News & Activities

Fatima El-Issawi's new book published by Palgrave

Fatima's El-Issawi book, Arab National Media and Political Change,  examines the evolution of national Arab media and its interplay with political change after the Arab uprisings. Investigated from a journalistic perspective, this research addresses the role played by traditional national media in consolidating emerging democracies or in exacerbating their fragility.

Toby Dodge on BBC Newsnight

With the launch of the battle for Mosul, Toby Dodge analyses its potential consequences. While a lot of planning went into the military campaign, he worries little or no thought was given to the political aftermath of this inevitable victory. 

Toby Dodge joins the Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore as Visiting Academic

MEC Director Toby Dodge will be based at the Middle East Institute (MEI), National University of Singapore for the Summer. During his visit, he will lead on a research project titled ‘Understanding the Iraqi State over the Longue Durée: Ideational, Institutional and Coercive Paths to State Building’.

Robert Lowe contributes to new ISPI Kurdistan: An Invisible Nation report

Robert Lowe's new paper 'Kurdistan: The Eternal Dilemma of the West' has been published as part of the ISPI report Kurdistan: An Invisible Nation edited by Stefano M. Torelli. The report aims to answer questions on the role played by the Kurds and their future in the region. 

Dr Roham Alvandi for The Guardian, Tehran Bureau

In 'The Lure of Conspiracy Theories in Iranian Politics', Roham Alvandi and Christian Emery (University of Plymouth) questions if documents support the claim from BBC Persian that the United States helped Ayatollah Khomeini gain power in 1979.

Cristina Moreno Almeida receives British Academy Fellowship

We are pleased to announce that Dr Cristina Moreno Almeidahas been awarded the 2015/16 British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship. Cristina will lead on a research entitled ‘The Role of New Media and Social Media in a Neo-Liberal Authoritarian Regime: The Case Study of Moroccan Urban Youth Culture’. 

News
Fatima el Issawi publishes with Georgetown University Qatar

The CIRS Georgetown University Qatar has recently published an edited volume, Bullets and Bulletins: Media and Politics in the Wake of the Arab Uprisings featuring a chapter by MEC Fellow Fatima el Issawi, looking at traditional media in Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt.

India and the Islamic Heartlands: An Eighteenth-Century World of Circulation and Exchange

LSE International History Department's Dr Gagan Sood has published his new book, which recaptures a vanished and forgotten world from the eighteenth century spanning much of today's Middle East and South Asia. It focuses on ordinary people who were engaged in activities marked by large distances and long silences.

'Better the Saudis we know' writes Steffen Hertog for the New York Times

As unpalatable as cooperation with the kingdom might be for some, cutting it adrift is worse. Whatever the resentments, neither side has a realistic alternative to the other — something President Obama has clearly had difficulty reconciling himself to.

read the article

Courtney Freer on BBC World Service Business Daily

What's really happening inside Saudi Arabia? Courtney Freer speaks about Saudi Arabia's plan to refocus its economy away from its dependence on oil revenues. 

listen to the podcast

Valeria Cetorelli talks to NPR about the baby boom in Zaatari Camp

'Conflict-induced violence and insecurity can reinforce individuals' perception of group identity, particularly with respect to reproduction',she says. 'Some women may feel compelled to compensate for the lives of relatives lost in the war.'

read the article

Professor Toby Dodge appointed to the Atlantic Council's Future of Iraq Task Force

The Task Force aims to identify ways to support the Iraqis in stabilising their state, reconciling their warring communities, and building the basis for long term stability in the country. As part of the Task Force, Professor Dodge visited Baghdad and Najaf in March.

New book by John Chalcraft on popular politics in the Middle East

Challenging top-down views of Middle Eastern politics, John Chalcraft  looks at how commoners, subjects and citizens have long mobilised in defiance of authorities in the Middle East. 

Watch an interview with John Chalcraft about his new book.

New book by Steffen Hertog looking at the connection between violent extremism and education

In their recent book Engineers of Jihad, Steffen Hertog, LSE Kuwait Programme and Diego Gambetta, European University Institute, find that a disproportionate share of Islamist radicals come from an engineering background.

Watch Steffen Hertog discuss the book's findings here.