Events

Regional and global security experts addressed questions on the links between the fields of security and conflict management and the balance between regional/local security initiatives and global ones. The discussion centered on the themes of USIP’s book, "Rewiring Regional Security in a Fragmented World", edited by Chester A. Crocker, Fen Olsen Hampson, and Pamela Aall.

On May 10, 2011 Congressman Charles Boustany of Louisiana spoke about the current situation in Lebanon and how it is fairing in the Arab Spring, as Syria and the Arab world are being rocked by historic change.

Over the past 15 months, Lebanon has held two critical elections: the June 2009 parliamentary elections and the May 2010 municipal elections.  Limited but important electoral reforms accompanied both polls, and the elections could mark the beginning of Lebanon’s transition to a stable democracy. In this event, Lebanese Interior Minister Ziad Baroud, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs Tamara Wittes, and Chief of Party in Lebanon for IFES Richard Chambers, discussed the pursuit of political reform in Lebanon.

On the one-year anniversary of President Obama's inauguration, USIP and POMED invited a public audience to assess the Obama administration's first year and to examine the administration's oppurtunities to implement its vision of a new beginning with the Arab and Muslim world.

USIP's Daniel Brumberg joined a panel of guest speakers, including Congressman Keith Ellison, for a lively discussion of USIP's new volume "Conflict, Identity, and Reform in the Muslim World."