Conference Schedule

*This is subject to change. 

Saturday, November 13

3:00 - 4:30 pm
Dream Palaces: Twenty Years After 9/11
Roundtable on Fouad Ajami's Legacy

4:30 - 5:30 pm
Fouad Ajami Roundtable Reception 

6:00 - 6:30 pm
Undergraduate Poster Competition

6:30 - 8:00 pm
Welcome & Networking Cocktail Reception
Opening remarks will be delivered by Mr. David Schenker, the Taube Senior Fellow at The Washington Institute, on "US-Lebanese Relations what next?"

Sunday, November 14 

7:30 am
Breakfast

8:30 – 10:00 am

Panel 1: States and Security in Africa, Session 1
Discussant: Dr. Curthberth A. Onek

The Impact of Democracy on Human Development in Africa
(Dr. Yacouba Gnegne, National Defense College, Abu Dhabi)

Rainfall as an Instrument? Revisiting Economic Shocks and Civil Conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa
(Changwook Ju, Yale University)

A New Center-Periphery Dynamic? COVID-19’s Effect on Fragile States’ Relationships with their Borderlands
(Dr. Lindsay Scorgie, Huron College, University of Western Ontario)

Panel 2: Arab-Israeli Peace Processes, Inside and Outside
Discussant: Dr. Avi Shilon

“Let My Soul Die Together”: Existential Emotions in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
(Prof. Uriel Abulof, Cornell University, Tel Aviv University)

The Middle East Riddle: A Study of the Peace Process and Israeli/Arab Relations in Changing Times
(Dr. Luis Eduardo Fleischman, Palm Beach Center for Democracy and Policy Research)

The Fatah-Hamas Rift: An Analysis of Failed Negotiations
(Dr. Gadi Hitman, Ariel University)

German Political Foundations and the Israeli–Palestinian peace process through promoting energy transition
(Mr. Jozsef Kadar, University of Haifa)

Panel 3: Iran and Its Internal and External Enemies
Discussant: Dr. Doug Streusand

Gender Discrimination in the Capital Punishment System of Iran
(Dr. Sanaz Alasti, Lamar University)

The Antisemitic Foundation of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s Revolutionary Ideology
(Dr. Jessica Emami, Marymount University)

Iran's Soft War - The Islamic Republic's Propaganda Outlets and Think Tanks
(Dr. Mark Silinsky, Haifa University)

Bernard Lewis Memorial Prize Submission Presentations (Session 1)
Islam and Judaism: Then and Now
Discussant: Dr. Alex Joffe

Islam and Judaism: Religious Attitudes and Identity in the Medinan Era
(Mr. Mohammed Ahmed, Cambridge University) 

The Roots of Muslim anti-Judaism and its Links to Modern Arab Antisemitism
(Prof. Jacob Lassner, Northwestern University)

Turkey's Islamists, Antisemitism, and the Palestinian Question, 1908-1950
(Dr. Tuba Unlu Bilgic, Middle East Technical University)

10:30 am – 12:00 pm

Panel 4: States and Security in Africa, Session 2
Discussant: Dr. Robert Lloyd

Hastings Kamuzu Banda of Malawi: Post-Presidency Experiences, 1994-1997
(Dr. Paul Chiudza Banda, Tarleton State University)

Jihad, Gas and Governance? The Insurgency in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique
(Dr. Felipe Pathé Duarte, Nova School of Law)

Security Force Assistance at the Periphery: Examining Legitimacy and Public Cooperation With Regional Militarized Actors
(Dr. Daisy Muibu, University of Alabama)

War, Patronage, and the Political Economy of the Uganda People's Defense Force Engagements in the Great Lakes Region of Africa
(Dr. Curthberth A. Onek, Millersville University)

Panel 5: Iraq: Aspects of Internal Governance and Violence
Discussant: Dr. Mark T. Clark

Metropolitan Battlefields: The Weaponization of Governance in Baghdad
(Dr. Dan Bisbee, University of Pittsburgh)

From Iraq to the Casbah: Lessons from Regional Urban Operations
(Dr. Steven J Childs, California State University, San Bernardino)

The Gassing of Iraqi Kurds
(Dr. David Palkki, Air War College)

The Civilian's Dilemma: How Religious and Ethnic Minorities Survived the Islamic State Occupation of Northern Iraq
(Prof. Austin James Knuppe, Utah State University)

Panel 6: Israel: Security, Leadership, Challenges
Discussant: Dr. Ilan Troen

After Israel's Nationality Law of 2018: Is the "Blood Covenant" Broken for the Druze?
(Prof. William Miles, Northeastern University)

Was the 1982 War a Deviation from the Israeli Security Doctrine?
(Dr. Dan Naor, Ariel University)

A Populist Leader Under Neo-Liberal Logic: On the Leadership pattern of Benjamin Netanyahu in the 2019-2021 Elections
(Dr. Avi Shilon, New York University)

The Sermons of Al Aqsa Mosque
(Prof. Joseph Spoerl, Saint Anselm College)

Bernard Lewis Memorial Prize Submission Presentations (Session 2)
New and Old Antisemitism
Discussant:  Dr. Günther Jikeli

The Enemy Within
(Dr. Larry Franklin)

The New Anti-Semitism: Hidden in Plain Sight
(Mr. Guermantes Lailari, Strategic and Innovative Group

Anti-Semitism in the Arts: The Mattress Factory Case Study
(Prof. Ben Schachter, Saint Vincent College)

Annals of Zionist Evil: Postcolonial Abomination at Counterpunch
(Prof. Ernest Sternberg, University at Buffalo)
 

12:30 - 2:00 pm
Keynote Presentation, Awards Ceremony, and Banquet Luncheon
H.E. Husain Haqqani, former Islamic Republic of Pakistan Ambassador to the United States, will deliver the Keynote.

2:30  – 4:00 pm

Panel 7: Israel: Diplomacy and Innovation
Discussant: Mr. Omar Al Busaidy

Israel Science, Technology, and Innovation Policies – A Blueprint for a Successful Future
(Prof. Alexander Bligh, Haifa University)

Normalization with Israel: An Analysis of Social Networks Discourse Within Gulf States
(Dr. Gadi Hitman, Ariel University)

Bypassing the Professionals: The Abraham Accords and the End of the Gulf Rift Crisis
(Dr. Edward Lynch, Hollins University)

Panel 8: Contesting Visions of War and Peace
Discussant: Dr. Cole Bunzel

Global Turf War in Lebanon: Lebanese Elite and Contesting Geographic Visions during the 1958 Lebanon Crisis
(Mr. Taylan Paksoy, Bilkent University)

The War of Famine and the Starvation of Ottoman Mount-Lebanon
(Dr. Franck Salameh, Boston College)

Kemalist Enlightenment through Literature: Representations of Islam, Islamism, and Patriotism in Reşat Nuri Güntekin’s Green Night
(Dr. Kemal Silay, Indiana University and Dr. Betul Tarhan, University of Georgia) 

The Cipher of the Arab Revolt
(Prof. Eliezer Tauber, Bar-Ilan University)

Panel 9: Foreign Interventions in the Middle East
Discussant: Dr. Joseph Skelly

The U.S. State Department vs. Zionist Aspirations, 1947-1948
(Prof. Jeffrey Herf, University of Maryland, College Park)

Principle and Prudence: An Analysis of the United States' Interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq
(Prof. Christopher Lynch, Carthage College)

China's Middle East Challenge
(Dr. Wojtek Wolfe, Rutgers University)

A Viciously Orchestrated Assault: Why Currency Manipulation Succeeded as a Form of Currency Warfare in the Suez War of 1956
(Dr. Ricardo Crespo, Grossmont College)

Bernard Lewis Memorial Prize Submission Presentations (Session 3)
Islam and Judaism under Sunnis and Shias
Discussant: Mr. Benjamin Weinthal

Comparative Study of Stoning Punishment in the Religions of Islam and Judaism
(Dr. Sanaz Alasti, Lamar University)

The Crescent and David's Star: A Requiem for Jewish Life in Turkey
(Mr. Burak Bekdil, Middle East Forum) 

The Qur'an Problem and Islamism
(Dr. Salim Mansur, Western University) 

Crossroads of Hatred: Western Anti-Semitic Themes in Iranian Propaganda
(Dr. Mark Silinsky, Haifa University)
 

4:30 – 6:00 pm

Panel 10: Jihad and Islam
Discussant: Dr. Meir Litvak

Heroes of Iran: The Palestinian Islamic Jihad
(Dr. Shaul Bartal, Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, Bar-Ilan University)

“God’s Righteous Allies” or “Apostate Unbelievers”? The Taliban in the Eyes of the Jihādīs
(Dr. Cole Bunzel, Hoover Institution, Stanford University)

A Comprehensive Structural Typology for Terrorist Groups from Hierarchical to Territorial: Assessing Al Qaeda and the Islamic State’s Organizational Evolution
(Dr. Cindy L May, London School of Economics)

Escaping Atonement in Sunni Islam: Death by Jihad for Deliverance
(Dr. Christine Rinehart, University of South Carolina)

Panel 11: Ideological Warfare Against Israel
Discussant: Dr. Ernest Sternberg

Angela Davis and Israel as the Queer Intersectional Outsider
(Prof. Corinne E Blackmer, Southern Connecticut State University)

Orientalism Triumphant: The Birth of Y2K Mind and the Caliphate’s Cognitive War Victory of 2000
(Prof. Richard Landes, Bar-Ilan University)

The Mediocrity Colonization Project:  A Look at Merit Dilution of our Once Great Universities
(Dr. Michael Lissack, Tongji University)

Examining the interrelated secular and theological discourses that delegitimate Israel
(Dr. Carol Troen, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev; Dr. Ilan Troen, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Brandeis University)

Panel 12: Africa, From Protests to Violence
Discussant: Dr. Nathan Devir

In the Shadow of Boko Haram: Why Emplacement Matters in the Study of African Mobilities
(Ms. Gbemisola Abiola, Harvard University)

“Let It Be Known that the Feminist Coven Did That”: Nigerian Women’s Activism and Coalition Against Police Brutality During the 2020 #EndSARS Protests
(Dr. Bright Alozie, Portland State University)

Historizing Protest Movements in Nigeria: Continuities and Change
(Ms. Funmilola Olorunfemi University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee)

Panel 13: Turkey and Its Neighbors
Discussant: Dr. Kemal Silay

Opposition Strategies towards Populism in Turkey: Social Media as an Alternative in 2018 Election?
(Dr. Dilara Hekimci, Florida International University)

Conflict Here, Cooperation There: Explaining Russian-Turkish Relations
(Dr. Paul Kubicek, Oakland University)

State-Building and Borderlands: Control of the Turkish State on an Everyday Level
(Dr. Dilan Okcuoglu, American University)

Revising the Montreux Convention: A Key to the Geopolitics of the Black Sea
(Dr. Kivanc Ulusoy, Istanbul University)

6:30 pm
Bernard Lewis Awards Reception and Ceremony

Monday, November 15

7:30 am
Breakfast 

8:30 – 10:00 am

Panel 14: Middle Eastern History
Discussant: Dr. Larry Simpson

History of the Druze in Egypt and Syria before the Mamluk era
(Dr. Daher Rashed, Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest)

Between Holy War and Symbiosis in the Horn of Africa: Ethiopia’s Position Between Red Sea Sultanates and Mamluk Egypt (1270-1543)
(Dr. Andrew Kurt, Clayton State University)

‘The People have multiplied’, the narrative has multiplied: A Matn-cum-isnād analysis of the Bajīlah’s ‘fourth’
(Dr. D Gershon Lewental, Shalem College)

Süleyman’s “Magnificent” Navy During the Later Italian Wars (mid-sixteenth century)
Dr. (Andrew Tzavaras, High Point University)

Panel 15: Aspects of Stability in Africa
Discussant: Dr. Noel Twagiramungu

Mitigating the Effects of Climate Change in Dryland Environments: Lessons from Central Zimbabwe, 1992-2008
(Mr. Passmore Chishaka, Kent State University)

Culture-Bound Psychopathology or Supernatural Reality? A West African Case Study of Psychotherapeutic Strategies for Improving the Welfare of Patients in Spiritual Crisis
(Dr. Nathan P. Devir, University of Utah)

Women, Marriage, and the Church in Twentieth-Century Zimbabwe
(Dr. Aldrin T. Magaya, DePauw University)

Panel 16: Middle Eastern Minorities at Home and Abroad
Discussant: Dr. Paul Kubicek

Minorities in Turkey: The Unwanted Citizens
(Dr. Amal Cavender, George Washington University)

Perspectives and Attitudes of Syrian-Kurdish Refugees in Germany on The Middle East
(Dr. Gunther Jikeli, Indiana University)

Shi'a Community of Georgia: An Historical Overview and Modern Realities
(Prof. George Sanikidze, Ilia State University)

Panel 17: Shia Politics in the 20th and 21st Century
Discussant: Dr. Mark Silinsky

Red Shi'ism
(Mr. Steven Kitchell, Independent Scholar)

The Sufism of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini: From Mystical Poetry to Judicial Authority
(Mr. Alexander Morse Shepard, Indiana University, Bloomington)

Martyrdom and Inventing a new Womanhood in the Iran-Iraq War
(Mr. Amin Sophiamehr, Indiana University)

9:30 - 10:00 am

Live Q&A with Roundtable: Israel's National Security Challenges in a Changing World
Join Dr. Shira Efron, Prof. Chuck Freilich, Prof. Meir Litvak, and Dr. Jonathan Spyer for a live Q&A session following-up on their virtual presentation.

10:30 am - 12:00 pm

Eliezer Tauber Book Discussion and Signing
Prof. Tauber will discuss his book, The Massacre That Never Was: The Myth of Deir Yassin and the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, followed by a book signing. Koren Publishers will be onsite for attendees to purchase his book.

12:30 pm
Boxed Lunch

1:00 – 2:30 pm

Panel 18: Security in the Middle East: Strategy, Refugees, Tribes, and Investment
Discussant: TBD

Keeping a Geostrategic Influence East of the Suez Canal: France Policy in the Indian Ocean Area
(Prof. Jean D. Avenel, Université Paris 12)

Conflict, migration and refugees in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA): Building human security platforms, local systems, and capacity to protect the vulnerable.
(Prof. Kenneth Christie, Royal Roads University)

Rethinking the tribal voices in Jordan: its role in the national politics, the local community, and social movements
(Dr. Takuro Kikkawa, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University)

Institutions and Foreign Direct Investment in the MENA Region
(Prof. Stephen Z. Onyeiwu, Allegheny College)

Panel 19: The Iranian Regime and it Rivals
Discussant: Dr. Shaul Bartal

Sanctions again? An assessment of Iranian hydrocarbon export opportunities under the latest sanctions regime
(Mr. Tamás Dudlák, Corvinus University of Budapest, University of Pécs)

Justice and Vilāyat in Post-Revolutionary Iranian Shīʿīsm
(Prof. Meir Litvak, Tel Aviv University)

The Mujahedin-e Khalq and the National Council of Resistance of Iran
(COL Wes Martin, U.S. Army [Retired])

The Islamic Republic of Iran through Russia's Eyes: From Brezhnev to Putin
(Dr. Denis V. Volkov, HSE University, Moscow)

Panel 20: North Africa after the Arab Spring
Discussant: TBD

Religious Ideology or Clientelism? Explaining Voter Preferences in Tunisia's Transitional Elections
(Dr. Lindsay J. Benstead, Portland State University)

Ten Years of Arab Spring: The Aftermath
(Prof. Teresa de Almeida e Silva, University of Lisbon)

Democratic Culture and Support for Tunisian Democracy: A Cluster Analysis
(Dr. Hannah Ridge, University of Chicago)

Panel 21: Security Issues in the Greater Middle East, Past and Present
Discussant: Doug Streusand

The Strategic, Ideological. Military and Transactional Foundations of the Iran and North Korea “Rogue Alliance”: The North Korean Challenge
(Prof. Bruce Bechtol, Angelo State University)

The Ideological and Transactional Foundations of the Iran and North Korean Strategic Alliance
(Dr. Anthony Celso, Angelo State University)

From Oil Stain to Conventional War: France in the Rif Rebellion
(Dr. William T. Dean, U.S. Air Force Air Command and Staff College)

On-demand Panels

These panels are available through the conference web and mobile app to registered attendees.

Bernard Lewis Memorial Prize Submission Presentations (Session 4)
Jews in the Eyes of Islam
Discussant: Dr. Asaf Romirowsky

The Jewish Diaspora as a Paradigm: Politics, Religion and Belonging
(Prof. Nergis Canefe, York University)

Depicting the Jew in Early Cold War Turkey: The Formation of Israel and the First Arab-Israeli War in Turkish Humor Magazines
(Mr. Semih Gokatalay, University of California, San Diego)

Islamic Antisemitism. Its Genesis, Meaning, and Effects
(Dr. Matthias Kuentzel)

Africa: Politics and Democracy

Discussant: Dr. Bright Alozie

State petty corruption and lack of social accountability: other forms and configurations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
(Prof. Patrick Milabyo Kyamusugulwa, Wageningen University, The Netherlands)

Hidden in Plain Sight: Interest Group Lobbying under Nigeria’s Military and Civilian Regimes
(Mr. Oliver McPherson-Smith, University of Oxford)

African Democracies and the Democratic Peace: Survey Experiments in Ghana and Nigeria
(Mr. Michael Yekple, University of Central Florida)

Africa: Politics, Diplomacy, and Gender
Discussant: Prof. Patrick Milbayo Kyamusugulwa

The Use of Facebook for Political Campaigns In Africa—The Case Of Uganda
(Ms. Barbara Bashabe, University of Massachusetts – Lowell)

Sport Diplomacy in African History: Kenya, Apartheid South Africa, and the Politics of Sport of the Early 1980s
(Dr. Michelle Marie Sikes, Penn State University)

Do party women’s wings matter for gender representation? Lessons from Tanzania
(Dr. Consolata R. Sulley, University of Dar es Salaam)

Development, Conflict, and Rights
Discussant: Dr. Aldrin Magaya

‘Voices on the Margin’: Rethinking Industrial Development in Postcolonial Malawi
(Dr. Gift Wasambo Kayira, University of Malawi)

Does Land Tenure Explain Majority-Minority Ethnic Conflict? Indigenous versus Immigrant Ethnic Conflict in Africa
(Ms. Kimberly L Shella, Southern Illinois University Carbondale)

Church and State in the Struggle for Economic Rights and Human Dignity in Central Africa at the End of Empire
(Dr. Charlotte Walker-Said, John Jay College of Criminal Justice-City University of New York [CUNY])

Intervention, Transition, and Cooperation
Discussant: Guermantes Lailari

Did the Pandemic Revive the “Facebook Revolution” in Morocco? Hybrid Spaces and Forms of Political Engagement After 2011
(Mrs. Eleonora Landucci, IMF-CSIC)

Algeria's foreign military intervention capability: Lessons from the Middle East and Africa
(Mr. Oussama Bouraiou, Guelma University)

Islamism and Regime Transition in the Middle East and North Africa
(Dr. Miaad Hassan, University of Florida)

China-GCC New Energy Cooperation in the New Era
(Dr. Xuming Qian, Shanghai International Studies University)

Lebanon and Palestine
Discussant: Dr. Eyal Zisser

Ontological (In)Security of Hizbullah during the Syrian Crisis
(Ms. Zakia Aqra, University of the Peloponnese)

Learning the proxy: Hizballah's perception of the Southern Lebanon Army (SLA) during the 1990's
(Dr. Netanel Flamer, Bar-Ilan University)

The Israeli Art of Reducing Enemy Military capacity: the changing Importance of a Novel strategy in the larger security doctrine
(Dr. Or Honig, Tokyo International University)

Freedom of Expression in the Palestinian Authority: A Fading Illusion?
(Dr. Ido Zelkovitz, Yezreel Valley College)

Middle Eastern Politics, Outsider Policies
Discussant: Prof. Or Honig

NGO Reinforcement of Europe's Policies on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: 1980-2020
(Prof. Gerald Steinberg, Bar-Ilan University)

The Struggle for the Middle East - the United States and Russia in the Shadow of the "Arab Spring
Revolutions"
(Prof. Eyal Zisser, Tel Aviv University)

Minorities From the Outside and Inside
Discussant: Dr. Jessica Emami

The Past is a Foreign Country: Unorthodox Minorities and the Middle Eastern State
(Prof. Nergis Canefe, York University)

Minorities in Diaspora: A Study of the Political Mobilization of the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Community in Canada and the United States
(Mrs. Lilian EK Estafanous, Queen's University)

Is Iran truly capable of gathering the Shia Community under its Mantle?
(Mr. Eduardo Salgado, El Colegio de Mexico)

Understanding Islam between Theology and Anthropology: Reflexions on Geertz’s Islam Observed
(Dr. Mustapha Tajdin, Khalifa University for Science and Technology)

Swinging Between Escalation and Thaw: Crisis and Damage-Control in the Eastern Mediterranean Geopolitics
Discussant: Prof. Nursin Guney

Flexible Alliances in the Eastern Mediterranean: Elements of Escalation or Damage Control?
(Prof. Nursin Guney, Nişantaşı University)

After Mediterraneanizing Competition: Can Turkish-Israel New Re-Normalization be possible?
(Prof. Visne Korkmaz, Nişantaşı University)

Libyan-Turkish Memorandum on EEZ Delimitation in Eastern Mediterranean and its Perception in Greek Foreign Policy
(Dr. Zuhal Mert Uzuner, Marmara University)

Turkey: Communication and Memory
Discussant: Dr. Kivanc Ulusoy

Ontological Security Theory and the echoes of former empires: mnemonic mining in Turkey and Russia
(Dr. Stavros Drakoularakos, University of the Peloponnese)

The Making of TRT Cinematic Universe: State Media and Political Communication in Turkey
(Dr. Ioannis N. Grigoriadis, Bilkent University)

Turkey’s New Diaspora-Making Policy and Alevis in Europe
(Dr. Besim Can Zirh, Middle East Technical University)

Turkish Foreign Relations, Yesterday and Today
Discussant: Dr. Ioannis Grigoriadis

Multilateral Growing Pains: Transitions and Tensions in U.S.-Turkey Relations
(Ms. Megan E. Gisclon, Istanbul Policy Center, Sabanci University)

Geostrategic Positioning of Turkey in Eurasia in the Twenty-first Century
(Dr. Ayla Gol, York St John University)

Strategic Partners? Britain’s Relations with Turkey, 1945–2018
(Dr. Simon Adam Waldman, King's College London)

Women and Change
Discussant: Dr. Lindsay Benstead

Egypt After Covid-19: Economic and Social Impacts
(Prof. Sherin El Gendi, Ain Shams University)

Social Justice and Greimas’s Semiotic Square: Women in Prison in Salwa Bakr’s The Golden Chariot
(Dr. Dina Hassan, The University of Oklahoma)

On-demand Roundtables

Christian Peacemaking During a Time of Cognitive War

  • Mr. Mark Pickles
  • Mr. Dexter Van Zile, CAMERA

From Anti-Zionism to Comprehensive Politicization: The Fate of the University
Discussant: Prof. Martin Kramer

  • Prof. Corinne E Blackmer, Southern Connecticut State University
  • Prof. Richard Landes, Bar-Ilan University
  • Prof. Cary Nelson, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Israel's National Security Challenges in a Changing World
This roundtable discussion was organized by the Israel Council on Foreign Relations.
Discussant: Prof. Chuck Freilich

  • Dr. Shira Efron, Institute for National Security Studies
  • Prof. Meir Litvak, Tel Aviv University
  • Dr. Jonathan Spyer, Israel Council on Foreign Relations