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Challenges in the Contemporary Middle East To Be
Examined in Pomona College Symposium
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 Pomona College presents a symposium on “Challenges in the
Contemporary Middle East,” on Friday, March 24, offering
attendees an opportunity to better understand the region and
engage the most pressing issues confronting the area.
Presenters include some of the nation’s most notable
scholars and diplomats of the Middle East.
The discussions and related events are open to the public
and will be held from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., in Room 101 of the
Hahn Building (425 N. College Ave., Claremont). There is
no charge to attend the event.
• Michael C. Hudson, director of the Center for Contemporary
Arab Studies at Georgetown University, will discuss “The
U.S. in the Middle East Today: Iran, Lebanon and Syria.”
Hudson is the editor and a contributor to Middle East
Dilemma: The Politics and Economics of Arab Integration
(1999); the author of The Precarious Republic: Political
Modernization in Lebanon (1968, 2d ed. 1985); co-author
of The World Handbook of Political and Social Indicators
(2d ed. 1972); and author of Arab Politics: The Search
for Legitimacy (1977), among other books and numerous
articles. He is regularly interviewed about Middle East
issues by the news media, including the BBC, National Public
Radio, Arabic satellite channels, and major newspapers.
• David L. Mack, vice president of the Middle East Institute
in Washington, DC, and former ambassador to the United Arab
Emirates will give an overview of “U.S. Policy Toward Iraq.”
As Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern
Affairs (1990-93). Mack directed the conduct of relations
between the U.S. and 12 other governments, including Iran,
Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. He provided political support
for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm and promoted
U.S. business interests in the Arab world. Ambassador Mack
served as foreign policy advisor to U.S. Commerce Secretary
Brown on his first trip to Saudi Arabia. As U.S. Ambassador
to the United Arab Emirates (1986-89), he was in charge of
all U.S. government activities, including responsibility for
diplomatic contacts with the leaders of the U.A.E., a
country of strategic and commercial importance to the United
States. His subjects ranged from hostilities with Iran to
billions of dollars in economic contracts to cultural
exchange.
• As’ad AbuKhalil, author of Battle for Saudi Arabia:
Royalty, Fundamentalism and Global Power (2004), will
give a talk on “Understanding Political Islam: Beyond U.S.
Media and Government Assumptions.” A professor of politics
at California State University Stanislaus, he is also the
author of Bin Laden, Islam, and America’s New “War on
Terrorism (2002) and Historical Dictionary of Lebanon
(1998). He was born in Tyre, Lebanon, and received his B.A.
and M.A. degrees in political science from the American
University of Beirut. He got his Ph.D. in comparative
government from Georgetown University.
The symposium also includes a question and answer session; a
musical interlude on the ‘ud by Kenneth Habib, a visiting
professor at Pomona College; and a screening of the video
short Twenty.
Dr. Suheir Abu Oksa Daoud, a Palestinian writer and scholar
from Western Galilee in Israel and a Mellon Post-Doctoral
Fellow at Pomona College, and Richard Worthington, professor
of politics and director of Pomona’s Science, Technology and
Society Program, will also participate.
The symposium is sponsored by the Pomona College
International Relations Program and Politics Department. For
more information, contact (909) 607-2448.
Pomona College, one of the nation’s premier liberal arts
institutions, offers a comprehensive program in the arts,
humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. Its
hallmarks include small classes, close relationships between
students and faculty, and a range of opportunities for
student research. More information about Pomona College can
be found on the Web at www.pomona.edu. |
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