Please join us for three virtual talks in the spring 2023 Middle East Studies series. You must pre-register separately for each event.
Omar Shakir
“The New Israeli Government & Human Rights: Conversation with Human Rights Watch’s Israel & Palestine Director”
Monday, February 13, 2023
12:15-1:15 pm
Co-sponsored by the Department of Political Science
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://uconn-edu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwuceisrzIuEtRBeQanBct0Xpkr1e5N3eeE
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
In 2022, Palestinians faced in many respects peak levels of repression by Israeli authorities, including years-long highs in killings in the West Bank, numbers held in administrative detention without trial or charge, and unprecedented moves to shutter prominent civil society organizations. And that's before the most right-wing government in Israel's history came to power. What does the rise of this new government mean for human rights in Israel and Palestine? Join us for a conversation with Human Rights Watch's Israel and Palestine Director, Omar Shakir.
Prof. Chuck Freilich
“Israel’s national security strategy at 75: How successful?”
Wednesday, February 22, 2023
12:15-1:15 pm
Co-sponsored by the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life and the Department of Political Science
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://uconn-edu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0kdu2trTgiE9O8wr63-IDd8QfFNf0j68ir
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Israel is today an established, prosperous and fundamentally secure state, but continues to face severe threats from rockets, missiles and cyber, even an existential danger posed by Iran’s nuclear program. Moreover, Israel’s new hardline government may lead to a crisis in relations with the US and Abraham Accords states and exacerbate the growing processes of international delegitimization. A conflict with Hamas, Palestinians in the West Bank and potential escalation to include Hezbollah are likely. Chuck Freilich, a former deputy Israeli national security adviser, now an adjunct professor at Columbia and Tel Aviv Universities, will present an authoritative analysis of Israel’s national security strategy, based on his award-winning book: Israeli National Security: a New Strategy for an Era of Change (Oxford Press, 2018) the most comprehensive study to date in this field.
Prof. Rana Khoury (University of Illinois)
“Activism in War: How International Aid Shapes Nonviolent Action in Violent Contexts”
Wednesday, March 22, 2023
12:15-1:15 pm
Co-sponsored by the Department of Political Science and HRI’s Human Rights Research and Data Hub
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://uconn-edu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0tf-irqDgiGNJXCJQu51tK5oafTjRmBtAD
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
How and why do international aid actors connect with local actors during crises, and with what consequences? I theorize that international aid actors forge social, behavioral, and material relations with local actors to achieve their objectives in crisis response. In so doing, they generate change in nonviolent activism, constituting activists as “capable” and organized crisis responders. This means, concurrently, that international aid actors enable wartime activism to persist even in the depths of violence. I process trace to build this theory in the Syrian war. Evidence of its observable implications comes from immersion and interviews with Syrians and international actors in neighboring countries, and an original dataset of Facebook pages representing activist organizations. Findings related to post-protest and non-rebel-facing action, and the constitutive power of humanitarian actors, contribute to understandings of wartime agency and the international dimensions of internal conflicts.
For more information, contact: Jeremy Pressman at jeremy.pressman@uconn.edu