PAST SPEAKERS
2013 - 2016 SPEAKERS
2016 SPEAKERS
God's Big Mistake
HARVEY COX, Professor (ret) of Divinity, Harvard Divinity School
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Understanding Israel's Politics: Who is for What and Why
NAOMI CHAZAN, Former member and Deputy Speaker of Knesset Dean, School of Government and Society, Academic College of Tel Aviv
The Road from Dabiq—The Ongoing Threat from ISIS and Al Qaeda
MARK HAMBLEY, Former U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon and Qatar
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Lebanon and its Multiple Challenges
RANDA SLIM, Director, Track II Dialogues Initiative, Middle East Institute
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Saudi Arabia Faces the Future...or Tries to
THOMAS LIPPMAN, Former Middle East Bureau Chief, The Washington Post
2014 SPEAKERS
Israeli-Palestinian Peace: Why Not Give Up?
NAOMI CHAZAN, Former member and Deputy Speaker of the Israeli Knesset
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Public Opinion in the Middle East
SHIBLEY TELHAMI, Professor, University of Maryland
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The Future of U.S. Policy in the Persian Gulf
GARY SICK, Senior Research Scholar, Columbia University
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Changing Geopolitics in the Middle East and Implications for U.S. Policy
ELLEN LAIPSON, President, Stimson Center, Washington, D.C.
Egyptian Politics: from Uprising to Coup and Beyond
STEPHEN COOK, Sabbagh Senior Fellow for Middle Easter Studies, Council on Foreign Relations
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The Syrian Dilemma and the Middle East
PAUL SALEM, Vice President, Middle East Institute
2013 SPEAKERS
Forward or Backward: Prospects for Post-2014 Afghanistan
PAUL DAVID FISHSTEIN, Feinstein International Center, Tufts University
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Iran’s Descent into Theocratic Military Authoritarianism
ALI BANUAZIZI, Department of Political Science, Boston University
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Egypt after Mubarak
WILLIAM RUGH, Fletcher School, Tufts University
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Human Rights and Security in Israel-Palestine
NEVE GORDON, Institute of Advanced Studies, Princeton University; Ben Gurion University, Israel
US Policy in the New Middle East
WILLIAM QUANDT, Department of Political Science, University of Virginia
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Syria’s Agony and Widening Sunni-Shia Rift
A. RICHARD NORTON, Department of Anthropology, Boston University
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2015 SPEAKERS
Can the United States Manage the Middle East? Should it try?
STEPHEN WALT, Belfer Professor of International Affairs, JFK School of Government, Harvard University
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Turkey’s Evolving Relationship with the U.S. and the Middle East
FRANCIS J. RICCIARDONE, Vice President, Atlantic Council; Director Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East; Former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and Egypt
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Yemen: Domestic Problems and Outside Influences
WILLIAM RUGH, Adjunct Scholar, Middle East Institute; former U.S. Ambassador to Yemen and UAE
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American-Iranian Relationships: Past, Present and Future
BARBARA SLAVIN, Senior Fellow, South Asia Center, Atlantic Council
The Challenge of Reconciliation and Reform
in Egypt
EMAD SHAHIN, Visiting Professor, Georgetown University; Professor of Political Science, American University in Cairo
Syria, ISIS, and the U.S. Response
FREDERIC C. HOF, Senior Fellow, Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East; former U.S. Special Advisor for Transition in Syria