- Challenges in the US-Iran Relationship, 2001-2009
June 2012/MIT
- Missed Opportunities in the Period of Reform, 1996-2000
April 2011 / St. Simon's Island, Georgia
- US-Iran Relations during the Iran-Iraq War, 1980-88
December 12-14, 2008 / St. Simon's Island, Georgia
About the workshop
US policy makers and scholars will meet in a critical oral history conference to discuss the US role in the Iran-Iraq war. Using documents and scholarly treatments, policy makers from the period will review the reasons for and consequences of US actions, the perceptions on each side of what the other was doing, and the way the war has affected the bilateral relationship subsequently. Topics to be covered include the onset of the war, US support for Iraq, the use of chemical weapons by Iraq, the “naval war” of 1987-88, the war’s termination. The conference will be held at the Musgrove conference center and is supported by the Arca Foundation.
- US-Iran Relations: 1997-2005 Team Meeting
April 14-21, 2007 / Italy
About the workshop
A team meeting of 14 American and Iranian scholars and practitioners convened this week in Italy to initiate and plan a three-year project on U.S.-Iran relations. The project, done in collaboration with MIT's HyperStudio, will explore the period of Mohammed Khatemi's presidency in Iran and ask why improvements in bilateral relations did not occur. "We are undertaking research that can lead to a deeper and more productive understanding between the two countries," says John Tirman, CIS executive director and an organizer of the project. "Innovative engagement with Iran, rather than posing it as an object of hostility or attack, is not only normatively preferable but vastly more interesting as an intellectual endeavor." The project is co-organized with Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies and George Washington University's National Security Archive, and is funded by a generous contribution by an MIT alumni family.
- The US, India, and the Gulf: Convergence or Divergence in a Post-Iraq World
March 20-22, 2007 / MIT
About the workshop
A number of experts on energy security, the Gulf, and South Asia convened at MIT. One of the main purposes of the Persian Gulf Initiative has always been to give voice to knowledgeable actors from the region, and several such experts participated in this workshop. The result was a useful, well-informed set of discussions that sheds light on these complex ties and future prospects.
A report was written by Paul Staniland, Ph.D. candidate in political science at MIT, who served as the very able rapporteur of the workshop. The workshop was made possible by a generous gift from an MIT alumni family.
- The Past and Future of the Reform Movement in Iran
February 5-7, 2007 / MIT
About the workshop
In cooperation with Fatemeh Haghighatjoo of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, the Center co-hosted a seminar on the reform movement in Iran. The seminar covered the history of democratic development from 1906, and looked closely at specific areas of politics: the women's movement, law, parliament, and civil society generally.
The workshop was funded by the Social Science Research Council.
- The War in Iraq: Regional Implications
November 11-12, 2006 / MIT
- Transnational Violence
April 20-21, 2006 / MIT
About the workshop
Political violence beleaguers many parts of the world, but none more than the Persian Gulf. Hypotheses about terrorists abound in public discourse, but empirical studies challenge many common assumptions. This is true for the motivations for “jihad,” recruitment, state responses, and how and why violent organizations are transnational.
The workshop report (“Transnational Violence in the Persian Gulf”) discusses these issues, among others.
Participants:
Scott Atran, National Center for Scientific Research, Paris
Mohammed Hafez, University of Missouri, Kansas City
Ahmed S. Hashim, Naval War College, Newport RI
Quinn Mecham, Middlebury College, Vermont
David Siddhartha Patel, Stanford University
Rueven Paz, Director, Project for the Research of Islamist Movements (PRISM), Israel
Roger Petersen, Associate Professor of Political Science, MIT
John Tirman, Executive Director & Principal Research Scientist, Center for International Studies at MIT
Nichole Argo, Ph.D. Candidate, MIT
Spring 2005 Series: "The Crisis of Governance and Legitimacy"
About the series
Momentous political processes are unfolding in the major states of the Gulf, but in different stages and driven by different factors in each. In Saudi Arabia, an embryonic effort to introduce popular representation is underway, fraught with multiple signals and actions from the royal family and religious authorities. The effort to bring democratic processes to Iraq is beleaguered by the scale of violence, occupation by foreign troops and authorities, and ethnic and religious factionalism. In Iran, parliamentary democracy and reform have been set back by the intervention of religious authorities, while an international crisis about nuclear development is unfolding. Each of these cases, however different in many ways, constitute serious problems governance that significantly revolve around political legitimacy.
The workshops were enriched by the participation of an informal faculty advisory group, led by Stephen Van Evera (CIS and MIT Department of Political Science), and including Ambassador Barbara Bodine (Harvard), Augustus Richard Norton (Boston University), and Ali Banuazizi (Boston College). CIS Executive Director John Tirman organized the project. Nichole Argo (MIT) served as rapporteur. Some who could not attend (denoted with an asterisk) are advising the project. The Persian Gulf Initiative is supported with a generous gift from an MIT family.
- Iran: Governance and Nuclear Development
May 4-5, 2005 / MIT
About the workshop
Iran's nuclear intentions raise questions about who is making such consequential decisions, and why. Nuclear decision making in other countries tends to be shrouded in secrecy, is often driven by hidden interests, can be used for domestic political advantage, and so on. In Iran, the situation is complicated by a number of factors: the setbacks for democratic reform dealt by religious authorities, the unclear role of the scientific and industrial establishment, genuine security concerns, nationalism, the U.S. occupation of Iraq, and now the growing worldwide opprobrium Iran faces for its nuclear activities. These issues are intertwined, with the setback for reform and the possible drive for nuclear weapons constituting a double-edged crisis reinforcing each other and posing fundamental questions about who rules Iran.
Participants:
Hadi Semati, Teheran University (keynote address)
Ali Banuazizi, Boston College
Farideh Farhi, University of Hawaii
Farhad Kazemi, New York University
Ali Mostashari, MIT
Vali Nasr, Naval Postgraduate School
Gary Sick, Columbia University
Sanam Naraghi Anderlini, consultant
Shai Feldman, Brandeis University
Juan Cole, University of Michigan
- Iraq: State Formation and Violence
April 27, 2005 / MIT
About the workshop
Democratic theorists have warned against imposing democracy in divided countries, and some also caution against establishing armies. Weak democracies, where the legitimacy of governing institutions is contested, are more prone to civil wars. Majoritarian rule could also result in illiberal governance, a troubling paradox. Iraq seems to have every conceivable obstacle in its path, not least mounting violence, which itself can shape the nature and norms of a new regime.
Participants:
Eric Davis, Rutgers University
Joost Hilterman, International Crisis Group, Amman
Isam al Khafaji, University of Amsterdam
Chappell Lawson, CIS and MIT Department of Political Science
Robert Looney, Naval Postgraduate School
Abdulkader Sinno, Indiana University
Brendan O'Leary, University of Pennsylvania
Ahmed Hashim, Naval War College
- Saudi Arabia: Legitimacy and Stability
April 6-7, 2005 / MIT
May 4-5, 2005 / MIT
About the workshop
In Saudi Arabia, the kingdom's governance is buffeted by questions of both legitimacy and stability. In a region where "democratization" and the claim to popular sovereignty are showing signs of vitality, the House of Saud essentially resists both. This rejection of, or incremental adaptation to, modernizing politics, however, is viewed through sharply divergent norms externally and internally. Governance issues are strongly shaped here by the post-9/11 world: many prominent Saudis are alleged to have supported al Qaeda, which itself is mounting perhaps the most direct challenge to the Saudi regime.
Among the areas explored by the participants listed below are the regime's use of, and challenge from, Wahabbism and other forms of political Islam; its attempts at internal reform or adjustment; its regional relationships, including oil politics; and the effects of the Iraq war on stability and inter-Arab leadership in the Gulf.
Participants:
Abdulaziz Al-Fahad, historian and attorney, Riyahd
David Commins, Dickinson College
Eleanor Doumato, Watson Institute, Brown University
Michael Herb, Georgia State University
Gwenn Okruhlik, University of Texas
Marsha Pripstein Posusney, Bryant University and Watson Institute, Brown University
Jean-Francois Seznec, Columbia University
Khalid Al-Dakhil, King Saud University
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