The Law School’s Center on Law and Security (CLS) presented a panel discussion on “Political Islam, the ‘Arab Spring,’ and the Future of Egypt and Syria” on April 10.
Following welcoming remarks by Zachary Goldman, executive director of the CLS, Ahmed al-Rahim, a fellow with the CLS and assistant professor at the University of Virginia, gave a brief overview of the origins of the Arab Spring and introduced the evening’s topic: the current state of the so-called Arab Spring and its future in Egypt and Syria.
Andrew J. Tabler, senior fellow in the Program on Arab Politics at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, spoke about the role of political Islam in the Syrian revolution. Tarek Masoud, associate professor of public policy at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, focused on the current turmoil in Egypt. He discussed the Egyptian government’s approach to foreign relations and the likelihood of significant ruptures within the Egyptian government. Steven A. Cook, the Hasib J. Sabbagh senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, delved into Egypt’s post-uprising identity and how the Muslim Brotherhood’s rise affects that identity as well as Egypt’s role in the region. Michael Wahid Hanna '99, senior fellow at the Century Foundation, discussed the relationship between the U.S. and the Muslim Brotherhood, and how the U.S.’s prior policy toward the organization led to increased radicalism and militancy.
Watch the full video (1 hr, 27 min):
Posted on April 19, 2013