Date: Tuesday 25 November, 6.15-7.45pm

Venue: Wilson Room, Portcullis House, Houses of Parliament, Victoria Embankment, London SW1A 2LW

Speakers:

• Mike Gapes MP, Chair, Foreign Affairs Select Committee
• Baroness Afshar OBE, Professor of Politics and Womens' Studies, University of York
• Kaveh Moussavi, Head of Public Interest Law, Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford
• Nazanin Afshin-Jam, President of the Stop Child Executions Campaign and Iranian Recording Artist

Chair: Stephen Twigg, Director, Foreign Policy Centre

The Foreign Policy Centre launched a new pamphlet, 'A revolution without rights? Women, Kurds and Baha'is searching for equality in Iran', written by Geoffrey Cameron and Tahirih Danesh on 25 November. In the pamphlet, the authors examine the religious, legal and social obstacles to equality faced by women, Baha'is and Kurds in Iran, comparing the experiences of the groups. They also evaluate the Iranian government's compliance with its own constitution and look at how Iran's treatment of women and minorities measures up to the international agreements it has signed. The pamphlet lays out practical steps that British and European policy-makers can take to support the equal treatment of women and minorities with their fellow citizens in Iran.

To purchase a copy of the pamphlet, please see: http://fpc.org.uk/publications

Download A Revolution Without Rights? in full (3.14 megabyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

An ODI and FPC event

Speakers:

Baroness Margaret Jay, Co-chair, Iraq Commission

Simon Maxwell, Director, ODI (Chair)

Date:

Thurs 22nd November 2007, 1pm-2.15pm

Venue:

Overseas Development Institute, 111 Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1 7JD

About the Event:

The Foreign Policy Centre (FPC), in partnership with Channel 4, facilitated a UK Iraq Commission – the British equivalent of the US Iraq Study Group. The Iraq Commission was an independent, cross-party Commission that produced a report containing recommendations for the future of Britain's role in Iraq.

At this ODI and Foreign Policy Centre event, Baroness Margaret Jay will outline the process of evidence gathering employed by the Commission and the major findings of the report.

You can register online for the event at http://apps.odi.org.uk/events

You are warmly invited to the latest POLIS event, in partnership with Channel 4 and the Foreign Policy Centre:

This is an opportunity to discuss and debate the findings of The Iraq Commission. More details and a copy of the final report can be found here: http://fpc.org.uk/topics/iraqcommission/

Date: Tuesday 24 July, 6.30 - 8.00pm

Venue: Old Theatre, London School of Economics

Speakers: Professor Mary Kaldor (LSE), Baroness Margaret Jay (The Iraq Commission), Patrick Cockburn (Independent), Ghaith Abdul-Ahad (Guardian), Tim Finch (Refugee Council)

Chair: Krishnan Guru-Murthy (Channel 4)

Following a series of hearings, Channel 4 aired the findings of the Channel 4/ Foreign Policy Centre Iraq Commission in a special programme presented by Jon Snow on Saturday 14 July 2007. The Commission, the equivalent of the US Iraq Study Group, is an independent, cross-party Commission which has produced recommendations on the future of Britain's role in Iraq.

The POLIS event will be the first public debate on the findings of the Iraq Commission. Through incorporative panel debate, it will gauge the response of the press and the public, many of whom will have already viewed the Channel 4 programme or read the report.

It will ask what role the public and press have in carrying out the Commission's findings, and what impact implementing the Commission's findings will have on community cohesion, the terror threat and Muslim/ media relations in the UK.

This will be the backdrop for a wider debate about how the conflict in Iraq has been reported and will continue to be reported, whether the media has facilitated sufficient and healthy public debate, whether the government has listened, and, ultimately, what the story of Iraq will be in the long run.

The event will be followed by a drinks reception in the Senior Common Room.

For maps and directions please refer to:

http://www.lse.ac.uk/resources/mapsAndDirections/howToGetToLSE.htm

Please note you do not need to RSVP for this event

For more on POLIS please visit http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/polis/.

By Deen Sharp.

In June 2009 Lebanon held its first 'free' election since 1972. On the conclusion of the elections Western media and political analysts were particularly guilty of premature celebrations and hyperbole, regarding the Western backed March 14 coalition election victory. These past elections were not a battle in which: "President Barack Obama defeated President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran"(1) or Western ideals of liberal democracy triumphed against Islamic totalitarianism. This confusion was immediately evident after the winning March 14 coalition soon began to fracture and Lebanon fell into all too familiar political paralysis. The reason for this misplaced euphoria by Western pundits was due to an essential misunderstanding about the battle being fought on the Lebanese political playing field. These elections were largely void of political ideology and were centered on the fight to represent certain sectarian groups, especially so for the Christian population, and the protection of patrimonial networks.

Full text 

By Chris Phillips. Source: Guardian Comment is Free

To view original article visit: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/oct/01/turkey-syria-friendship

Just over a decade ago, Turkey's army gathered on its southern border in anticipation of a war with Syria that was narrowly avoided. Just over a fortnight ago, the two neighbours signed accords allowing for visa-free passage between the two states. Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad, now describes Turkey as Syria's best friend, while Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister, publicly calls Syrians his brothers.

Full text 

By Chris Phillips. Source: Guardian Comment is Free

The gradual return of international diplomats to Damascus signals a thaw in Syria's intractable feud with Saudi Arabia

Full text 

Rouzbeh Pirouz, Rawan Maayeh

April 2006

Download the report (200 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

Enhancing the role of civil society and other political actors within Arab countries as well as the reliability of evaluation mechanisms for informing the international community of tangible advances came under significant examination. Furthermore, given that external calls for reform are inherently limited in the absence of domestic forces, the potential for and limitations of partnerships across regional boundaries is a key theme for discussions on change.

The Civility Programme at the Foreign Policy Centre, in conjunction with the Royal Institute for International Relations (IRRI-KIIB), organised a two-day conference in Brussels to assess the merits and record of international initiatives for encouraging reform in the Arab world. The G8 Broader Middle East Initiative, the Middle East Partnership Initiative as well as the Barcelona Process were the subjects of the conference.

Richard Youngs, Richard Youngs

December 2004

Download the report (190 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

Despite a common interest in promoting democracy in the Middle East, the US and EU have so far failed to create a coherent partnership in the region. In this pamphlet, Dr. Richard Youngs maps out a strategy for improving transatlantic cooperation on this vital issue.

Rouzbeh Pirouz, Rouzbeh Pirouz

December 2004

Download the report (130 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

This Policy Brief for Iraq outlines recommendations for improving security and building a secure democracy, as agreed by high-level delegates at the FPC's retreat on Iraq in October 2004. Participants, who included Iraqi lawyers, journalists, heads of NGOs and women's groups and two ministers of the Interim government, identified ending ethnically divisive policies and encouraging EU involvement as urgent priorities.

Date: Tuesday 25 November, 6.15-7.45pm

Venue: Wilson Room, Portcullis House, Houses of Parliament, Victoria Embankment, London SW1A 2LW

Speakers:

• Mike Gapes MP, Chair, Foreign Affairs Select Committee
• Baroness Afshar OBE, Professor of Politics and Womens' Studies, University of York
• Kaveh Moussavi, Head of Public Interest Law, Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford
• Nazanin Afshin-Jam, President of the Stop Child Executions Campaign and Iranian Recording Artist

Chair: Stephen Twigg, Director, Foreign Policy Centre

The Foreign Policy Centre launched a new pamphlet, 'A revolution without rights? Women, Kurds and Baha'is searching for equality in Iran', written by Geoffrey Cameron and Tahirih Danesh on 25 November. In the pamphlet, the authors examine the religious, legal and social obstacles to equality faced by women, Baha'is and Kurds in Iran, comparing the experiences of the groups. They also evaluate the Iranian government's compliance with its own constitution and look at how Iran's treatment of women and minorities measures up to the international agreements it has signed. The pamphlet lays out practical steps that British and European policy-makers can take to support the equal treatment of women and minorities with their fellow citizens in Iran.

To purchase a copy of the pamphlet, please see: http://fpc.org.uk/publications

Download A Revolution Without Rights? in full (3.14 megabyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

An ODI and FPC event

Speakers:

Baroness Margaret Jay, Co-chair, Iraq Commission

Simon Maxwell, Director, ODI (Chair)

Date:

Thurs 22nd November 2007, 1pm-2.15pm

Venue:

Overseas Development Institute, 111 Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1 7JD

About the Event:

The Foreign Policy Centre (FPC), in partnership with Channel 4, facilitated a UK Iraq Commission – the British equivalent of the US Iraq Study Group. The Iraq Commission was an independent, cross-party Commission that produced a report containing recommendations for the future of Britain's role in Iraq.

At this ODI and Foreign Policy Centre event, Baroness Margaret Jay will outline the process of evidence gathering employed by the Commission and the major findings of the report.

You can register online for the event at http://apps.odi.org.uk/events

You are warmly invited to the latest POLIS event, in partnership with Channel 4 and the Foreign Policy Centre:

This is an opportunity to discuss and debate the findings of The Iraq Commission. More details and a copy of the final report can be found here: http://fpc.org.uk/topics/iraqcommission/

Date: Tuesday 24 July, 6.30 - 8.00pm

Venue: Old Theatre, London School of Economics

Speakers: Professor Mary Kaldor (LSE), Baroness Margaret Jay (The Iraq Commission), Patrick Cockburn (Independent), Ghaith Abdul-Ahad (Guardian), Tim Finch (Refugee Council)

Chair: Krishnan Guru-Murthy (Channel 4)

Following a series of hearings, Channel 4 aired the findings of the Channel 4/ Foreign Policy Centre Iraq Commission in a special programme presented by Jon Snow on Saturday 14 July 2007. The Commission, the equivalent of the US Iraq Study Group, is an independent, cross-party Commission which has produced recommendations on the future of Britain's role in Iraq.

The POLIS event will be the first public debate on the findings of the Iraq Commission. Through incorporative panel debate, it will gauge the response of the press and the public, many of whom will have already viewed the Channel 4 programme or read the report.

It will ask what role the public and press have in carrying out the Commission's findings, and what impact implementing the Commission's findings will have on community cohesion, the terror threat and Muslim/ media relations in the UK.

This will be the backdrop for a wider debate about how the conflict in Iraq has been reported and will continue to be reported, whether the media has facilitated sufficient and healthy public debate, whether the government has listened, and, ultimately, what the story of Iraq will be in the long run.

The event will be followed by a drinks reception in the Senior Common Room.

For maps and directions please refer to:

http://www.lse.ac.uk/resources/mapsAndDirections/howToGetToLSE.htm

Please note you do not need to RSVP for this event

For more on POLIS please visit http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/polis/.