Internationally renowned Egyptian political scientist Emad Shahin will deliver a lecture, “The Middle East Beyond the Arab Spring.” His talk will focus on the political climate of the Middle East since the ousting of Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
“The cycle of instability and repression in Egypt—a longtime American ally and the largest of Arab nations—should be a major concern for Americans, especially as we seek allies in our military action against ISIS,” said Andrew Rieser, president of the World Affairs Council of the Mid-Hudson Valley and professor of history at Dutchess Community College. “No one is in a better position to shed light on these complex dynamics than Emad Shahin.”
Shahin’s talk will be held on Thursday, November 13, 7:00pm, in Rockefeller Hall, room 300. This event is sponsored by the World Affairs Council with co-sponsorship from Vassar’s Department of Political Science and the Programs in Africana and International Studies.
A professor of public policy at the American University in Cairo, Shahin is also currently a visiting professor at Georgetown University. Prior to that, he served as a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC, a position he held immediately following being charged by the Egyptian government with aiding the Muslim Brotherhood earlier this year. Shahin is one of a growing number of scholars who have been charged in such a manner. In response to these accusations, Shahin has written, “I have been critical of the course of political events in Egypt since the summer of 2013 and can only conclude that such criticism—entirely restricted to word and utterly unconnected to any organized group, faction, or party—is my true offense. Like many fellow Egyptians, I am supportive of peaceful mobilization in defense of democracy, freedom, equal rights, and inclusion. I will continue to advocate such values, exercising a right to protest that is enshrined in Egyptian law and, in recent years, deeply engrained in Egyptian practice.”
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Vassar College is a highly selective, coeducational, independent, residential liberal arts college founded in 1861.
Source: Office of Communications International Studies at Vassar College
