Peace in the Middle East: An Impossible Mission?

4th Peace and War Summit
John and Mary Frances Patton Peace and War Center
Norwich University
March 20-21, 2023
(In-Person with Remote Options)

Register to Attend

The world community is confronted with a series of significant challenges. These challenges include escalating great power rivalries between the U.S. and China/Russia, concerns over nuclear war, economic instability, climate change, and pandemics. In this global context, the Middle East is engulfed in turbulent geopolitical dynamics, such as the power vacuum caused by U.S. disengagements in the region as well as the intensification of sectarian competition between Iran, its proxies and Israel and Sunni Arab countries. Thus, the Middle Eastern regional order remains complex and unstable while facing the lingering Israeli-Palestinian conflict, unstable economic conditions, and tumultuous civil war-like conditions in Syria, Libya, and Yemen. Norwich University’s 4th Peace and War Summit thoroughly addresses these challenges in the Middle East to advance our understanding of the region and outline effective solutions to construct a more peaceful regional order.

Invited Authors/Speakers

Learn about our distinguished invited keynote speakers, panelists and presenters.

SCHEDULE
(U.S. Eastern Time)

Monday, March 20, 2023

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9 – 9:50 a.m. | Mack Hall Auditorium

WELCOME REMARKS

Karen F Gaines, PhD, Provost & Dean of Faculty, Norwich University

KEYNOTE ADDRESSES

Yousef Al Otaiba, United Arab Emirates Ambassador to the United States

Colonel David W. Walker, Chief of the Strategy and Policy Division in the Strategy, Plans, and Policy Directorate at U.S. Central Command

10 – 10:50 a.m. | Mack Hall Auditorium
PANEL SESSION I

Moderator: Miri Kim
Presenters:
Saeid Golkar: Personalization of power: Khamenei's cult of personality
Valentine Moghadam: Women, peace, and security in the Middle East: an agenda of empty promises?    
Discussant: Sherman Patrick

11 – 11:50 a.m. | Mack Hall Auditorium
PANEL SESSION II

Moderator: Travis Morris
Presenters:
Guy Ziv: The long Israeli-Palestinian impasse: is the “one-state solution” the answer? 
Jeremy Pressman: US strategy toward the Middle East: backlash against the 2003 invasion of Iraq
Discussant: Nicholas Roberts

1 – 1:50 p.m. | Mack Hall Auditorium
PANEL SESSION III

Moderator: Lasha Tchantouridze
Presenters:
Ali Dizboni: Religious extremism and political violence in the Middle East
Diane Zorri: Saudi Arabia and Iran in the era of great power competition: scenarios for the future of the Middle East
Discussant: Peter Henne

2 – 3:15 p.m. | Mack Hall Auditorium
PANEL SESSION IV

Moderator: Matthew Thomas
Presenters: 
Dan Ciuriak: US-China economic rivalry and prospects for peace in the Middle East
Richard Moss: The Syrian express and a Russian string of pearls?
Nicholas Roberts: ‘We don’t do body counts on other people’: on the question of whether peace is possible in the Middle East  
Discussant: Fariborz Mokhtari

4 – 5:15 p.m. | Mack Hall Auditorium
PANEL SESSION V

Moderator: Steven Sodergren
Presenters: Sean Bassi (Norwich University): Policy Recommendation on Afghanistan & Update to 2023: Evacuation Railroad
August G. Guerrieri (Norwich University): The United States and its Nuclear Hotspots – Exaggerated Threats
Madeleine Shaw (Dartmouth College): Legacy of Loss: The Armenian Genocide in the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict
Jahnavi Sodhi (Dartmouth College): Analysis of Paralysis: Critical Investigation of the Obama Administration’s Response to Russian Subversion in 2016
Discussants: Miri Kim and Michael Thunberg

Tuesday, March 21, 2023

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9:25 – 10:40 a.m. | Mack Hall Auditorium
ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION I: “Complexities in the Middle Eastern Politics”

Chair: Rowland Brucken
Panelists: Ali Dizboni, Saeid Golkar, Richard Moss, Guy Ziv, and Diane Zorri

10:50 a.m. – 12:05 p.m. | Mack Hall Auditorium
ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION II: “Western Strategy toward the Middle East”

Chair: William F. McCollough
Panelists: Dan Ciuriak, Valentine Moghadam, Jeremy Pressman, and Nicholas Roberts

SUMMIT CONTACT
Yangmo Ku, Executive Director
Associate Professor, Political Science, Norwich University
Associate Director, John and Mary Frances Patton Peace & War Center

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