Fırat Bozçalı, in conversation with Elif Babül, will explore how Turkey’s expanded anti-smuggling laws have turned criminal courts into unexpected arenas where Kurdish smugglers and their lawyers challenge state authority.
Nader Habibi, Hadi Kahalzadeh, and Naghmeh Sohrabi assess Iran’s latest wave of protests, how it compares with earlier episodes, and what may come next.
In this Crown Seminar celebrating the publication of “Art Capital,” Beth Derderian examined how art, museums, and money are reshaping artistic practice and cultural authority in the United Arab Emirates and beyond.
In our latest Middle East Brief, Candace Lukasik shows how Christian communities, amid decades of warnings of the disappearance of Christianity in the Middle East, remain politically and socially consequential despite demographic decline.
The Crown Center for Middle East Studies is committed to conducting balanced and dispassionate research of the modern Middle East that meets the highest academic standards. The Center seeks to help make decision- and opinion-makers better informed about the region. The scope of the center's research includes the 22 members of the Arab League as well as Turkey, Iran and Israel. The Crown Center's approach is multidisciplinary in its study of the politics, economics, history, security, sociology and anthropology of the region's states and societies.
In late December 2025, protests erupted across Iran and were eventually met with an unprecedented level of state violence, leaving thousands dead and tens of thousands wounded or detained. On January 29, we filmed a Crown Conversation with three Iran experts—Nader Habibi, Hadi Kahalzadeh, and Naghmeh Sohrabi—to assess how this latest wave of protests unfolded, how it compares to earlier protest episodes, and what may come next. Their discussion explores the deepening rupture between the Islamic Republic and Iranian society, the political and economic constraints shaping the current moment, and what it means to go on with everyday life in Iran after the protests.
The Crown Center is dedicated to sharing balanced and dispassionate research on the Middle East. Please see the Crown Center analyses which delve into the roots and evolution of the conflict between Hamas and Israel.
Image credit: Craig Bailey/Perspective Photo
Counter/Argument: A Middle East Podcast is produced by the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University. Through conversations with scholars and practitioners encompassing a variety of disciplines and perspectives, each episode will debunk key misconceptions about the contemporary Middle East. "Counter/Argument" is committed to a balanced and dispassionate approach to the region and to making scholarship more widely accessible. Available wherever you get your podcasts.
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Image credit: Chae Lee
