Crown Center for Middle East Studies

April 23-24, 2025

"Crown Center at 20: The Future of the Middle East," (Videos Available) — The Crown Center marked 20 years of bridging scholarship and real-world insight on the Middle East with an anniversary symposium bringing together leading Crown scholars — past and present — to explore two pressing questions: What are the biggest challenges facing the Middle East? And where are the opportunities for optimism? Featuring a keynote address by Suzanne Maloney of the Brookings Institution and panels on Iran’s evolving regional and global challenges, the future of Egypt and North Africa, Israel, Syria, and the Levant, and Turkey and the Gulf.


March 12, 2025

"Underestimating Men: Pessimism about Support for Gender Equality in Morocco and Beyond," (Video Available) — Carolyn Barnett is an assistant professor in the School of Government and Public Policy and School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies at the University of Arizona. Lindsay J. Benstead is a professor of politics and global studies in the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government and director of the Middle East Studies Center (MESC) at Portland State University.


February 11, 2025

"Arabs & Israelis: From October 7 to Peacemaking | An Author Discussion," (Video Available) — Shai Feldman is the Raymond Frankel Professor in Israeli Politics and Society and the founding director of the Crown Center for Middle East Studies. Abdel Monem Said Aly is a senator in the Egyptian Senate, the chairman of the Council of Advisors for the Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies in Cairo, a writer and columnist for Al-Ahram and Al-Masry Al-Youm in Cairo and for Asharq Al-Awsat in London, and a founding senior fellow at the Crown Center. Khalil Shikaki is the director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah and a founding senior fellow at the Crown Center.


February 5, 2025

"Was the U.S. Ever Hegemonic in the Middle East? American Power and Regional Disorder in the Post-Cold War Middle East," (Video Available) — F. Gregory Gause III is professor emeritus of international affairs at the Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University and a visiting scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C. Eva Bellin is the Myra and Robert Kraft Professor of Arab Politics in the Department of Politics and the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University


January 22, 2025

"Martyrs and Migrants: Coptic Christians and the Persecution Politics of US Empire," (Video Available) — Candace Lukasik is Assistant Professor of Religion and affiliated with Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures at Mississippi State University and Faculty Leave Fellow at the Crown Center. Zainab Saleh is Associate Professor of Anthropology and the Koshland Director of John B. Hurford ’60 Center for the Arts and Humanities at Haverford College.

December 4, 2024

"Life and Death Under Humanitarian Law in Gaza and Beyond," (Video Available) — Ilana Feldman is professor of Anthropology, History, and International Affairs at George Washington University. Arzoo Osanloo is professor in the Department of Law, Societies, and Justice at the University of Washington.

October 30, 2024

"The Making of the Modern Muslim State: Islam and Governance in the Middle East and North Africa," (Video Available) — Malika Zeghal is the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Professor in Contemporary Islamic Thought and Life in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and a member of the Committee on the Study of Religion at Harvard University. Eva Bellin is the Myra and Robert Kraft Professor of Arab Politics in the Department of Politics and the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University.

October 9, 2024

"The Home I Worked to Make: Voices from the New Syrian Diaspora," (Video available) — Wendy Pearlman is Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University. Basileus Zeno is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Studies at Trent University in Canada.

October 8, 2024

"The Israel-Hamas War: One Year In," (Video available) — Shai Feldman is the Raymond Frankel Professor in Israeli Politics and Society and the founding director of the Crown Center for Middle East Studies. Abdel Monem Said Aly is a senator in the Egyptian Senate, the chairman of the Council of Advisors for the Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies in Cairo, a writer and columnist for Al-Ahram and Al-Masry Al-Youm in Cairo and for Asharq Al-Awsat in London, and a founding senior fellow at the Crown Center. Khalil Shikaki is the director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah and a founding senior fellow at the Crown Center.

September 12, 2024

"The Middle East and the U.S. Presidential Election," (Video Available) — Ghaith al-Omari is Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation senior fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Michal Ben-Josef Hirsch is associate professor in the Department of Political Science and Legal Studies at Suffolk University and a former senior fellow at the Crown Center. Hadi Kahalzadeh is junior research fellow at the Crown Center.
Nihal Kayali is junior research fellow at the Crown Center.

April 3, 2024

"The Politics of Disavowal: What Syria Can Tell Us about American Authoritarianism," (Video Available) — Lisa Wedeen is the Mary R. Morton Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science and the College and co-director of the Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory at the University of Chicago.  Daniel Neep teaches Middle East politics at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University and is a non-resident fellow at the Crown Center.

March 13, 2024

"How Sanctions Work: Iran and the Impact of Economic Warfare," (Video Available) — Narges Bajoghli is an anthropologist and assistant professor of Middle East Studies at the Johns Hopkins SAIS.
 Vali Nasr is professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at the Johns Hopkins SAIS.
 Naghmeh Sohrabi is the director for research at the Crown Center and the Charles (Corky) Goodman Professor of Middle East History.

March 6, 2024

"Fallout from the Israel-Hamas War," (Video Available) — Ambassador Daniel C. Kurtzer is the S. Daniel Abraham Professor of Middle East Policy Studies at Princeton University's School of Public and International Studies. Shai Feldman is the Raymond Frankel Professor in Israeli Politics and Society and the founding director of the Crown Center for Middle East Studies.

February 7, 2024

Staple Security: Bread and Wheat in Egypt (Video Available)  — Jessica Barnes is associate professor in the Department of Geography and the School of the Earth, Ocean and Environment at the University of South Carolina. Heather J. Sharkey is professor in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania.

November 29, 2023

Elites, Institutions, and Ethnic State Capture in Pre- and Post-2003 Iraq  (Video Available)  — Shamiran Mako is an assistant professor of international relations at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University with a joint appointment in Boston University’s political science department. Melani Cammett, discussant, is the Clarence Dillon Professor of International Affairs in the Department of Government and Director of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University.

November 8, 2023

Local Politics in an Authoritarian State: The Significance of Municipalities in Turkey (Video Available)
Zeynep Kadirbeyoğlu is a faculty leave fellow at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University and an associate professor of political science at Bogaziçi University (Istanbul). Muna Güvenç Ospina Leon, discussant, is a faculty affiliate at the Crown Center and an assistant professor of fine arts at Brandeis.

October 18, 2023

Can Arab-Israeli Peace Be Expanded Despite an Intensifying Palestinian-Israeli Conflict?: Teaching the Arab-Israeli Conflict at Brandeis (Video Available) — Shai Feldman is the Raymond Frankel Professor in Israeli Politics and Society and the founding director of the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University. Abdel Monem Said Aly is the chairman, CEO, and director of the Regional Center for Strategic Studies in Cairo, chairman of the Egyptian daily newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm, and a founding senior fellow at the Crown Center. Khalil Shikaki is the director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah and a founding senior fellow at the Crown Center. 

September 14, 2023

Iran's Women, Life, Freedom Movement: One Year Later (Video Available) — Mohammad Ali Kadivar is an assistant professor of sociology and international studies at Boston College. Arang Keshavarzian is an associate professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University. Nazanin Shahrokni is an associate professor of international studies at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. Naghmeh Sohrabi is the Charles (Corky) Goodman Professor of Middle East History and director for research at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University.

April 19, 2023

Exportability and Context: Reading Arabic Literature in the West (Video Available) — Hosam Aboul-Ela is a professor of English and the AAEF/Burhan and Misako Ajuz Professor of Arab Studies at the University of Houston. Mona Kareem, moderator, is a junior research fellow at the Crown Center.

March 29, 2023

One War, Two Countries: Syria and Ukraine (Video Available) — Deborah Amos is the Ferris Professor of Journalism in Residence at Princeton University and an award-winning international correspondent for National Public Radio. Her reporting on the Middle East and refugees in the U.S. is regularly featured on NPR's Morning Edition, Weekend Edition, and All Things Considered. Wendy Pearlman, moderator, is a professor of political science, Crown Professor of Middle East Studies, and the Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence at Northwestern University.

March 28, 2023

Shai Feldman Installed as the Inaugural Raymond Frankel Chair in Israeli Politics & Society (Video Available) — Shai Feldman is the Raymond Frankel Professor in Israeli Politics and Society and Founding Director of the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University. He is a fellow of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London and the author or co-author of numerous books, among which the most recent is "Arabs and Israelis: Conflict and Peacemaking in the Middle East," with Abdel Monem Said Aly and Khalil Shikaki — the first-ever university textbook on the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict to have been co-authored by an Israeli, a Palestinian and an Egyptian presenting a broader Arab perspective. He holds a PhD in political science from the University of California at Berkeley.

March 15, 2023

How the U.S. Defeated the Islamic State and the Lessons for Future Conflicts (Video Available) — Michael R. Gordon is the national security correspondent for The Wall Street Journal. Gary Samore, chair, is the Crown Family Director of the Crown Center.

March 1, 2023

Why Failed Protests are Politically Significant: Insights from Jordan (Video Available) — Jillian Schwedler is a non-resident fellow at the Crown Center and a professor of political science at the City University of New York's Hunter College and the Graduate Center. Daniel Neep, moderator, is a non-resident fellow at the Crown Center and a Mellon Research Fellow at Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. Naghmeh Sohrabi, chair, is the director for research at the Crown Center and the Charles (Corky) Goodman Professor of Middle East History.

Feb. 1, 2023

To Which Victor Go the Spoils? Explaining The Aftermath of Regime Change (Video Available) — Peter Krause is a faculty leave fellow at the Crown Center and an associate professor of political science at Boston College. Raihan Ismail, moderator, is the Goldman Faculty Leave Fellow at the Crown Center and a senior lecturer at the Australian National University. Naghmeh Sohrabi, chair, is the director for research at the Crown Center and the Charles (Corky) Goodman Professor of Middle East History.

Dec. 7, 2022

Saharanism: Intellectual and Literary Histories of a Desert-focused Imagination (Video available) — Brahim El Guabli is an assistant professor of Arabic studies and comparative literature at Williams College. Samia Henni, moderator, is an assistant professor of architecture at Cornell University. Naghmeh Sohrabi, chair, is the director for research at the Crown Center and the Charles (Corky) Goodman Professor of Middle East History.

Oct. 12, 2022

Worldmaking in the Long Great War: How Local and Colonial Struggles Shaped the Modern Middle East (Video available) — Jonathan Wyrtzen is an associate professor of sociology and international affairs at Yale University. Rana Baker, moderator, is a junior research fellow at the Crown Center. Naghmeh Sohrabi, chair, is the director for research at the Crown Center and the Charles (Corky) Goodman Professor of Middle East History.

Oct. 7, 2022

"Women, Life, Freedom": What's New about Iran's 2022 Protests? (Video available) — Mohammad Ali Kadivar is an assistant professor of sociology and international studies at Boston College.
Arang Keshavarzian is an associate professor and chair of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University. Nazanin Shahrokni is an assistant professor of gender and globalization at the London School of Economics. Naghmeh Sohrabi, moderator, is the director for research at the Crown Center and the Charles (Corky) Goodman Professor of Middle East History.

Sept. 21, 2022

Peace, Justice, and Knowledge-Production in Yemen (Video available) — Stacey Philbrick Yadav is a nonresident fellow at the Crown Center and an associate professor of international relations at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Yasmeen al-Eryani, moderator, is the director of research at the Sana'a Center for Strategic Studies in Yemen. Naghmeh Sohrabi, chair, is the director for research at the Crown Center and the Charles (Corky) Goodman Professor of Middle East History.

Sept. 7, 2022

Beyond the Headlines: Overlooked Trends in the Middle East (Video available) — Mohammad Ataie is a junior research fellow at the Crown Center. Nader Habibi is the Henry J. Leir Professor of the Economics of the Middle East at the Crown Center. Raihan Ismail is the Goldman Faculty Leave Fellow at the Crown Center. Mona Kareem is a junior research fellow at the Crown Center.

April 6, 2022

Rethinking Land, Labor and Capital in Egypt — Hannah Elsisi is a junior research fellow at the Crown Center. Aaron Jakes is an assistant professor of history at The New School for Social Research and Eugene Lang College. Ahmad Shokr is an assistant professor of history at Swarthmore College.

Feb. 2, 2022

Making the Gulf: Regulating Movements and Politics (Video available) — Natasha Iskander is an associate professor of urban planning and public policy at NYU Wagner School of Public Service. Arang Keshavarzian is an associate professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University.

Dec. 1, 2021

Reassessing the Impacts of the Iranian Revolution Elsewhere (Video available) — Simon Wolfgang Fuchs is a lecturer in Islamic and Middle East Studies at the University of Freiburg, Germany. Raphaël Lefèvre is senior research fellow at the University of Oxford and an associate researcher at the University of Aarhus. Laurence Louër is an associate professor at SciencesPo CERI. Mohammad Ataie, discussant, is a junior research fellow at the Crown Center.

Nov. 3, 2021

The Maghreb Generation: The New Pan-Africanists of North Africa (1950-80) (Video available) — Paraska Tolan-Szkilnik is an assistant professor of African and Middle East history at Suffolk University.

Oct. 6, 2021

The Iraqi Uprising and the Political Imagination (Video available) — Zahra Ali is an assistant professor of sociology at Rutgers University and a visiting scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey.

Sept. 20, 2021

Global Jihad: A Brief History (Video available) — Glenn Robinson is on the faculty at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.

Sept. 1, 2021

Open House Event — An informal, social event to meet the faculty, fellows and staff at the Crown Center.

May 5, 2021

Contesting the Iranian Revolution: The Green Uprisings (Video available) — Pouya Alimagham is a lecturer in the Department of History at MIT. Hadi Kahalzadeh, discussant, is a doctoral fellow at the Crown Center and a PhD candidate in Social Policy at the Heller School.

April 7, 2021

What’s So Colonial About Colonial Rule? Violence and Authoritarianism in French Algeria (Video available) — Adria Lawrence is the Aronson Associate Professor of International Studies and Political Science at Johns Hopkins University. Alex Boodrookas, discussant, is the Harold Grinspoon Junior Research Fellow at the Crown Center.

March 24, 2021

On Origin Myths and Genealogical Imagination: The Marginalization of Yemen’s Black Community — Gokh Amin Alshaif is a PhD candidate in the Department of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Stacey Philbrick Yadav, discussant, is a non-resident fellow at the Crown Center and chair of the Department of Political Science at Hobart and William Smith Colleges.

March 3, 2021

Egypt, Democracy, and Revolution: A Reappraisal — Mona El-Ghobashy is a clinical assistant professor of liberal studies at New York University. Youssef El Chazli, discussant, is a junior research fellow at the Crown Center.

Feb. 3, 2021

Electrical Palestine: Capital and Technology from Empire to Nation (Video available) — Fredrik Meiton is an assistant professor of history at the University of New Hampshire. Ekin Kurtic, discussant, is a junior research fellow at the Crown Center.

Dec. 2, 2020

Mythmaking in Saudi Arabia — Rosie Bsheer, assistant professor of history at Harvard University. Robert Vitalis, professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania. Pascal Menoret, discussant, Renée and Lester Crown Professor of Modern Middle East Studies, Crown Center, Brandeis University.

Nov. 17, 2020

2020 U.S. Election Results and the Future of the Middle East (Video available) — Eva Bellin, Myra and Robert Kraft Professor of Arab Politics at the Crown Center. Ebtesam Al-Ketbi, founder and president of the Emirates Policy Center in the UAE. Yehudah Mirsky, professor of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies. Michael Singh, Lane-Swig Senior Fellow and managing director, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Tamara Cofman Wittes, senior fellow, Center for Middle East Policy, The Brookings Institution.

Nov. 4, 2020

Planning Beirut for the War Yet to Come (Video available) — Hiba Bou Akar, assistant professor in the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University. Huma Gupta, discussant, is the Neubauer Junior Research Fellow at the Crown Center.

Oct. 7, 2020

Field Research in the Middle East during and after the Pandemic (Video available) — Peter Krause, associate professor of political science at Boston College and a junior research fellow at the Crown Center in 2011-12. Golnar Nikpour, assistant professor of history at Dartmouth College and the 2017-2018 Neubauer Junior Research Fellow at the Crown Center. Hayal Akarsu, junior research fellow at the Crown Center.

Sept. 23, 2020

Normalizing Relations Between Israel and the UAE: A Panel Discussion and Q&A — Eva Bellin, Myra and Robert Kraft Professor of Arab Politics at the Crown Center. Yehudah Mirsky, professor of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies. Gary Samore, Crown Family Director of the Crown Center. Khalil Shikaki, founding senior fellow at the Crown Center. Tamara Cofman Wittes, senior fellow, Center for Middle East Policy, The Brookings Institution.

April 21, 2020

Iran's Response to the Coronavirus Crisis (Audio available) — Orkideh Behrouzan, faculty leave fellow at the Crown Center.

March 4, 2020

Urbanism and Kurdish Mobilization in Diyarbakir, Turkey (Video available) — Muna Güvenç Ospina Leon, assistant professor of fine arts at Brandeis and a faculty affiliate of the Crown Center.

Jan. 22, 2020

Politics of Modern Middle Eastern Art (Video available) — Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, an Emirati columnist and researcher on social, political, and cultural affairs in the Arab Gulf states.

Dec. 4, 2019

Permanently Temporary: The Politics of Waiting for Citizenship (Video available) — Noora Lori, Assistant Professor of International Relations at Boston University

Nov. 20, 2019

Where Is Oman Headed? (Audio available) — Gary Grappo, a former U.S. ambassador and currently a distinguished fellow at the Center for Middle East Studies at the Korbel School for International Studies, University of Denver.

Nov. 13, 2019

The Other Iranian Army: Understanding the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (Video available) — Maryam Alemzadeh, Harold Grinspoon Junior Research Fellow at the Crown Center

Nov. 6, 2019

Spaceship in the Desert: Energy, Climate Change, and Urban Design in Abu Dhabi (Video available) — Gökçe Günel, Sabbatical Fellow at the Crown Center and Assistant Professor in Anthropology at Rice University

Oct. 23, 2019

The US and the Middle East in the Age of Trump (Audio available) — Steven Simon, Professor in the Practice of International Relations at Colby College

Sept. 18, 2019

The Lived Nile: An Environmental History of Egypt — Jennifer L. Derr, Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Cruz

Sept. 4, 2019

The Middle East Today: The Good, the Bad, and the Unexpected — A conversation with Maryam Alemzadeh, Gökçe Günel, Pascal Menoret, Amy Singer, Naghmeh Sohrabi and David Siddhartha Patel

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

April 11, 2019

Love and Fury: Trump Takes on North Korea and Iran (Audio available) — Robert Gallucci, Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at Georgetown University 

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? (Audio available) — 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

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 (Video available) — Kate Wahl, Editor-in-Chief of Stanford University Press

Feb. 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

Nov. 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

Oct. 31, 2018

Factions in Conversation: The Internal Track-II Dialogue in Iraq — Nussaibah Younis, Senior Adviser at the European Institute of Peace

Oct. 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

Sept. 5, 2018

Untold Stories of the Middle East (Audio available) — A conversation with Daniel Neep, Hind Ahmed Zaki, Yazan Doughan, Hayal Akarsu, Shai Feldman, and Naghmeh Sohrabi

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

Nov. 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

Nov. 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

Nov. 1, 2017
A Doomed Israeli-Palestinian Love Story
Dorit Rabinyan, acclaimed author of All the Rivers

Oct. 25, 2017
The Truth about the Muslim Brothers
Abdel Monem Said Aly, Senior Fellow at the Crown Center

Sept. 20, 2017
Empowering Believers: A Sociohistory of Islamism in Saudi Arabia
Pascal Menoret, Renée and Lester Crown Professor of Modern Middle East Studies

Sept. 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

Feb. 15, 2017
Understanding Syria: A Teach-In

Jan. 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

Nov. 22, 2016
Saudi Arabia in a Chaotic Middle East
HRH Prince Turki Al-Faisal

Oct. 13, 2016
Book Talk with Shadi Hamid, author of “Islamic Exceptionalism: How the Struggle over Islam is Reshaping the World”

Sept. 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

Feb. 2, 2016
Defeating ISIL
Colin Kahl, National Security Advisor to Vice President Biden

Jan. 20, 2016
Recent Palestinian-Israeli Violence: Is There a Way Out?

Dec. 2, 2015
After Paris: ISIS and U.S.

Oct. 1, 2015
In the Aftermath of the Nuclear Deal: The Middle East, Iran, the U.S. and Israel

Sept. 8, 2015
10th Anniversary Celebration

Nov. 20, 2014
Israel: Is It Good for the Jews?
Richard Cohen, Nationally syndicated columnist for The Washington Post

Oct. 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

Sept. 18, 2014
The Gaza Violence and the Future of Track II Diplomacy
Yair Hirschfeld

Aug. 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

Feb. 12, 2014
Is Hezbollah Confronting a Crisis of Popular Legitimacy?
Eric Lob, Junior Research Fellow at the Crown Center and holds a PhD from Princeton University’s Department of Near Eastern Studies

Nov. 22, 2013
Book Release Celebration
Arabs and Israelis: Conflict and Peacemaking in the Middle East

Nov. 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

Oct. 9, 2013
The Other Peace Process: An Evening with Rabbi Ron Kronish ’68 and Kadi Iyad Zahalka
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

Sept. 25, 2013
Crown Center Opening Event
The Syrian Catastrophe: Regional Implications

Sept. 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?

Feb. 25, 2013
Secularism, Islamism, and the Politics of Defining Religious Freedom in Modern Egypt
Aria Nakissa, Junior Research Fellow at the Crown Center

Jan. 16, 2013
The Upcoming Israeli Elections: Domestic and Regional Ramifications

Dec. 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

Oct. 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

Sept. 13, 2012
The Crown Center Annual Opening Event: Celebrating the Crown and Goodman Families

Sept. 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

Dec. 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

Nov. 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

Nov. 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

Oct. 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

Sept. 7, 2011
Recognition of Palestinian Statehood: A New Dawn or Another Debacle?

Sept. 1, 2011
Beyond the Arab Spring: A Discussion of Recent Developments

Feb. 15, 2011
Furor in the Arab Street: Tunisia, Egypt, and Beyond

Feb. 8, 2011
The Shah: A Book Talk with Prof. Abbas Milani

Nov. 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

Oct. 21, 2010
Brown Bag Seminar
Khalil Shikaki, Crown Center Senior Fellow and Director the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah

Oct. 6, 2010
Brown Bag Seminar
Joshua W. Walker, Crown Center Junior Research Fellow and Fellow at the German Marshall Fund based in Washington, DC

Oct. 5, 2010
Crown-Belfer Middle East Program
Tzipi Livini, Israeli Opposition Leader and former Israeli Foreign Minister

Sept. 29, 2010
Crown-Belfer Middle East Program
Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkish Foreign Minister

Sept. 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

Feb. 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

Nov. 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

Nov. 13, 2009
Iran: Women and the 2009 Election
Rakhshan Bani Etemad, internationally-acclaimed filmmaker

Oct. 20, 2009
“Talk to an Iraqi”: From Iraq to America and Surviving to Talk About It
Haider Hamza, Journalist

Oct. 15, 2009
Israel in the Changing Middle East
Dan Meridor, Deputy Prime Minister of Israel and Minister of Intelligence & Atomic Energy

Oct. 14, 2009
Middle East Politics: Present and Future

Oct. 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

Sept. 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

Aug. 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

Feb. 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

Jan. 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

Nov. 13, 2008
The Utility of Targeted Financial Measures to Deal with Iran
Matthew Levitt, Senior Fellow and Director of the Stein Program on Terrorism, Intelligence and Policy at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy

Nov. 12, 2008
What Next in Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations?
Khalil Shikaki, Senior Fellow at the Crown Center and Director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah

Oct. 22, 2008
Central at the Periphery: Non-Muslims in the Turkish Republic
Howard Eissenstat, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Crown Center and Assistant Professor at Seton Hall University

Sept. 10, 2008
Gender and Sexuality in Contemporary Iran
Afsaneh Najmabadi, Professor of History and Studies of Women, Gender and Sexuality at Harvard University

Aug. 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

Feb. 12, 2008
Brown Bag Lunch Seminar
Kanan Makiya, Sylvia K. Hassenfeld Professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies

Feb. 7, 2008
Israel’s Place in the “New” Middle East
Asher Susser, Senior Fellow on the Myra and Robert Kraft Chair in Arab Politics

Dec. 5, 2007
All in the Family? Voices of Dissent in Post-1991 Saudi Arabia
Ondrej Beranek, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Crown Center

Dec. 1-2, 2007
One Land, Two Peoples: 60 Years Since the 1947 U.N. Partition Plan for Palestine

Nov. 14, 2007
Khalil Shikaki, Senior Research Fellow at the Crown Center and Director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research

Nov. 2-3, 2007
Iranian Underground Music: Conference and Concert

Oct. 20-21, 2007
The Middle East Today: New Perspectives on a Changing Landscape

Oct. 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

Sept. 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

Sept. 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

Nov. 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

Nov. 11-12, 2006
War in Iraq: Regional Ramifications

Nov. 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

Nov. 7, 2006
Targets: Reporters in Iraq
Maziar Bahari, Director

Nov. 6, 2006
Iran Today: Combating Drug Addiction and HIV/AIDS
Film Screening: Mohammad and the Matchmaker (2004) and Methadone in Iran (2006)

Oct. 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

Sept. 13, 2006
The Hezbollah-Israel War & Its Regional Impact
Shai Feldman, Judith and Sidney Swartz Director of the Crown Center

Sept. 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

Feb. 28, 2006
Considerations in Determining Israel’s Boundaries
Dan Rothem, Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation

Feb. 16, 2006
Why Iran Moved from Khatami to Ahmadinejad and from Detente to Defiance
Siamak Namazi, Atieh Bahar Consulting in Tehran

Feb. 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

Jan. 4, 2006
Israel and the Palestinians: Where Do We Go from Here
Jill Sinclair, Canadian Representative to the Middle East Peace Process

Nov. 10, 2005
A Koret Guest Lecture Series Seminar
Conversing with Suicide Bombers: Insights from Interviews
Yoram Schweitzer, Research Associate at Tel Aviv University’s Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies

Nov. 9, 2005
A Koret Guest Lecture Series Seminar
Avoiding a Bloodbath: Negotiating Israel’s Disengagement
Moty Cristal, IDF General Staff’s Crisis Negotiations Unit and PhD candidate at the London School of Economics

Oct. 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

Oct. 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