22/06/2016

Steven Heydemann on Obama reshaping US Middle East policy

On June 22, Steven Heydemann gave a lecture on »Obama’s Middle East Policy«, organized by the university group PiVO-Politik im Vorderen Orient/Politics in the Middle East in cooperation with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.

Steven Heydemann emphasized four fundamental redefinitions of US engagement in the Middle East that seem central to Barack Obama, therefore often referred to as »the anti-Bush«. (1) In light of decreasing dependence on Middle Eastern natural resources, Obama has realized the Middle East is no longer of central US interest which led to a retreat from the region. (2) Facing a range of regional deadlock situations and authoritarian restoration the limits of US influence in the region were acknowledged and (3) the limits of US capacities to be spent were redefined. With special regard to the Syria conflict (4) Obama shifted the management of foreign policy within the US administration away from the Ministry of Defense and in favor of the president, in order to prevent a prolonged military mission. Steven Heydemann stressed that the president’s legacy may not be durable beyond his soon ending term in office, considering the entrenchment it caused within the administration.

Steven Heydemann made a distinction between assessing the general US retreat from the Region that may result from strategic calculations and the refusal to act in the Syria conflict. The latter made the escalation to a full-scale civil war and the rise of new Jihadi actors possible. Obama’s policy toward Syria is thus considered to have failed and to have cost hundreds of thousands of lives.

Professor Heydemann engaged in a lively discussion with the audience on the promises and perils of Obama’s notion of foreign policy and the prospects of US Middle East policy under a new presidency.

Recommended reading:
The Obama Doctrine, The Atlantic, March 2016 [Link: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/04/the-obama-doctrine/471525/]

Please find the flyer here.

15/02/2016

Danae Panissié presents "The Islamic State - An Introduction"

Danae Panissié introcued an audience of some 80 people to the origin, organiztational structure and Financiers of the "Islamic State" on February 15th, 2016. She also provided the highly interested and active guests with an overview of current countering strategies and their political implications for the MENA region. The audience took the opportunity to ask many questions and engaged in lively discussions on Germany's role in Syria, the refugee crisis in Europe and the overarching role of Islam in politics.

The presentation was organized by the Seniors' Academy in Sindelfingen.

Please find the program here (in German).

24-26/09/2015

Participation at the DAVO Conference in Bochum

From 24 to 26 September, the annual International Conference of the German Middle East Studies Association (DAVO) was held at the University of Bochum. Our research group took advantage of the diverse panels shedding light on international, societal, and political aspects of current developments in the region. Kressen Thyen and Mirjam Edel both presented innovative approaches to study authoritarian regimes in a panel titled 'Legitimation, Repression and Protests: Concepts and Evidence from the Arab World' which was chaired by May Darwich. Kressen Thyen presented empirically innovative insights into the Relationship between Legitimacy and Protest under Authoritarianism whereas Mirjam Edel talked about 'The Logic of State Repression: Theoretical Considerations & Illustrations from Egypt'.

07-08/10/2015

Danae Panissié on 'ISIS – Jihadi statebuilding'

Danae Panissié gave two lectures on “ISIS – Jihadi statebuilding” in Crailsheim and Weikersheim (in the region of Baden-Württemberg) organized by the church adult education service of Schwäbisch Hall and Bad Mergentheim. The lectures first distinguished ISIS as a extremist (Jihasist) actor from moderate Islamist actors in the region and provided then a factual overview of ISIS’ organizational structure, financial assets and recruitment logics. Next to ISIS military power its success in establishing state-like arrangements with functioning institutions was emphasized. The audience engaged in a lively discussion on the current countering strategies of the international community which seem to fail and result in growing refugee flows to Europe. The latter was a distinct point of concern raised by the audience, especially given that the town of Weikersheim was scheduled to take in some 60 refugees by the end of the week.

25/26/03/2015

Danaë Panissié gives two lectures on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for the church adult education service

In a lecture series organized by the church adult education service, Danaë Panissié presented the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in two subsequent lectures in the Baden-Württemberg region (Schwaebisch Hall and Laudenbach Stadt Weikersheim) on March 25 and 26. The main lines of conflict along which the field of political actors was illustrated, were put into the context of recent regional developments. The outmost interested audience engaged in a lively discussion on the perspectives and dead-ends of the conflict and stressed some discomfort with the rather passive stance of the German government.

Please find the Flyer text (in German) here.

25-27/02/2015

Nadine Kreitmeyr at the Comparative Political Science Section Conference “World Regions Compared: Polity, Politics and Policy”

Nadine Kreitmeyr represented our research unit at the Comparative Political Science Section Conference “World Regions Compared: Polity, Politics and Policy” of the German Association for Political Science (DVPW) which took place at the German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA) in Hamburg from 25-27 February 2015. At this conference, she presented the paper entitled “The Social Site of Authoritarian Upgrading: Social Entrepreneurship Networks in Jordan and Morocco”.

26/02/2015

The CMEPS trailer on YouTube

17-18/01/2015

Mirjam Edel at the SeSaMO Conference in Venedig

Mirjam Edel represented our research unit at the annual conference of the Italian Society for Middle Eastern Studies (SeSaMO). At the conference, which took place on 17 and 18 January 2015 in Venice, she presented a paper on “Political Learning during the Arab Uprisings” together with André Bank. The paper discusses the occurrence, forms, and conditions of ruling elite learning triggered by the Arab Uprisings. The panel was organized by Steven Heydemann and Fréderic Vairel. The former is distinguished guest scholar at our Institute of Political Science in Tübingen from 2014 up to 2016.

17-19/12/2014

Miriam Edel at the first Workshop of IDCAR-Network in Hamburg

From December 17-19, 2014, Mirjam Edel participated at the First IDCAR (International Diffusion and Cooperation of Authoritarian Regimes) Network Conference held at the German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA) in Hamburg. At the workshop she presented a paper on “Political Learning and it’s Structural Limits in the Middle East“ (jointly with André Bank). Numerous renowned US-american and European scholars working on authoritarianism were present at the conference. For more information on the network that was launched in July 2014 please follow the link here.

19-20/11/2014

Professor Oliver Schlumberger participates at the board meeting of “Trajectories of Change” in Hamburg

„Trajectories of Change“ is a Ph.D. Scholarship Programme by the ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius. It encourages Ph.D. students in Humanities and Social Sciences to examine the historical and current transformation processes in the European neighborhood. Oliver Schlumberger participates in the 2015 focus and the selection criteria for the programme.

For more information click here.

25-27/09/2014

Panel on "Arab Youth: From Engagement to Inclusion?" at the 21th Congress of DAVO in Köln

Focusing on the interaction between state actors and different groups of youth, a final panel brought together members of the project team and scholars from other institutions at the 21^th Congress of the German Middle East Association (DAVO) from September 25 - 27, 2014.

More than three years after the Arab uprisings, governments in the region are still struggling to control high levels of youth protest in the absence of truly inclusive policies. Attempts towards (re-)establishing regime legitimacy through partial reforms are paralleled by strategies of exclusion or even outright repression. While much has been written about the emergence of youth movements over the past years, little empirical data has so far been presented on the relationship between state actors and the youth. Taking a comparative perspective, this panel inquired into a number of questions like: How do state authorities manage the demands formulated by different groups of youth? What consequences does this have for the perception young people have of the state? To what extent have participatory possibilities increased for specific categories of youth who have in the past been particularly concerned by exclusion?

The panel was organized by KressenThyen (University of Tübingen / WZB Berlin) and chaired by Hürcan Asli Aksoy (University of Tübingen). It included the following presentations:

• Dr. Maria Josua (GIGA Hamburg) / MirjamEdel (University of Tübingen): Sequencing Legitimation and Repression Strategies: A Dynamic Perspective on the Interaction between State Actors and the Youth
• Kressen Thyen (University of Tübingen / WZB Berlin): The Illusion of Inclusion? Post-Uprising Youth Policies in Egypt and Morocco
• Amani El-Naggare (University Hassan II Casablanca): Gender Perspectives on Reform and Political Change
• Dr. Nadine Sika (American University in Cairo): Youth, Islamism and Political Contention

18-22/08/2014

Team members cover panels on World Congress of Middle Eastern Studies (WOCMES) 2014 in Ankara

Various members of our Working Group contributed to this year’s WOCMES at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara from August 18 to 22. This international Middle East congress is held every four years. This time Maria Josua, Dr. Tina Zintl, Kressen Thyen and Mirjam Edel presented results of their latest research on »Success and Failure of Authoritarian Inclusion: Lessons From the Arab Uprisings.« The panel was chaired by Prof. Steven Heydemann, PhD who currently serves as Vice President of Applied Research on Conflict at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) and also as Distinguished Visiting Professor at our Institute of Political Science. Dr. Roy Karadag, postdoctoral researcher at Bremen University’s Institute for Intercultural and International Studies, further commented on the panel.

The contributions discussed both the political inclusion and exclusion of actors such as the youth, the military and minorities prior to and in the aftermath of the Arab uprisings and the repercussions of those authoritarian strategies.

Also Hürcan Asli Aksoy presented her findings on »Engendering democracy in Turkey: the efforts of women's civil societal organizations and gendered outcomes« and Nadine Kreytmeyer together with Dr. Beste Isleyen talked about »Enterprising youth in Jordan and Palestine through neo-liberalism: a critical perspective.«

In addition to the academic value of the panels the participants had various opportunities to exchange ideas and experiences in cultural events and a nice reception.

Information on the congress will be found here.

30/07/2014

Steven Heydemann on the Syrian civil war on campus radio

Prof. Dr. Steven Heydemann talked about the Syrian civil war in an interview with Lucas Eiler. He emphasizes the international community needs to create an environment of negotiation. He critically mentions the US government's approach to pressure the Syrian regime militarily.

Steven Heydemann is Vice President of Applied Research on Conflict at the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) in Washington, D.C. He taught at Yale University, Columbia University, and the European University Institute in Florence. He is Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Institute of Political Science in Tübingen from 2014 to 2016.

The interview can be followed here and read as transcript here in Uni Tübingen Aktuell 3/2014.

17/06/2014

Steven Heydemann on "Authoritarian Governance in an Era of Mass Politics"

Prof. Dr. Steven Heydemann, United States Institute of Peace, gave his first lecture as "Distinguished Visiting Professor" at the Institute of Political Science in Tübingen and engaged in a stimulating discussion.

Prof. Heydemann will be teaching at the Institute of Political Science from 2014 to 2016 for several weeks per year. His academic path includes Yale University, Columbia University and the European University Institute in Florence and he is the founding director of the Center for Democracy and Civil Society at the Georgetown University, one of the best known academic institutions for its broad research on the modern Middle East. Steven Heydemann currently serves as Vice President of Applied Research on Conflict at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C. where he also directs the Institute's Syria programs. He belongs to the most respected consultants of US foreign policy.

Please find further information on the lecture here.

16/05/2012

“Gender equality and women’s movement in Turkey” – Hürcan Aslı Aksoy contributes to the lecture series “Gender perspectives on the move?” of the City of Tuebingen

On May 16^th Hürcan Aslı Aksoy gave a public lecture on “Gender equality and women’s movement in Turkey” within the lecture series “Gender perspectives on the move?” organized by the Department for equal treatment and integration of the City of Tuebingen.

The lecture series sheds light on the implementation of gender equality, especially from women’s perspective. The audience was mainly concerned about recent developments in Turkey’s gender regime and the pressing issue of “violence against women”. Ms. Aksoy engaged in a lively discussion sharing personal experiences from her extensive field research all over Turkey. The lecture was joined by Member of German Parliament Beate Müller-Gemmecke and Member of Landtag Daniel Lede Abal from the Green Party.

17-19/03/2016

David Suber at the SeSaMo Conference in Catania - Italy

David Suber, CMEPS MA student, presented a paper on refugee modalities of protest at the annual conference of the Italian Society for Middle Eastern Studies (SeSaMo). The conference titled ‘Migrants: Communities, Borders, Memories, Conflicts”, took place at the University of Catania, from the 17^th to the 19^th of March 2016. David Suber presented his ethnographic research on the links between the temporality of waiting and the different modalities of political contestation staged by the inhabitants of the Calais refugee camp during the police evictions of February 2016. The title of the panel was “Migrant protest and political mobilization in North Africa and the Mediterranean: spaces, infrastructures and embodied experiences of migrant political agency”.

Find the Conference Program here.

26-27/02/16

David Suber presents at the First 'Great Lake' Ottoman Symposium on Ottoman Typologies of Identities

David Suber presented at the First 'Great Lake' Ottoman Symposium held over the weekend at the Hochschloss of Tuebingen University. The purpose of the symposium was to bring together scholars from South-Western german-language Universities to discuss on the topic of 'Typologies of Ottoman Identities'. David Suber joined the panel on modern Ottoman identities with a presentation on the role of Jewish-Francos families of Ottoman Salonika in the construction of a specific typology of late-Ottoman identity, focusing on primary archival sources on the Jewish-Salonikan family of the Allatini. The symposium is the first of its kind in Tuebingen and Germany more broadly. It was participated by major German and international Ottoman scholars currently working in German and Swiss Universities.

21-25/09/2015

Research group at the DVPW Congress 2015

Our research group took part in the 26th Congress of the German Political Science Association (DVPW) hosted at the University Duisburg-Essen from 21 to 25 September 2015. During the conference titled 'Vorsicht Sicherheit! Legitimationsprobleme der Ordnung von Freiheit' Oliver Schlumberger, Thomas Altmeppen, Mirjam Edel, and Konstantin Weeber participated in many inspiring panels and plenum sessions. One of our research group members, Mirjam Edel, held a presentation in a panel on 'A threat to security? Discoursive (de-)legitimations of democratic transition in the Arab world'. Under the title 'Security First. The legitimation of state repression in Egypt under military rule' she discussed when and why al-Sisi and the Egyptian ruling elites chose to justify specific kinds of repression while covering others.

16/07/2015

Danae Panissié gave a lecture on „The Islamic State – A state without borders“

On July 16, 2015 Danae Panissié gave a talk organized by the student association Akademische Verbindung Virtembergia in Tübingen. The presentation first provided an overview of the versatile spectrum of Islamist actors in the region and located the “Islamic State” (IS) at its extremist end. The introductory differentiation between moderate, militant and hybrid Islamist actors was followed by an overview of IS’ organizational arrangements, its ideological traits and its international supporters. The guests actively discussed the region’s past trajectories and its perspectives, as well as the controversial behavior of Western actors in a seemingly intensifying “New Middle East cold War”.

Find the flyer here.

17-19/06/2015

Nadine Kreitmeyr at the 14th METU Conference on International Relations

Nadine Kreitmeyr represented our research unit at the 14th METU Conference on International Relations: “Area Studies & International Relations: Intersecting Dimensions” which took place at the Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara from 17-19 June 2015. At this conference, Nadine presented the paper entitled “Social Entrepreneurship, ‘Inclusive‘ Neoliberalism & Authoritarian Renewal: Social Entrepreneurship Networks in Jordan”.

19/05/2013

Professor Schlumberger at NATO’s Parliamentary Assembly

In Luxemburg the NATO Parliamentary Assembly met from May 17^th to 19^th.

Among speakers like Luxemburg’s Prime Minister Mr. Jean-Claude Juncker, NATO General Secretary Mr. Anders Rasmussen, Vice-President of the EU-Commission Ms. Vivian Reding, and a few speakers from academics and practice, Professor Schlumberger spoke about "Post-Revolutionary Regional Order and the Challenge of Political Islam".

Here you find Professor

Schlumberger’s speech.

15/05/2013

Nadine Kreitmeyr at the kids‘ cinema series „Morgenflimmern“ in Stuttgart

Nadine Kreitmeyr took part as Middle East expert in the kids‘ cinema series „Morgenflimmern“ in Stuttgart on May 15^th.

The new series is organized by the Film Bureau Baden-Württemberg once a month. Children are supposed to get in touch with movies as “a place for learning”. They work on specific political and social topics by making use of films. This month focused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in general and suicide bombing in particular. Nadine Kreitmeyr supported the children.

More information can be found here.

6-8/12/2012

Workshop "The Transformation of Political and Economic Orders around the Mediterranean"

A workshop took place in Tuebingen in December to which 14 phD candidates and postdocs from Egypt, Jordan and Germany came together. The workshop concluded the three-year German-Arab Academic Dialogue between the Institute of Political Science in Tuebingen, the Cairo University, the American University in Cairo, and the Center for Strategic Studies of the University of Jordan in Amman. The attendants had been able to do research in one of the partner institutions in the framework of this institutionalized exchange program for young scholars between 2010 and 2012.

The workshop was entitled “The Transformation of Political and Economic Orders around the Mediterranean“ and covered a wide range of topics on current political developments in Egypt and Jordan and its regional repercussions as well as changes in Western-Arab relations after the uprisings. The attendants discussed their papers in a constructive and cooperative atmosphere. A joint publication on the results of the workshop is scheduled.

Here you find an overview of the given lectures.

22-25/04/2012

Launch of research project "Arab Youth: From engagement to inclusion?"

The research project “Arab Youth: From engagement to inclusion” was formally launched with a Kick-Off meeting in Rabat, Morocco, from April 22-25, 2012. The meeting was opened by Thomas Weich, cultural attaché of the German Embassy in Morocco, and Prof. Dr. Khalid Berjaoui, dean of the School of Law, Economics and Social Sciences at the University Mohammed V - Souissi. Representing the chair of Middle East and Comparative Politics Prof. Dr. Oliver Schlumberger and Kressen Thyen took part in the meeting. Topics of the discussion were current status of research concerning political mobilization of youth and young adults in Morocco and Egypt, their relation to the state and possible support by international donors. It further determined the research activities for the coming year. Additionally, further research activities for the coming year were defined. The research project is funded by the Volkswagen Foundation for a duration of two years.

08-09/07/2011

Workshop in Quantitative Methods Held by Dr. Walid Alkhatib

Dr. Walid Alkhatib from the Center for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan participated in the junior researcher exchange within the framework of the German-Arab Higher Education dialogue. During his time at our department at the University of Tübingen, the Jordanian researcher held a workshop in quantitative methods for German PhD candidates, thereby contributing to the methodological training of researchers at his host institution. In Dr. Alkhatib’s workshop the PhD candidates could enhance their knowledge of logistic regression and statistics programs.

01/03/2011

“Democracy in Retreat?” – Prof. Schlumberger speaks at DIE conference in Berlin

On March 1, Prof. Schlumberger participated in an expert conference organized by the German Development Institute (DIE) entitled “Democracy in Retrat? Do Russia and China Promote Autocracy in their Neighbourhoods?”.
He chaired the panel “The external exploitation of autocratic neighbourhoods in China’s region” and held a widely discussed lecture on “What keeps authoritarian rule stable?”.

You can find an overview of the conference program here.

25/11/2010

“German-Arab Higher Education Dialogue”: First Steering Committee Meeting held in Cairo

Oliver Schlumberger and Stephanie Wagner organized and conducted the first Steering Committee Meeting of our cooperation network with three Arab partner institutions within the framework of the DAAD-funded “German-Arab Higher Education Dialogue” in Cairo last week. Our Arab partners are:

• the Center of Strategic Studies (CSS) at the University of Jordan, Amman,
• Cairo University (CU), as well as
• the American University in Cairo (AUC).

As Professor Schlumberger pointed out in his opening remarks, this scheme set up by the four partners represents the very first multilateral German-Arab cooperation network in political science that has seen the light. The program focuses on “shared goals” which exist between the partners’ respective polities and societies, but explicitly acknowledges that there are “different perspectives”. These “shared goals – different perspectives”, to quote the project title, are addressed with respect to the four crucial political areas of peace and security on the one hand as well as welfare and development on the other.

The range of meetings, which also included extended talks with the head of the science department of the German Embassy, Mr. Christopher Fuchs, as well as with the director of DAAD’s office in Egypt, Dr. Michael Harms, served to assess the current state of ongoing activities as well as to set the frame for preparations of planned additional components of the program scheduled to start in fall 2011, as well as to discuss further open questions such as how to diminish existing structural discrepancies between the funding organization’s requirements and academic exigencies in practical project work, or reflecting on possibilities of deepening and expanding the newly established cooperation network over the remainder of the decade that has started (2010-2020).

The talks were highly successful due to the presence of representatives of all four project partners and were conducted in a highly productive and focused atmosphere that was characterized simultaneously by an extremely amicable and collaborative spirit in which all partners shared the desire to achieve joint outcomes.

Day one of the discussions was held at Cairo University’s Faculty of Economics and Political Science (FEPS) and attracted also other colleagues from that faculty who are not directly involved in the program, but nevertheless attended the discussions, while the second day of the Committee Meeting took place on the premises of the Cairo DAAD office which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.
The second day also included a three-hour meeting between Prof. Schlumberger and Ms. Wagner as well as partner institutions’ representatives and students and junior researchers from Tübingen University who are currently participating in the various program schemes and are studying and teaching and/or pursuing research in Egypt.

While compact and intense, the way is thus well-paved for our cooperation-network to move smoothly on to the next stages of our cooperation in 2011. Finally, it became during the talks that there is a general desire on all sides to continue the new cooperation (that has become operational only few months ago) beyond the current funding period (2010-2012), and if possible transform it into yet more institutionalized partnerships. We will therefore engage in an ongoing search for funds and resources to allow us to deepen and expand our network of cooperation in the future.

19.07.2017

Institutskolloquium: Sean Yom

The Failure of the Monarchies Club - GCC Integration versus Clashing Identities in Kuwait and Qatar

On July 19 Sean Yom, Associate Professor for Political Science at the Tempel University in Philadelphia will visit the Institutskolloquium. Keeping the difficulties arising from clashing identities in mind, Yom will present the problems the Gulf Cooperation Coucil (GCC) faces.

The event will be held in English.

20.07.2017

Tuebingen Talks on Democracy: The AfD - A Hazard for Democracy?

On July 20th Prof. Steffen Kailitz is a researcher on totalitarianism and will conclude the Tuebingen Talks on Democracy with his talk "The AfD - A Hazard for Democracy". The talk will take place at HS 24 in the Kupferbau at 12 pm st. The admission is, as always, free of charge. Following the talk there is time for questions and discussion.

The event will be held in German.