LSE Middle East Centre Podcasts

Speaker: Frédéric Vairel, University of Ottawa Chair: John Chalcraft, LSE Most of the existing literature on the 2011 MENA uprisings looks in isolation at either the contentious politics of popular mobilisation or regime responses to them. Frédéric Vairel proposes a move away from this approach in order to understand the Moroccan case, instead considering both sides together by looking at the 20th February Movement and the regime’s response to it. He argues that by resorting to a number of short and long term reforms; toleration, repression and containment of street mobilisation, the regime was able to avoid producing ‘martyrs’, thereby containing potential backlash of the kind experienced elsewhere in the region. Recorded on 19 May 2015. This seminar forms part of the 'Social Movements and Popular Mobilisation in the MENA Research Theme'. Image credit: Thierry Ehrman, Flickr. King Mohammed VI of Morocco painted portrait.

Speaker: Claire Beaugrand, Institut Français du Proche Orient Discussant: Filippo Dionigi, LSE Middle East Centre Chair: John Chalcraft, LSE Bahrain has had a long history of exiling its opponents as a way to regulate political dissent. The 2011 political uprising in Bahrain marked a new phase in the history of Bahraini outmigration and exile politics. The brutal repression with which the protest movement was met (particularly from March to July 2011) led to a new wave of political exile, affecting a wider range of socio-economic categories. With most of the Arab countries, notably Syria, themselves in turmoil and Gulf countries having closed ranks behind the Bahraini government, the destinations of out-migrants also became more limited with the UK and Lebanon on the top of the list. This research examines the forms of opposition and advocacy that were built on previous exile experiences, focusing on a new generation of opponents that includes children of political exiles and long-time expatriates in Bahrain. This seminar forms part of the 'Social Movements and Popular Mobilisation in the MENA Research Theme'. Recorded on 3 June 2015. This seminar forms part of the 'Social Movements and Popular Mobilisation in the MENA Research Theme'. Image credit: humanrightstv.com. Bahraini human rights activists Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja (left) and Nabeel Rajab (right).

Speaker: Jonathan Wyrtzen, Yale University Chair: Toby Dodge, LSE Against a dominant historical narrative emphasizing the importance of war-time agreements (Sykes-Picot and others) and the post-World War I peace settlement in "making" the modern Middle East, Jonathan wyrtzen shifts the focus to the post-war decade, examining a set of synchronic "revolts" in the mid-1920s from Morocco to Turkey that were critical in negotiating new political topographies in North Africa and the Middle East. This comparative analysis looks at different typologies of state formation (both by the British, French, Italian, and Spanish colonial powers and by local actors including Ataturk, Ibn Saud, and Abd al-Krim) and of anti-state resistance, emphasising the importance of transregional linkages during this critical historical juncture. Recorded on 17 March 2015. Image Credit: Wikipedia. Sheikh Hilal al-Atrash, Druze rebel leader, during The Great Syrian Revolt.

Speaker: Lahouari Addi, Sciences Po Lyon Chair: John King, Society for Algerian Studies In this lecture, Professor Lahouari Addi discusses the current situation in Algeria, from the sickness and subsequent disappearance of Bouteflika from the public eye, to the protests in the south resisting the exploitation of the country's vast shale gas reserves and, importantly, the future of Algeria's economic situation in the face of declining oil prices. These issues are discussed against the backdrop of a nearing change in presidential leadership. This event was jointly organised by the LSE Middle East Centre and the Society for Algerian Studies. Recorded on 10 March 2015. Abdelaziz Bouteflika painted portrait. Image Credit: Thierry Ehrman, Flickr.

Speaker: Marie Duboc, University of Tübingen Chair: John Chalcraft, LSE This talk focuses on labour protests in Egypt, before and after the fall of Hosni Mubarak. It argues that repression and radicalisation do not fully capture the dynamics of social movements in authoritarian contexts. Instead, it suggests to expand the contentious politics approach, the dominant theoretical framework used to study collective action. Through the study of labour action in Egypt Duboc moves away from approaches apprehending social movements as linear processes, explaining why they can lead to revolutionary situations as well as hinder them. Recorded on 25 February 2015. This seminar forms part of the 'Social Movements and Popular Mobilisation in the MENA Research Theme'. Image Credit: Hossam el-Hamalawy, Flickr. Egyptian workers protest against state-backed Egyptian Federation of Trade Unions.

Speaker: Richard Schofield, King's College London Chair: Madawi Al-Rasheed, LSE Middle East Centre In trying to make sense of the spontaneous appearance of new borderland spatialities in Syria and Iraq, as well as recent instances of formal state boundary-making such as the Abyei arbitration, Richard Schofield asks what constitutes a borderland in the Middle East. Addressing both historical and contemporary concerns, with notable attention being paid to Iran-Iraq and Saudi-Yemen, he argues that developing a more overtly multidisciplinary basis for the study of contested borders will best aid their appreciation and understanding. Recorded on 24 February 2015.

Speaker: Colonel Joel Rayburn, National Defense University Chair: Toby Dodge, LSE More than a decade after the US-led invasion of Iraq, most studies of the Iraq conflict focus on the twin questions of whether the United States should have entered Iraq in 2003 and whether it should have exited in 2011, but few have examined the new Iraqi state and society on its own merits. In this lecture, Joel Rayburn presents his book Iraq After America: Strongmen, Sectarians, Resistance, in which he examines the government and the sectarian and secular factions that have emerged in Iraq since the US invasion of 2003, presenting the interrelations among the various elements in the Iraqi political scene. Tracing the origins of key trends in recent Iraqi history to explain the political and social forces that produced them, particularly during the intense period of civil war between 2003 and 2009, he looks at some of the most significant players in the new Iraq, explaining how they have risen to prominence and what their aims are. Recorded on 17 February 2015.

Speaker: Steven Heydemann, United States Institute of Peace Chair: Toby Dodge, LSE Middle East Centre How have the Arab Uprisings of 2011 affected authoritarian governance in the Arab world? How have Arab regimes responded to the distinctive challenges posed by the rapid emergence of oppositional forms of mass politics? What forms of authoritarian governance seem to be emerging in the wake of the Uprisings? Reflecting on the debate about the resilience of authoritarianism in the Middle East, Steven Heydemann analyses what regime responses to the rise of mass political movements tell us about the capacity of Arab regimes to adapt in the face of new challenges. Recorded on 12 February 2015. Image Credit: Hossam el-Hamalawy, Flickr.

Speaker: Steven Heydemann, United States Institute of Peace Chair: Toby Dodge, LSE As the Syrian conflict nears its fourth anniversary, it poses a growing threat to the stability of the state order in the Levant and Arab East. In this lecture, Steven Heydemann argues that the widespread violence now gripping the Levant and Arab East has a logic and structure that can shed light on its underlying dynamics, its drivers, and its possible effects. Recorded on 11 February 2015.

Speaker: Peter Neumann, King's College London Chair: Toby Dodge, LSE Large numbers of foreigners, including many Europeans, have joined jihadist groups in the Syrian/Iraqi conflict. Who are these people, why do they go, and what - if any - threat will they pose upon their return? Drawing on a large database with hundreds of social media profiles of Western fighters, dozens of interviews, and fieldwork, Professor Peter Neumann of King's College London's International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation will talk about the fighters' motivations and consequences. Recorded on 27 January 2015.