100 episodes

Weekly discussion of Middle East policy, arts, and culture, featuring experts from the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C.

Middle East Focus Middle East Institute

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    • 4.6 • 50 Ratings

Weekly discussion of Middle East policy, arts, and culture, featuring experts from the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C.

    Rethinking Democracy, Ep. 1: Why Does Democracy Flourish? With Francis Fukuyama and Paul Salem

    Rethinking Democracy, Ep. 1: Why Does Democracy Flourish? With Francis Fukuyama and Paul Salem

    About the series: This is a critical year for the future of democracy. Half the world’s population will go to the polls in 2024, at a time when citizens in America and across the globe are losing faith in democratic institutions. We often view the rollback of democracy and threats to the liberal international order as separate problems, but in reality they are closely interlinked. Through a new limited podcast series, MEI’s Gonul Tol seeks to examine the interplay between democracy’s domestic and international foes as well as how to counter them.  
    In this episode: The world’s oldest democracy is in trouble. According to a study by the Public Religion Research Institute and the Brookings Institution, 75% of Americans believe that “the future of American democracy is at risk in the 2024 presidential election.” We often debate why democracies die because we assume that authoritarian power is the exception and democracy is the norm. But history says otherwise. 
    Francis Fukuyama and Paul Salem join Gonul Tol to answer the question: Why has democracy flourished in certain countries and regions and not in others?
     

    • 52 min
    The Evolving Conflict Between Hezbollah and Israel

    The Evolving Conflict Between Hezbollah and Israel

    MEI's US-Lebanon Fellow Fadi Nicholas Nassar and Emile Hokayem - Director of Regional Security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies - discuss the changing and uncertain rules of engagement between Hezbollah and Israel, and the potential for war between the two following Oct. 7. 

    • 47 min
    Interview with Rashid Al Khalifa - Bahraini artist, collector and founder of RAK Art Foundation

    Interview with Rashid Al Khalifa - Bahraini artist, collector and founder of RAK Art Foundation

    Director of MEI's Arts & Culture Program Lyne Sneige interviews HH Sheik Rashid Al Khalifa - artist, collector and founder of the RAK Art Foundation and a participating artist in MEI's current gallery exhibition "The Sea of Life: Modern and Contemporary Art from The Kingdom of Bahrain"

    • 37 min
    What’s next for Pakistan after election shock?

    What’s next for Pakistan after election shock?

    On this week's episode Tamkinet Karim, Syed Mohammad Ali, and Alistair Taylor discuss the results of Pakistan’s Feb. 8 elections and where things might be headed moving forward. Over the past two years, Pakistan has gone through a particularly turbulent period, following the removal of Imran Khan’s government in a no-confidence vote in April 2022 — a time marked by political instability, intense polarization, a worsening economic crisis, and growing threats to internal security.
    *Note: This episode was recorded before the formation of a coalition government on February 20, 2024.*

    • 36 min
    Iran’s 1979 revolution and its resonance today

    Iran’s 1979 revolution and its resonance today

    On this week's episode, MEI Iran Program Director Alex Vatanka, MEI Non-resident Scholar Andrew Scott Cooper, and MEI Editor-In-Chief Alistair Taylor discuss the Iranian Revolution of 1979. A seminal event in the history of the modern Middle East, the revolution transformed Iran and its impact continues to reverberate across the region today, nearly five decades on.

    • 35 min
    Spotlight on US Syria policy

    Spotlight on US Syria policy

    On this week's episode, Director of MEI's Syria and Countering Terrorism & Extremism Programs Charles Lister and MEI Editor-In-Chief Alistair Taylor talk about US policy toward Syria. The deadly Jan. 28 drone attack on a US military outpost in northeastern Jordan, near the borders with Syria and Iraq, has drawn renewed attention to the US military presence in the area. This comes against a backdrop of regional conflict and escalation. 

    • 29 min

Customer Reviews

4.6 out of 5
50 Ratings

50 Ratings

Balakay84 ,

Great Expertise

Always have great scholars on from the US and the region; particularly adept at covering current conflicts in MENA

Jstar333333 ,

Israel/UAE/Bahrain

It’s interesting that, as so-called experts, I guess they’ve never looked at a map of the Middle East, because they don’t seem to think these three countries exist! Which 3 countries? The Peace and Normalization treaties between Israel, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. You could even link these deals to Iranian colonization of Arab lands and Iranian proxy wars

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