Events
Upcoming Events
Past Events
2019
May 1, 2019
Are Separatists the New Spoilers in the Middle East?
Ariel I. Ahram ('01), Associate Professor in the School of Public and International Affairs at Virginia Tech
Co-sponsored with the Graduate Program in Conflict Resolution & Coexistence
April 11, 2019
Love and Fury: Trump Takes on North Korea and Iran
Robert Gallucci, Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at Georgetown University
Missed the talk? Listen here.
April 3, 2019
Revolutionary Jews: The Politicization of the Iranian Jewish Communities in the Twentieth Century
Lior Sternfeld, Assistant Professor of History and Jewish Studies at The Pennsylvania State University, University Park
March 27, 2019
Israel at the Polls, Again: Why? And Is Anything Really Changing?
Shai Feldman, Crown Family Director of the Crown Center
Eva Bellin, Myra and Robert Kraft Professor of Arab Politics at the Crown Center
Yehudah Mirsky, Professor of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at the Schusterman Center
Doron Shapir, MA candidate for International Economics and Finance in the Brandeis International Business School
March 21, 2019
Can Iran Be Stopped from Getting the Bomb?
Robert Einhorn, Senior Fellow in the Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Initiative and the Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence at the Brookings Institution
Missed the talk? Listen here.
March 20, 2019
Human Rights and the Global History of the Iranian Revolution
Roham Alvandi, Associate Professor of International History and Director of the IDEAS Cold War Studies Project at the London School of Economics and Political Science
March 6, 2019
From Dissertation to Published Book: A Conversation with Kate Wahl
Kate Wahl, Editor-in-Chief of Stanford University Press
Missed the conversation? Watch it here.
February 6, 2019
Women's Movements and the Struggle over Jerusalem's Sacred Space
Lihi Ben Shitrit, Research Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center's Middle East Initiative and an assistant professor at the School of Public and International Affairs, University of Georgia, Athens
2018
November 14, 2018
25 Years After Oslo: Why is Palestinian Support for the Two-State Solution the Lowest Since 1993?
Khalil Shikaki, Senior Fellow at the Crown Center
October 31, 2018
Factions in Conversation: The Internal Track-II Dialogue in Iraq
Nussaibah Younis, Senior Adviser at the European Institute of Peace
October 25, 2018
Arab Existentialism, Jean Paul Sartre, and Decolonization
Yoav Di-Capua, Associate Professor of History at the University of Texas at Austin
Co-sponsored with the History department
September 5, 2018
Untold Stories of the Middle East
A conversation with Daniel Neep, Hind Ahmed Zaki, Yazan Doughan, Hayal Akarsu, Shai Feldman, and Naghmeh Sohrabi
Listen to the audio!
April 18, 2018
The Locust and the Starling: An Environmental History of Borders in the Modern Middle East
Sam Dolbee, Junior Research Fellow at the Crown Center
April 11, 2018
Cost of Governing: Morocco’s Party of Justice and Development after 2011
Mohammed Masbah, Junior Research Fellow at the Crown Center
March 7, 2018
Prisons, Politics, and Public Life in Modern Iran
Golnar Nikpour, Neubauer Junior Research Fellow at the Crown Center
2017
November 15, 2017
Palestinian Public Opinion and the Viability of the Two-State Solution
Khalil Shikaki, Goldman Senior Fellow at the Crown Center and Director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah
November 1, 2017
Integration of the Middle East into China's Belt and Road Initiative
Nader Habibi, Henry J. Leir Professor of the Economics of the Middle East
November 1, 2017
A Doomed Israeli-Palestinian Love Story
Dorit Rabinyan, acclaimed author of All the Rivers
October 25, 2017
The Truth about the Muslim Brothers
Abdel Monem Said Aly, Senior Fellow at the Crown Center
September 20, 2017
Empowering Believers: A Sociohistory of Islamism in Saudi Arabia
Pascal Menoret, Renée and Lester Crown Professor of Modern Middle East Studies
September 10, 2017
Looking Back, Looking Forward: 100 Years of the Arab-Israeli Conflict
March 8, 2017
Erdogan's Turkey: Between ISIS, the Kurds, and the Gulen Movement
Mustafa Akyol, Turkish journalist and author
February 15, 2017
Understanding Syria: A Teach-In
January 25, 2017
Among the Righteous: Jews in Arab Lands during the Holocaust
Robert Satloff, Executive Director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and Howard P. Berkowitz Chair in U.S. Middle East Policy
2016
November 22, 2016
Saudi Arabia in a Chaotic Middle East
HRH Prince Turki Al-Faisal
October 13, 2016
Book Talk with Shadi Hamid, author of Islamic Exceptionalism: How the Struggle over Islam is Reshaping the World
September 14, 2016
Beyond ISIS: What Should the Next U.S. President Know about the Middle East?
April 13, 2016
The Rope and the Trials of Iraq
Kanan Makiya, Senior Fellow at the Crown Center and Professor Emeritus of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies
March 23, 2016
Nabil Ata Live Oud Performance
February 2, 2016
Defeating ISIL
Colin Kahl, National Security Advisor to Vice President Biden
January 20, 2016
Recent Palestinian-Israeli Violence: Is There a Way Out?
2015
December 2, 2015
After Paris: ISIS and US
October 1, 2015
In the Aftermath of the Nuclear Deal: The Middle East, Iran, the U.S. and Israel
September 8, 2015
10th Anniversary Celebration
2014
November 20, 2014
Israel: Is It Good for the Jews?
Richard Cohen, Nationally syndicated columnist for The Washington Post
October 30, 2014
After Gaza: Palestinian Politics in the Wake of the 2014 War
Khalil Shikaki, Director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah and the Goldman Senior Fellow at the Crown Center
September 18, 2014
The Gaza Violence and the Future of Track II Diplomacy
Yair Hirschfeld
August 27, 2014
Flashpoints in the Middle East
April 23, 2014
Saudi Arabia's Emerging New Strategic Doctrine
Nawaf Obaid
April 2, 2014
Post-Qaddafi Libya: A Status Report
Jean-Louis Romanet Perroux
March 20, 2014
1914 and the History of the Middle East
Reassessing the First World War and its Impact on the Region
February 12, 2014
Is Hezbollah Confronting a Crisis of Popular Legitimacy?
Eric Lob, Junior Research Fellow at the Crown Center and holds a Ph.D. from Princeton University’s Department of Near Eastern Studies
2013
November 22, 2013
Book Release Celebration
Arabs and Israelis: Conflict and Peacemaking in the Middle East
November 4, 2013
Tolerating Iran's Religious Other: The Jewish Community in The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
Dr. Mehrdad Amanat, author of Jewish Identities in Iran: Resistance and Conversion to Islam and the Baha'i Faith
October 9, 2013
The Other Peace Process: An Evening with Rabbi Ron Kronish '68 and Kadi Iyad Zahalk
Rabbi Dr. Ron Kronish, Founder and Director of the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel
Kadi Iyad Zahalka, Presiding judge at the Sharia Court of the State of Israel in Jerusalem
September 25, 2013
Crown Center Opening Event
The Syrian Catastrophe: Regional Implications
September 18, 2013
Egypt After Morsi: A Briefing by Dr. Abdel Monem Said Aly
April 24, 2013
The Coming Presidential Elections in Iran: Do they Matter?
February 25, 2013
Secularism, Islamism, and the Politics of Defining Religious Freedom in Modern Egypt
Aria Nakissa, Junior Research Fellow at the Crown Center
January 16, 2013
The Upcoming Israeli Elections: Domestic and Regional Ramifications
2012
December 12, 2012
The Arab Uprisings at the Intersection of the Transnational and National
James L. Gelvin, Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History at the University of California, Los Angeles
October 31, 2012
Gaza Statehood, PA Decline, and the One State Reality
Dr. Khalil Shikaki, Director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah and a Senior Fellow at the Crown Center
September 13, 2012
The Crown Center Annual Opening Event: Celebrating the Crown and Goodman Families
September 7, 2012
Playback Theater & Desert Roots: Journey of an Iranian Immigrant Family
April 3, 2012
The Two-State Solution: Is it Still Relevant? Debating Israel and Palestine
March 15, 2012
Being on the 'Right Side of History': Revolution in Early Islam
Dr. Lassner, Philip M. & Ethel Klutznick Professor of Jewish Civilization at Northwestern University
March 1, 2012
A High Price: The Triumphs and Failures of Israeli Counterterrorism
Daniel L. Byman, Professor in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown and Senior Fellow with the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution
2011
December 7, 2011
When we were partners': Aspects of Israel-Iran relations during the 1948-68 period
Prof. Uri Bialer, Maurice B. Hexter Chair in International Relations-Middle Eastern Studies at the Department of International Relations, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a Visiting Professor at Brandeis University
November 17, 2011
How to Make a Revolution: A documentary on the revolutionary academic Gene Sharp
Discussion with Jamila Raqib, Executive Director of the Albert Einstein Institution
November 16, 2011
Is Iran's Economy Growing or Shrinking? Controversy over the IMF's latest Economic Performance assessment
Nader Habibi, Henry J. Leir Professor of the Economics of the Middle East at Brandeis University
October 27, 2011
Reconsidering the Durability of Authoritarianism in the Middle East: Lessons from the Arab Spring
Eva Bellin, Myra and Robert Kraft Professor of Arab Politics at Brandeis University
September 7, 2011
Recognition of Palestinian Statehood: A New Dawn or Another Debacle?
September 1, 2011
Beyond the Arab Spring: A Discussion of Recent Developments
February 15, 2011
Furor in the Arab Street: Tunisia, Egypt, and Beyond
2010
November 17, 2010
The Return of the Avant-garde: Art and Architecture in Iran's Street Politics
Talinn Grigor, Assistant Professor of modern and contemporary architecture in the Department of Fine Arts at Brandeis University
Khalil Shikaki, Crown Center Senior Fellow and Director the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah
October 6, 2010
Brown Bag Seminar
Joshua W. Walker, Crown Center Junior Research Fellow and Fellow at the German Marshall Fund based in Washington, DC
October 5, 2010
Crown-Belfer Middle East Program
Tzipi Livini, Israeli Opposition Leader and former Israeli Foreign Minister
September 29, 2010
Crown-Belfer Middle East Program
Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkish Foreign Minister
September 1, 2010
Round Table: Hot Topics in the Middle East
April 28, 2010
Iraq After the Elections
Kanan Makiya, Sylvia K. Hassenfeld Professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies
April 23-26, 2010
Under the Skin: The Films of Rakhshan Bani-Etemad
March 23, 2010
Leadership in Saudi Arabia: Missing an Opportunity?
Philip Robins, Oxford University Lecturer in Politics and Fellow at St. Anthony's College
February 9, 2010
Israel, the Palestinians, and the One-State Agenda
Hussein Ibish, Senior Fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) and Executive Director of the Hala Salaam Maksoud Foundation for Arab-American Leadership
2009
November 13, 2009
Fatah and Hamas: a Decade of Love-Hate Relations
Khalil Shikaki, Senior Fellow at the Crown Center and Director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah
November 13, 2009
Iran: Women and the 2009 Election
Rakhshan Bani Etemad, internationally-acclaimed filmmaker
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
"Talk to an Iraqi": From Iraq to America and Surviving to Talk About It
Haider Hamza, Journalist
October 15, 2009
Israel in the Changing Middle East
Dan Meridor, Deputy Prime Minister of Israel and Minister of Intelligence & Atomic Energy
October 14, 2009
Middle East Politics: Present and Future
October 8, 2009
Obama’s Mideast Policy: Reflections on the Basis of the Recently Published “Myths, Illusions, and Peace” by Dennis Ross and David Makovsky
David Makovsky, Ziegler Distinguished Fellow and Director, Project on the Middle East Peace Process, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
September 23, 2009
The Military and the State in the Middle East: Revisiting political, economic, and social roles and impacts
Yezid Sayigh, Crown Center Senior Fellow and Professor of Middle East Studies in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London
August 27, 2009
What's Up in the Middle East
April 22, 2009
Change We Can Believe In? The June Presidential Elections in Iran
Naghmeh Sohrabi, Assistant Director for Research at the Crown Center
February 25, 2009
Why the 15 Hijackers? Understanding Islamist militancy in Saudi Arabia
Thomas Hegghammer, Research Fellow Initiative on Religion in International Affairs/International Security Program, Harvard University
January 14, 2009
The Tragedy in Gaza: Competing Narratives
Amaney Jamal, Assistant Professor of Politics at Princeton University
Shai Feldman, Judith and Sidney Swartz Director of the Crown Center
Robert Art, Christian A. Herter Professor of International Relations
2008
Matthew Levitt, Senior Fellow and Director of the Stein Program on Terrorism, Intelligence and Policy at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy
November 12, 2008
Khalil Shikaki, Senior Fellow at the Crown Center and Director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah
October 22, 2008
Howard Eissenstat, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Crown Center and Assistant Professor at Seton Hall University
September 10, 2008
Afsaneh Najmabadi, Professor of History and Studies of Women, Gender and Sexuality at Harvard University
August 28, 2008
What's going on in the Middle East?
Shai Feldman, Judith and Sidney Swartz Director of the Crown Center
Naghmeh Sohrabi, Assistant Director for Research at the Crown Center
Nader Habibi, Henry J. Leir Professor of the Economics of the Middle East
Lawrence Rubin, Lecturer on the Myra and Robert Kraft Chair in Arab Politics
March 25, 2008
"How are Arab Oil-Exporting Countries Investing their Petrodollars?"
Nader Habibi, Henry J. Leir Professor of the Economics of the Middle East
April 9, 2008
Brown Bag Lunch Seminar
Nader Habibi, Henry J. Leir Professor of the Economics of the Middle East
March 5, 2008
Brown Bag Lunch Seminar
Asher Susser, Senior Fellow on the Myra and Robert Kraft Chair in Arab Politics
February 12, 2008
Brown Bag Lunch Seminar
Kanan Makiya, Sylvia K. Hassenfeld Professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies
February 7, 2008
"Israel's Place in the 'New' Middle East"
Asher Susser, Senior Fellow on the Myra and Robert Kraft Chair in Arab Politics
2007
December 5, 2007
All in the Family? Voices of Dissent in Post-1991 Saudi Arabia
Ondrej Beranek, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Crown Center
December 1-2, 2007
One Land, Two Peoples: 60 Years Since the 1947 U.N. Partition Plan for Palestine
November 14, 2007
Khalil Shikaki, Senior Research Fellow at the Crown Center and Director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research
November 2-3, 2007
Iranian Underground Music: Conference and Concert
October 20-21, 2007
The Middle East Today: New Perspectives on a Changing Landscape
October 3, 2007
The Muslim Brotherhood and the Question of Democracy
Abdel Monem Said Aly, Senior Research Fellow at the Crown Center and Director of the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies
September 6, 2007
Challenges Facing the Next U.S. President
Shai Feldman, Judith and Sidney Swartz Director of the Crown Center
Abdel Monem Said Aly, Senior Research Fellow at the Crown Center
Naghmeh Sohrabi, Assistant Director for Research at the Crown Center
September 4, 2007
Crown Center Open House
July 8-11, 2007
Brandeis in the Berkshires
Institute: International Law and Disorder in the Middle East
July 7-8, 2007
Brandeis in the Berkshires
Symposium: Middle East Briefing: An Insider’s View
April 22, 2007
Fence, Wall, Border
Director Eli Cohen
April 17, 2007
Bridging Across the Divide: Peacebuilding in the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict
Edy Kaufman, Co-Director of the Partners in Conflict and Partners in Peacebuilding Projects at the Center for International Development and Conflict Management at the University of Maryland
March 20, 2007
Iran: Domestic Developments and Strategic Impact
Carol Saivetz, Research Associate at the Davis Center for Russian Studies and Visiting Scholar at the Center for International Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Shai Feldman, Judith and Sidney Swartz Director of the Crown Center
Naghmeh Sohrabi, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Crown Center
March 14, 2007
From Lebanon to Tehran: A Middle East Update
Shai Feldman, Judith and Sidney Swartz Director of the Crown Center
March 9, 2007
Sounds of Silence: the Underground Iranian Music Scene
Amir Hamz and Mark Lazarz, Directors
2006
November 14, 2006
Israel and Palestine: Towards Another Explosion?
Shai Feldman, Judith and Sidney Swartz Director of the Crown Center
Khalil Shikaki, Senior Fellow at the Crown Center and Director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, Ramallah
Mohammed Samhouri, Senior Fellow at the Crown Center
November 11-12, 2006
War in Iraq: Regional Ramifications
November 7, 2006
Impact of Palestinian Domestic Dynamics on Israeli-Palestinian Relations
Khalil Shikaki, Senior Fellow at the Crown Center and Director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, Ramallah
November 7, 2006
Targets: Reporters in Iraq
Maziar Bahari, Director
November 6, 2006
Iran Today: Combating Drug Addiction and HIV/AIDS
Film Screening: Mohammad and the Matchmaker (2004) and Methadone in Iran (2006)
October 10, 2006
The Middle East After the War in Lebanon: An Egyptian Perspective
Abdel Monem Said Aly, Senior Fellow at the Crown Center and Director of the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo
September 13, 2006
The Hezbollah-Israel War & Its Regional Impact
Shai Feldman, Judith and Sidney Swartz Director of the Crown Center
September 6, 2006
The Hezbollah-Israel War: What's Next
Shai Feldman, Judith and Sidney Swartz Director of the Crown Center
Abdel Monem Said Aly, Senior Fellow, Crown Center and Director of the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo
Charles Radin, Specialist on Religion and Society at the Boston Globe
July 8-9, 2006
Brandeis in the Berkshires
Symposium: Crises and Change in the Middle East
July 9-12, 2006
Brandeis in the Berkshires
Institute: Is Democracy the 'Right Answer' for the Middle East?
June 25-27, 2006
The Middle East 2006: Reform, Insurgency, and Proliferation
The 7th Annual GCSP, RAND, and Crown Center Conference in Gstaad, Switzerland
June 20, 2006
Iran and Its Nuclear Efforts: A Briefing by the Crown Center
Shai Feldman, Judith and Sidney Swartz Director of the Crown Center
Naghmeh Sohrabi, Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Crown Center
April 6, 2006
Update from Beirut
Habibi Malik, Lebanese American University
March 21, 2006
Demography and Politics in the Middle East: Looking to the Future of Israeli-Palestinian Relations
Leonard Saxe, Director of the Steinhardt Social Research Institute and the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies
Sergio DellaPergola, Visiting Scholar at the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies
Shai Feldman, Director of the Crown Center
February 28, 2006
Considerations in Determining Israel's Boundaries
Dan Rothem, Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation
February 16, 2006
Why Iran Moved from Khatami to Ahmadinejad and from Detente to Defiance
Siamak Namazi, Atieh Bahar Consulting in Tehran
February 13, 2006
Hamas' Electoral Victory and the Upcoming Israeli Elections
Shai Feldman, Director of the Crown Center
Menachem Klein, Senior Lecturer at Bar-Ilan University
Ghaleb Darabya, Mason Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government
January 4, 2006
Israel and the Palestinians: Where Do we Go from Here
Jill Sinclair, Canadian Representative to the Middle East Peace Process
2005
A Koret Guest Lecture Series Seminar
Yoram Schweitzer, Research Associate at Tel Aviv University's Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies
Avoiding a Bloodbath: Negotiating Israel's Disengagement
Moty Cristal, IDF General Staff's Crisis Negotiations Unit and Ph.D. candidate at the London School of Economics
October 26, 2005
Israeli-Palestinian Relations: The Next Steps
Shai Feldman, Director of the Crown Center
Khalil Shikaki, Senior Fellow at the Crown Center
Shlomo Brom, Guest Scholar at the U.S. Institute of Peace
Ghaleb Darabya, Former Counselor for Political and Congressional Affairs with the Palestinian National Authority
October 19-20, 2005
Israel and the Palestinians: The Road Ahead
Ambassador Nabil Fahmy, Egyptian Ambassador to the United States
May 10, 2005
A Discussion with Ambassador Peter Ford
Peter Ford, British Ambassador to Syria
April 4-5, 2005
Inaugural Conference