Aid, and Income
Income Inequality and Economic Globalization: A Longitudinal Study of 15 Muslim-Majority Countries [1963-2002]
Revolution, Resilience, and the Pirates’ Paradox: Food Subsidies, Economic Complexities, and Regime Durability Across the Middle East and North Africa
Determinants of Turkey’s Aid Distribution to Sub-Saharan African Countries
Revolution, Resilience, and the Pirates’ Paradox: Food Subsidies, Economic Complexities, and Investing in Food Security in Egypt: Seeds from the People’s Spring

10:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
What Are They Learning?
The Assyrian Renaissance: A Review of Syriac Education and Cultural Output in Iraq since 1991
Iraqi Academe in the Wilderness
Local, Regional, and International ‘Borrowing and Lending’ in Social Sciences at Egyptian and Lebanese Universities
The Impact of the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process on the Educational System

12:30 p.m.
Lunch

1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Topics in Middle East Security
The Impact of the Cold War on Military Expenditure-Economic Growth in the Middle East
Kurdish Paradiplomacy and Protodiplomacy in World Practice: An Optimistic Case in the Age of Global War
Old Symbols and New Purposes: Legitimating Military Power in Contemporary Iraq
Kurdish Islamist Movements: An Account of Their Growth and Uncertainty

1:00 p.m. – 2:30pm
Curious Engagements: Outsiders Defining the African Experience
Structural Adjustment as Credible Commitments: The IMF and Sub-Saharan Africa, 1990-2004
The Trade in Elite Slaves in Zanzibar: Suria from Europe and Ethiopia
The Congo Crisis: A Reexamination, 1960-1967

1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Turkey, Iran, and Georgia: Relations Among and Within
Turkish-Iranian Relations: What will the Future Bring?
Turkey, Iran, and Muslim Minorities of Georgia
After the Military Takes Off: Democratization through Civilianization in Turkey?

1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Methods of Change: Labor, Voting, and Education
Privatizing the Public Good? The Politics and Policies of Private Higher Education in Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia
Fostering Positive Political Change in North Africa: The Role of the Labor Sector
The Politics of Islamic Education in Morocco and Tunisia: Historical Trends and Current Debates
Distributive Politics and Electoral Systems in Ethnically Divided Societies: Preliminary Observations from Jordan

3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Topics in Middle East Studies
Michel ‘Aflaq: The Formation of a Civil Religion
Changes in Women’s Empowerment in Turkey: Application of Oaxaca Decomposition
Individuals, Institutions, and Discourses: Knowledge and Power in Russia’s Iranian Studies of the Late Imperial and Soviet Periods

3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
State Formation and External Alliances: Azerbaijan and Israel
The Emergence of Azerbaijani Nationalism and State: The Secular Elite, Grievances, and Opportunity Structures
India’s Relations with Israel from the 1980 to 1992: The “Threat” of Political Islam as a Unifying Factor
From Solving to Managing: The United Nations and the Palestinian Problem, 1947-1949

3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Building Africa: Power, Justice and Transition
In Contemporary Africa: Why Some Countries Tend to Experience Post-Election Conflict while Others Do Not?
Restorative Justice, Collective Memory, and the Complex Experience of Victims: Did South Africa’s TRC and Rwanda’s Gacaca Courts Hear Women’s Voices?
Power Wielding and Power Yielding: The Question of Reintegration and Transitional Justice in Uganda

3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Art and Social Media: Politics, Nostalgia and War
The Legitimacy of Kingship: Benin Art and Political Intrigues from the Eighteenth Century
The Impact of Social Media on the International Community’s Involvement in the Syrian Conflict: Using the Comparison between Hama 1982 and Homs 2012
Using Facebook as a Tool for Examining Collective Memory: The Emergence of ‘Nasser’ Facebook Pages in Egypt