This MENA Politics Seminar was delivered at the Middle East Centre on Tuesday 10 March 2026 by Professor Neil Ketchley (St Antony’s College) and was chaired by Dr Maryam Alemzadeh (St Antony’s College). Does public sector employment make graduates less likely to join anti-regime protests? Recent scholarship argues yes, with consequences for bottom-up democratization in late-developing economies with expansive public and higher education sectors. This paper examines whether this thesis travels to...
Mar 17, 2026•51 min
This seminar was delivered at the Middle East Centre on Thursday 5 February 2026 by Dr Dominik Krell (Wolfson College), and was chaired by Professor Pascal Menoret (Magdalen College). This talk explores how Saudi legal thought is shaping the ways in which Islamic law is applied by Islamic courts beyond the Arabian Peninsula. Since the 1960s, Saudi Arabia has made significant efforts to promote a distinct Saudi understanding of Islam globally, mainly through international students at Saudi univer...
Feb 18, 2026•56 min
This seminar was delivered at the Middle East Centre on Thursday 20 November by Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi, founder of the Barjeel Art Foundation, and was chaired by Professor Eugene Rogan, St Antony’s College. This seminar was delivered at the Middle East Centre on Thursday 20 November by Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi and was chaired by Professor Eugene Rogan, St Antony’s College. Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi is an Emirati columnist and researcher on social, political and cultural affairs in the Arab Gulf St...
Nov 25, 2025•1 hr 5 min
This MENA Politics Series Seminar was delivered on Tuesday 18 November in the MEC’s Boardroom by Dr May Darwich (University of Birmingham) and was chaired by Professor Neil Ketchley (St Antony’s College). This paper explains Egypt’s foreign policy stagnation, with a novel argument building on role and identity theories. Egypt’s foreign policy exhibits a case where its regional leadership role has changed (and declined), but its identity emphasising Egyptian leadership persists, thus leading to f...
Nov 21, 2025•35 min
This seminar was delivered on Thursday 13 November in the MEC’s Investcorp Lecture Theatre by Mustapha El Khalfi (Former Minister of Communications, Morocco) and was chaired by Professor Michael Willis (St Antony’s College).
Nov 21, 2025•1 hr 38 min
This seminar was delivered on 28 May 2025 by St Antony’s George Antonius Birzeit Visiting Fellow, Dr Amal Nazzal, and Palestinian political and feminist organizer at Rawa, Soheir Asaad. This seminar was delivered at the Middle East Centre on 28 May 2025 by St Antony’s George Antonius Birzeit, Visiting Fellow, Dr Amal Nazzal, and Palestinian political and feminist organizer at Rawa, Soheir Asaad. Rawa is a community-participatory fund advancing trust- and solidarity-based approaches that return p...
Oct 31, 2025•1 hr 6 min
The MEC’s opening Thursday seminar of the 2025-26 academic year was delivered by the former Prime Minister of Türkiye, Ahmet Davutoğlu, and chaired by Professor Eugene Rogan The MEC’s opening Thursday seminar of the 2025-26 academic year was delivered by Ahmet Davutoğlu, former Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Türkiye. Davutoğlu has authored a number of books on foreign policy, including ‘Systemic Earthquake’ and ‘Alternative Paradigms’, which have been translated into several l...
Oct 20, 2025•1 hr 1 min
This seminar was delivered at the Middle East Centre on 30 May 2025 by Dr Samer Abdelnour, University of Edinburgh Business School, and Chaired by St Antony’s George Antonius Birzeit Visiting Fellow, Dr Amal Nazzal. This seminar was delivered at the Middle East Centre on 30 May 2025. Dr Samer Abdelnour, University of Edinburgh Business School, addressed the topic of ‘Big Tech and the Automation of Genocide in Gaza’. It was chaired by St Antony’s George Antonius Birzeit Visiting Fellow, Dr Amal N...
Sep 30, 2025•1 hr 2 min
The Middle East Centre was honoured to host the 2025 Devaki Jain Lecture. This year’s lecture was delivered by Rana Husseini, Jordanian activist, journalist and author. The Middle East Centre was honoured to host the 2025 Devaki Jain Lecture. This year’s lecture was delivered by Rana Husseini, Jordanian activist, journalist and author. The Devaki Jain lecture series, established in 2015 by Devaki Jain, welcomes esteemed women speakers from the South. Past speakers have included Dr Graça Machel, ...
May 30, 2025•1 hr 5 min
A paper delivered by Rev. Dr Mitri Alraheb at the Palestine Research Centre symposium held at the MEC on Friday 9 May 2025. This paper was part of a panel chaired by Professor Eugene Rogan. A paper delivered by Rev. Dr Mitri Alraheb at the Palestine Research Centre symposium held at the Middle East Centre on Friday 9 May 2025. The symposium was entitled ‘Toward an Inclusive Archaeological and Historical Narrative of Palestine: The Archaeology and History of Palestine’. This paper was part of a p...
May 27, 2025•17 min
A paper delivered by Dr Hamdan Taha at the Palestine Research Centre symposium held at the MEC on Friday 9 May 2025. This paper was part of a panel chaired by Professor Eugene Rogan. A paper delivered by Dr Hamdan Taha at the Palestine Research Centre symposium held at the Middle East Centre on Friday 9 May 2025. The symposium was entitled ‘Toward an Inclusive Archaeological and Historical Narrative of Palestine: The Archaeology and History of Palestine’. This paper was part of a panel chaired b...
May 27, 2025•15 min
In this talk anthropologist Munira Khayyat revisits the South Lebanon borderland, where she has conducted long term fieldwork in the wake of its almost total destruction after the latest season of war there. In this talk anthropologist Munira Khayyat revisits the South Lebanon borderland, where she has conducted long term fieldwork in the wake of its almost total destruction after the latest season of war there. This talk reflects on ecologies of resistance and survival through storms of war and...
May 23, 2025•56 min
A paper delivered by Dr Iman Saca at the Palestine Research Centre symposium held at the MEC on Friday 9 May 2025. This paper was part of a panel chaired by Professor Eugene Rogan. A paper delivered by Dr Iman Saca at the Palestine Research Centre symposium held at the Middle East Centre on Friday 9 May 2025. The symposium was entitled ‘Toward an Inclusive Archaeological and Historical Narrative of Palestine: The Archaeology and History of Palestine’. This paper was part of a panel chaired by Pr...
May 22, 2025•17 min
A paper delivered by Dr Issam Nassar at the Palestine Research Centre symposium held at the MEC on Friday 9 May 2025. This paper was part of a panel chaired by Professor Eugene Rogan. A paper delivered by Dr Issam Nassar at the Palestine Research Centre symposium held at the Middle East Centre on Friday 9 May 2025. The symposium was entitled ‘Toward an Inclusive Archaeological and Historical Narrative of Palestine: The Archaeology and History of Palestine’. This paper was part of a panel chaired...
May 22, 2025•17 min
A paper delivered by Dr Mahmoud Hawari at the Palestine Research Centre symposium held at the MEC on Friday 9 May 2025. This paper was part of a panel chaired by Professor Eugene Rogan. A paper delivered by Dr Mahmoud Hawari at the Palestine Research Centre symposium held at the Middle East Centre on Friday 9 May 2025. The symposium was entitled ‘Toward an Inclusive Archaeological and Historical Narrative of Palestine: The Archaeology and History of Palestine’. This paper was part of a panel cha...
May 22, 2025•17 min
Speech delivered by H.E. Dr Mohammad Shtayyeh, Chairman of the Palestine Research Centre and former Palestinian Prime Minister, at a symposium held at the MEC on Friday 9 May 2025. Speech delivered by H.E. Dr Mohammad Shtayyeh, Chairman of the Palestine Research Centre and former Palestinian Prime Minister, at a symposium held at the MEC on Friday 9 May 2025.The symposium was entitled ‘Toward an Inclusive Archaeological and Historical Narrative of Palestine: The Archaeology and History of Palest...
May 22, 2025•23 min
A paper delivered by Dr Ghattas Sayej at the Palestine Research Centre symposium held at the MEC on Friday 9 May 2025. This paper was part of a panel chaired by Professor Eugene Rogan. A paper delivered by Dr Ghattas Sayej at the Palestine Research Centre symposium held at the Middle East Centre on Friday 9 May 2025. The symposium was entitled ‘Toward an Inclusive Archaeological and Historical Narrative of Palestine: The Archaeology and History of Palestine’. This paper was part of a panel chair...
May 22, 2025•14 min
Former head of design for Dame Zaha Hadid, Philip Michael Wolfson, reflects on her work and career in the first of two lectures marking the 10-year anniversary of the Investcorp Building. Former head of design for Dame Zaha Hadid, Philip Michael Wolfson, reflects on her work and career in the first of two lectures marking the 10-year anniversary of the Investcorp Building. The iconic building, opened by Dame Zaha Hadid in May 2015, is at the heart of the Middle East Centre today. It was the last...
May 22, 2025•50 min
On Friday 21 February 2025, Professor Johannes Waardenburg gave the Middle East Centre’s Friday seminar Biography: Professor JST Waardenburg teaches the general history of the Arab world at the IULM in Milan. As a historian, he specialises in the period of the Ba‘th party in power in 20th century Syria. In 2021 he published two volumes with the Nallino Institut in Rome, ‘La Siria contemporanea : ridisegnando la carta del Vicino Oriente’, in which he describes the transformations of the state eco...
Mar 06, 2025•51 min
Political strategist and public opinion researcher, Dr Dahlia Scheindlin, shares her analysis of public opinion surveys before and during the war in Gaza. Israelis have shown increasingly hardline, right-wing, nationalist trends in public opinion surveys in recent years, leading to lower support for peace, or faith that any democratic-oriented solution to the conflict is possible. Have October 7 and the war in Gaza changed attitudes? Which trends have displayed continuity, which public attitudes...
Feb 19, 2025•1 hr 10 min
A panel with Kamran Matin (University of Sussex), Yasmeen al-Eryani (Tampere Peace Research Institute) and Neil Ketchley (University of Oxford). Chaired by Raihan Ismail (University of Oxford).
Feb 11, 2025•54 min
A talk from Dr Richard Barltrop, Visiting Senior Fellow at the LSE Middle East Centre, reflecting on the current war in Sudan and exploring lessons from the longer history of peacemaking in Sudan and other recent civil wars. Bio: Richard is a Visiting Senior Fellow at the LSE Middle East Centre. His research is on contemporary international approaches to peacemaking, and why peace processes fail or succeed, with a particular focus on Yemen, Sudan and South Sudan, and considering other examples. ...
Feb 07, 2025•1 hr
A talk from Joseph Bahout, Director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs (IFI) at the American University of Beirut (AUB) and Associate Professor of Practice in Political Studies. In this talk, Joseph Bahout, Director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs (IFI) at the American University of Beirut (AUB) and Associate Professor of Practice in Political Studies, shares his analysis of the current political situation in Lebanon ...
Jan 31, 2025•1 hr 13 min
In this talk, Dr Klug and Professor Lavi explore the following questions, among others: What useful role can definitions play in this controversy? Can the IHRA definition perform this role? Does the JDA give better guidance? Since October 7 2023, the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza has led to public protests against Israel and demands for an immediate ceasefire. In this connection, controversy over antisemitism on campuses across the globe, including Oxford, has intensified. At the heart of...
Dec 19, 2024•1 hr 12 min
Mouin Rabbani and Hasmik Egian discuss the impact the crisis in Gaza has had on the Arab world, with a particular focus on the UN Security Council. Mouin Rabbani, Co-Editor of Jadaliyya, examines the extent to which regional dynamics played a role in the 7 October 2023 attacks, the position of Hamas within the coalition known as the Axis of Resistance, and how the Gaza crisis has influenced the region’s politics during the past year. Hasmik Egian, former Director of the UN Security Council Affai...
Nov 19, 2024•52 min
Professor Naghmeh Sohrabi, Charles (Corky) Goodman Professor of Middle East History and Director for Research at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies, Brandeis University, describes the role of the family in the 1979 Revolution in Iran.
Oct 31, 2024•50 min
Professor Amaney A. Jamal discusses findings from surveys in Gaza and the West Bank, as the 46th Annual George Antonius Memorial Lecture. Guest Speaker: Professor Amaney A. Jamal (Dean of Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, University of Princeton) Chair: Professor Eugene Rogan (University of Oxford)
Jun 26, 2024•49 min
MEC Women's Rights Research Seminar delivered by Dr Heba El-Shazli (George Mason University) Chaired by Dr Maryam Alemzadeh (St Antony's College) The seminar was delivered on Tuesday 7th May
May 14, 2024•49 min
This talk delves into the multifaceted challenges Palestinian women activists face, revealing how intersecting oppressions within a settler-colonized society shape their organizing efforts and experiences, challenging singular analyses of patriarchy. How can we understand the multiple, intersecting webs of oppression that Palestinian women activists face in their everyday organizing? The talk is going to illuminates the context and complexity of the lived experiences of women activists in Palest...
Mar 07, 2024•56 min
This lecture explores how parliamentary activity affects the candidacy list placements of MPs in closed-list PR systems, particularly focusing on the interaction between gender and candidacy list decisions. While it is generally argued that the parliamentary activities of the MPs will increase their chances for re-election, this link is not straightforward in closed-list PR systems, where the party leaderships dominate the candidate selection processes. The determinants of the centralized candid...
Mar 07, 2024•48 min
