This three-day course gives you a unique opportunity to hear directly from the people shaping policy both at home and abroad. Each day begins at 8:15 a.m. and includes breakfast, multiple seminars and a luncheon lecture. Registration on the first day begins at 7:45 a.m.

Course Information

Upcoming Course Dates:
April 10-12, 2012

Location: Washington, D.C.

Tuition: $2,575

Contact: Ian Dubin
Program Manager
202.797.6319 or
idubin@brookings.edu

Topics in 2011 included:

  • U.S. policy toward the Middle East
  • Impact of the Arab Revolution
  • Iran, Saudi Arabia and Yemen
  • Impact of youth in the Middle East
  • Prospects for broad societal reform
  • Role of social media in the Arab Revolution
  • Political Islam in the Middle East 

Speakers in 2011 included:

  • John Duke Anthony, president and CEO, National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations
  • Maen Rashid Areikat, PLO representative to the U.S.
  • Bill Corcoran, president, American Near East Refugee Aid
  • Hussein Hassouna, ambassador of the Arab League to the United States
  • Theodore Kattouf, former ambassador to Syria and to the United Arab Emirates
  • Thomas C. Krajeski, senior vice president, National Defense University; former U.S. ambassador to Yemen
  • Daniel Levy, director, Middle East Task Force, New America Foundation; co-editor, The Middle East Channel
  • Amira Maaty, program officer, Middle East and North Africa Center for International Media Assistance, National Endowment for Democracy
  • David Mack, former ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and deputy assistant secretary of state for Near East Affairs
  • Shiraz Maher, former officer in the Islamist organization Hizb ut-Tahrir, in the United Kingdom
  • Hisham Melhem, Washington bureau chief, Al-Arabiya News Channel
  • Houda Ezra Nonoo, ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the United States
  • Jonathan Peled, spokesman of the Israeli Embassy in the United States
  • Kenneth M. Pollack, director, Saban Center for Middle East Policy; senior fellow, Foreign Policy Studies, the Brookings Institution; author of A Path out of the Desert
  • Bruce Riedel, senior fellow, Saban Center for Middle East Policy, Brookings Institution
  • Ratna Sahay, deputy director, Middle East and Central Asia Department, International Monetary Fund
  • Edward Sayre, nonresident fellow, Global Economy and Development, Brookings Institution; associate professor of international development, University of Southern Mississippi
  • Salman Shaikh, director, Brookings Doha Center; fellow, Saban Center for Middle East Policy, Brookings Institution; former United Nations advisor on the Middle East
  • Philip Wilcox, president, Foundation for Middle East Peace
  • Tamara Wittes, deputy assistant secretary for Near Eastern Affairs, Department of State
  • Anthony Zinni, former commander-in-chief, U.S. Central Command; author, The Battle for Peace

Audience for this Program

  • Intelligence and military communities
  • Business managers and executives
  • Nonprofit, advocacy, humanitarian and development organizations
  • Political officers at embassies and consulates
  • Anyone heading to the Middle East

Program Benefits

 

  • Real understanding of emerging trends in the Middle East
  • Opportunities to interact with regional policymakers
  • New perspectives on how developments in the Middle East can affect your organization