From Past and Present to Future: Finding a Positive Path between Ideals and Possibilities in Yemen

What does Yemen’s political, economic and social history and experience tell us about what is realistic for the coming decade and beyond? This keynote lecture delivered by writer and researcher Helen Lackner discussed the main socio-political transformations since the 1960s, and addressed the most relevant features for the country's future. Lackner's presentation drew on her personal experience in different sectors throughout the country. Meet our speaker and chair Helen Lackner has been involved with Yemen for more than half a century, working in all three Yemeni states which have existed since the 1960s. She has worked as a consultant in social aspects of rural development in over thirty countries in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe. Her two most recent books on Yemen are 'Yemen in Crisis, Devastating Conflict, Fragile Hope' (Saqi, 2023) and 'Yemen: Poverty and Conflict' (Routledge, 2023). Lackner was the Sir William Luce Fellow at Durham University in 2016, an associate researcher at SOAS from 2016 to 2022. She edited the Journal of the British-Yemeni Society for eight years and writes regularly for the Arab Digest and Orient XXI and has contributed longer academic papers to numerous books and other institutions. Richard Barltrop 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. He is the author of 'Darfur and the International Community: The Challenges of Conflict Resolution in Sudan' (IB Tauris/Bloomsbury, 2011/2015).

This event was the launch of Seçkin Sertdemir's latest book 'Civic Death in Contemporary Turkey: Mass Surveillance and the Authoritarian State' published by Cambridge University Press. What does it mean for a government to declare its citizens 'dead' while they still live? Following the failed 2016 coup, the Turkish AKP government implemented sweeping powers against some 152,000 of its citizens. These Kanun hükmünde kararnameli ('emergency decreed') were dismissed from their positions and banned for life from public service. With their citizenship rights revoked, Seçkin Sertdemir argues these individuals were rendered into a state of 'civic death'. This study considers how these authoritarian securitisation methods took shape, shedding light on the lived experiences of targeted people. Meet the speakers and chair Seçkin Sertdemir is a Visiting Fellow in the European Institute at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her research focuses on ideas of democracy, and current problems of political philosophy such as civil disobedience and political rights. Zerrin Özlem Biner is a Senior Lecturer in Anthropology at SOAS working at the intersection of political and legal anthropology. She is author of 'Dispossession: Violence and Precarious Co-existence in Southeast Turkey' (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2020). With Özge Biner, she co-edited a special section on the 'Politics of Waiting: Ethnographies of Sovereignty, Temporality and Subjectivity in the Margins of the Turkish State' in the Journal of Social Anthropology. Katerina Dalacoura is Associate Professor in International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Dalacoura’s work has centered on the intersection of Islamism and international human rights norms. She has worked on human rights, democracy and democracy promotion, in the Middle East, particularly in the context of Western policies in the region.

This event, co-organised with the Department of International Development at LSE, was a discussion with Professor Naila Kabeer and Professor Ragui Assaad based on their co-authored report 'Women's Access to Market Opportunities in South Asia and the Middle East and North Africa: Barriers, Opportunities and Policy Challenges'. Despite this paper being written in 2019, the situation of women's access to market opportunities in MENA and South Asia remains a challenge. Kabeer and Assaad will reflect on their findings and discuss the puzzles and paradoxes of women's employment in these regions, which have the lowest rates of women's labour force participation in the world. The conversation will also explore how to unlock the potential of women in these communities. Meet our speakers and chair Naila Kabeer is Emeritus Professor of Gender and Development in the Department of International Development at LSE. Naila is also a Faculty Associate at LSE’s International Inequalities Institute and on the governing board of the Atlantic Fellowship for Social and Economic Equity. Her most recent projects were supported by ERSC-DIFD Funded Research on 'Poverty Alleviation: Gender and Labour Market dynamics in Bangladesh and West Bengal'. Ragui Assaad is the Freeman Chair in International Economic Policy at the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota. He researches education, labor policy, and labor market analysis in developing countries with a focus on the Middle East and North Africa. His current work focuses on inequality of opportunity in education, labor markets, transitions from school-to-work, employment and unemployment dynamics, family formation, informality, labor market responses to economic shocks, international migration, including the effects of forced migration.

This event disseminated the findings of a series of papers produced for the LSE Middle East Centre by Ahmed Tabaqchali exploring the economic and financial interactions of the Iraqi economy with the outside world, particularly the use of the dollar in relation to Iran and the US. While the US’ Iraq policy is still fluid, there have been signs that America’s ‘maximum pressure campaign’ towards Iran will have spillover effects in Iraq, with the Trump administration viewing policy towards Iraq solely through the lens of a perceived threat of Iranian dominance in the country. Iran’s economic footprint in Iraq, both perceived and real, will be an issue for Iraq and its relationship with the US and the West. Meet the speaker: Ahmed Tabaqchali is a Visiting Fellow at the LSE Middle East Centre. Ahmed is a capital markets professional with over 25 years’ experience in US and MENA markets. He is the Chief Strategist of the AFC Iraq Fund. Ahmed is a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Regional and International Studies (IRIS), and non-resident Senior Fellow with the Atlantic Council - Iraq Initiative. He is a board member of the Iraq Fund for Higher Education (IFHE)/Baghdad Business School (BBS). Access the papers here: https://www.lse.ac.uk/middle-east-centre/publications/paper-series

This event was the launch of Dr Anne Kirstine Rønn's latest paper as part of the LSE Middle East Centre Paper Series on 'The Struggles of Labour Mobilisation in Lebanon and Iraq'. Despite facing significant challenges, including elite control and repression, labour movements in both Lebanon and Iraq have sought to assert their independence and challenge the status quo. This paper explores the main types of labour organisations in both countries – trade unions and professional syndicates – and the distinct structural and strategic obstacles they face. The paper discusses the internal debates within these organisations, where the tension between idealism and pragmatic goals often influences their strategies. By drawing on interviews with labour activists and secondary sources, the paper reflects on the potential for strengthening these movements and explores the trade-offs between formal and informal labour organising. It concludes by calling for further research to identify the conditions under which labour mobilisation can be effective in similar political contexts. Read the paper here: https://eprints.lse.ac.uk/127301/3/Struggles_of_Labour_Mobilisation.pdf Meet our speakers and chair Anne Kirstine Rønn is a Visiting Fellow at the LSE Middle East Centre. Her research explores opposition movements in ethno-religiously divided societies with a particular focus on Lebanon and Iraq. Fuad Musallam is an Assistant Professor in Social Anthropology at the University of Birmingham. He focuses on activism, labour, the imagination, and how people come together to form community. Razaw Salihy is the Iraq Researcher at Amnesty International. Since 2014, she has investigated and reported human rights violations and breaches of international humanitarian law in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.

The return of Donald Trump to the White House in 2025 comes on the back of extreme violence in the Middle East, led by Israel and with great financial and political investment from the United States. What impact will Trump's second term have on the Middle East region, and what can we learn from his policies in his first term as President of the United States? Between 2017- 2021 several major policies helped alter regional dynamics. From the Abraham Accords to the withdrawal from the 2015 Iran Nuclear Agreement; from a strengthening of ties with the Saudi monarchy to both airstrikes and calls for troop withdrawal in Syria. What are the current legacies of those policies, and what can the Middle East expect from Trump’s second term? Panellists discussed these questions from the perspective of the region, the United States, and global politics with a view to the impact on both citizens and states. Meet our speakers and chair Gilbert Achcar is Emeritus Professor of Development Studies and International Relations at SOAS, University of London. Tom Bateman is an international correspondent with BBC News currently covering the US State Department in Washington DC. Sharri Plonski is a senior lecturer in international politics at Queen Mary University of London. Mezna Qato is Director of the Margaret Anstee Centre for Global Studies at the University of Cambridge. Jasmine Gani is Assistant Professor in International Relations Theory at LSE.

This event was the launch of Dr Marouf Cabi's latest book 'Iranian Kurdistan Under the Islamic Republic: Change, Revolution, and Resistance' published by I.B. Tauris. Cabi presents a social, political, cultural, and socioeconomic history of Iranian Kurdistan since the 1979 Revolution. In this study, Marouf Cabi shines a spotlight on the modern history of Iranian Kurdistan – an area of Greater Kurdistan understudied in comparison to its regions in Syria and Iraq. The book provides a historical narrative and analysis of Kurdistan since the Revolution. It addresses key changes and events in detail, such as the participation of the Kurds in the Revolution, the reinvigoration of the Kurdish movements and the emergence of the women's movement, the armed struggle of the 1980s, socioeconomic and political change of the 1990s, and the emergence of civil society since 2000. Cabi draws on extensive primary sources, including oral history, various newspapers, journals, and books published during the period. Meet our speakers and chair Marouf Cabi is a Visiting Fellow at the LSE Middle East Centre. He received his PhD in History from the University of St Andrews, UK, and is a social and cultural historian of modern Iran. He is author of 'The Formation of Modern Kurdish Society in Iran: Modernity, Modernization, and Social Change 1921-1979' (2022). Kamran Matin is a Reader in International Relations in the School of Global Studies at the University of Sussex where he teaches international history, international theory, and Middle East politics. He is the author of 'Recasting Iranian Modernity: International Relations and Social Change' (Routledge, 2013) and co-editor of 'Historical Sociology and World History: Uneven and Combined Development over the Longue Durée' (Rowman & Littlefield International, 2016). Robert Lowe is Deputy Director of the LSE Middle East Centre and Co-editor of the Kurdish Studies Series, published by I.B. Tauris. His main research interest is Kurdish politics, with particular focus on the Kurdish movements in Syria.

This event was the launch of Jerome Drevon's latest book 'From Jihad to Politics: How Syrian Jihadis Embraced Politics' published by Oxford University Press. Drevon's timely book offers an examination of the Syrian armed opposition, tracing the emergence of Jihadi groups in the conflict, their dominance, and their political transformation. Meet our speakers Jerome Drevon is Senior Analyst on Jihad and Modern Conflict at International Crisis Group (ICG) and Research Associate at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID). Drevon has conducted extensive field research in conflict zones, including Syria. He has interviewed hundreds of Jihadi militants and foreign fighters--from their military, political, and religious leaders to their foot soldiers--to gain a deeper understanding of their changing political views in armed conflicts. Haid Haid is a Syrian columnist and a consulting fellow with the Middle East and North Africa programme at Chatham House. Previously, Haid was a research fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR), King’s College London. Raihan Ismail is the His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies at the University of Oxford. Raihan’s research interests include Political Islam, sectarianism, and the intertwining nature of religion and politics in the Middle East. More about this event: https://www.lse.ac.uk/middle-east-centre/events/how-syrian-jihadis-embraced-politics/from-jihad-to-politics-how-syrian-jihadis-embraced-politics

This event was the launch of Dr Sana Murrani's latest book 'Rupturing Architecture: Spatial Practices of Refuge in Response to War and Violence in Iraq, 2003–2023' published by Bloomsbury. Written by an Iraqi architect who has lived through the trauma of several wars, 10 years of UN-imposed sanctions, an invasion, and the subsequent violence, this book captures a broad spectrum of spatial responses to trauma and presents a fresh perspective on how ordinary Iraqis create refuge across the spaces of the home, the urban environment, and border geographies. In the face of spatial wounding and the many injustices suffered by the Iraqi people, there has also been a wealth of refuge-making practices that showcase their creative and imaginative design and adaptability to change and trauma over time. Rupturing Architecture employs methods such as creative deep mapping, memory work, storytelling, interviews, and case studies of architectural responses to the geographies of war and violence. At the core of the book are the lived and felt experiences of fifteen Iraqis from across Iraq, whose resilience underscores a broader narrative of spatial justice and feminist spatial practices. Meet the speakers Sana Murrani is an Associate Professor in Spatial Practice at the University of Plymouth and a Visiting Senior Fellow at the LSE Middle East Centre. Her research interests are rooted in spatial justice, drawing on her interdisciplinary background in architecture, urban design, and art and media. Her creative, place-based research practice maps built, destroyed, remembered, and reimagined trauma geographies of war, violence, and displacement. Balsam Mustafa is a Lecturer in Translation Studies at Cardiff University. Her research cuts across translation studies, feminist studies, social movements, media and communication studies as well as politics and sociology, with a focus on the Middle East. Michael Mason is Director of the Middle East Centre. At LSE, he is also Professor of Environmental Geography in the Department of Geography and Environment and an Associate of the Grantham Research Institute for Climate Change and the Environment. He is interested in ecological politics and governance as applied to questions of accountability, security and sovereignty. Toby Dodge is a Professor in the Department of International Relations, LSE. He is also Kuwait Professor and Director of the Kuwait Programme, Middle East Centre. Toby's research concentrates on the evolution of the post-colonial state in the international system. The main focus of this work on the developing world is the state in the Middle East, specifically Iraq.

This event, as part of the LSE Middle East Centre's Kurdish Studies Series, discussed the online exhibition and research project 'Bridging Identities: The Cultural Odyssey of Kurdistani Jews' exploring the identity and heritage of Kurdistani Jews. The stories in this research project shed light on this community's past through the lens of their memories and nostalgic ties to the homeland they left behind as they migrated to Israel/Palestine, and reveal if and how the markers of Kurdishness are transmitted to generations next. Meet the speakers Bahar Baser is Professor in Politics and International Relations at Durham University. Bahar is an expert in the area of diaspora studies, peacebuilding and conflict transformation, with a regional focus on the Middle East. She has conducted extensive research on diaspora engagement in peace processes, post-conflict reconstruction and state-building in the Global South. Duygu Atlas is part of the research team of the 'Bridging Identities' project. She is a historian and documentary maker and completed her doctoral studies at Tel Aviv University's School of History in 2019, with her dissertation titled 'Turkey’s Jewish Minority between Turkey and Israel from 1948 to the 1990s: Israel’s Impact on a Diaspora Community and its Identity Formation'. Mesut Alp is part of the research team of the 'Bridging Identities' project. He is a photographer and documentary maker, and is also a graduate of Ege University's Department of Near Eastern Archaeology. Moayed Assaf is part of the research team of the 'Bridging Identities' project. He is a Kurdish academic and photographer. https://www.lse.ac.uk/middle-east-centre/events/2024/bridging-identities-cultural-odyssey-kurdistani-jews