Peace Picks March 18-22

 1. Women Leading Nonviolent Movements | Friday, March 22, 2019 | 9:30 am – 11:30pm | United States Institute of Peace | 2301 Constitution Ave NW, Washington, DC 20037| Register Here |
Women’s leadership in nonviolent movements creates opportunities for new and diverse tactics and often ensures a diversity of participation, increasing a movement’s power. But, women also face specific challenges, such as balancing their activism with their roles at home and the workplace, their vulnerability to sexual abuse, and challenging perceptions of powerlessness.
To celebrate National Women’s History Month, the U.S. Institute of Peace and the 2020 One Woman, One Vote Festival will host an intergenerational discussion among women nonviolent activists. To strengthen future nonviolent movements, leaders must learn from the past challenges and successes. Women leaders from Libya, Syria, Uganda, Afghanistan, the U.S. and Venezuela will speak from their experiences as activists for social change on the challenges they faced as women and how they organize to overcome them.
This event will be moderated by Marie Berry, University of Denver, Kathleen Kuehnast, Director of Gender Policy and Strategy at the U.S. Institute of Peace, Maria Stephan, Director of Nonviolent Action at the U.S. Institute of Peace
 
Agenda
speakers:
Scovia Arinaitwe, Team Leader, Rhizing Women Uganda

Palwasha Hassan, Afghan Women’s Educational Center
Mariam Jalabi, Founding Member, Syrian Nonviolence Movement
Zahra’ Langhi, Co-Founder and CEO, Libyan Women’s Platform for Peace
Isabella Picón, Founding Member, LaboCiudadano – Venezuela 

Judy Richardson, Producer of “Eyes on the Prize”

2. The Future of Nuclear Arms Control | Wednesday, March 20, 2019 | 12:30 am – 2:00pm | Stimson Center |1211 Connecticut Ave NW, 8th Floor Washington, DC 20036| Register Here |
 
The Trump administration and the Kremlin have given notice of intent to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. New START may be next on the chopping block. Even if New START can be extended, what steps might usefully follow? Are numerical constraints still feasible? Stimson is convening a series of brainstorming sessions on our nuclear future and how best to shape it.
 
Panelists
Ambassador Linton Brooks, Distinguished research fellow at the National Defense
University 
Dr. Kristin Ven Bruusgaard, MacArthur Nuclear Security Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation.
Dr. Brad Roberts, Director of the Center for Global Security Research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.
Heather Hurlburt, Director of the New America Foundation’s New Models of Policy Change project.

 Moderator:
Michael Krepon, Co-founder of the Stimson Center.
 
 3. Religious authority in the Middle East: Implications for U.S. policy The Future of Nuclear Arms Control | Tuesday, March 19, 2019 | 12:30 am – 2:00pm | Carnegie Endowment for International Peace|1779 Massachusetts Avenue NW Washington, DC 20036-2103| Register Here |
In a project supported by the Henry R. Luce Foundation, this study maps religious authority and the channels of influence between religious actors in the region and broader populations using a 12-country public opinion survey throughout the Middle East and North Africa. The survey data provides a snapshot of religious authority in various contexts, supplemented by fieldwork that examines specific mechanisms that build and maintain religious authority.

The Baker Institute Center for the Middle East and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace present a daylong conference during which leading Middle East and North Africa experts discuss the implications of the study’s findings.

Conference Agenda

8:00 – 9:00 a.m.
Registration & Breakfast

9:00 – 9:10 a.m.
Welcome
Sarah Yerkes 

9:10 – 9:20 a.m.
Introduction
A.Kadir Yildirim

9:20 – 10:00 a.m.
Keynote Address
Shaun Casey

10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Panel I: The State, Religious Authority, and Legitimacy

Chair: 
Nathan Brown

Panelists:
Courtney Freer, Annelle Sheline, Scott Williamson 

11:00 – 11:10 a.m.
Break

11:10 a.m. – 12:25 p.m.
Panel II: Non-state Religious Actors and Authority

Chair: 
Sarah Yerkes

Panelists:
Sharan Grewal, Mirjam Künkler, Tarek Masoud, Yusuf Sarfati 

12:25 – 1:00 p.m.
Lunch 

1:00 – 2:00 p.m.
Keynote Address
Peter Mandaville

2:00 p.m.
Closing Remarks
A.Kadir Yildirim

4. Geopolitics, Energy Security, and the US-Japan Alliance | Wednesday, March 20, 2019 | 11:00 am – 12:30pm | Atlantic Council Headquarters|1030 15th St NW, 12th Floor, Washington, DC 20005| Register Here |
Japan’s newest strategic energy plan promises to address long-running domestic structural issues in the context of broader shifts in global trends. If successful, the new strategy will deliver significant improvements in efficiency, emissions, cost, and self-sufficiency by 2030, and again by 2050. However, during a period of rapid change in the Indo-Pacific, how will geopolitical currents shape Japan’s goals, methods, and ultimate outcomes? How will developments in global energy markets and shifting regional security calculations shape Japan’s future? How is Japan going to diversify its portfolio, both in terms of suppliers and sources, to meet its enhanced demands for energy security? Given that Japan still relies heavily on the Middle East, what role can US-Japan cooperation play? Ultimately, how do these all of these questions fit into the broader strategic picture taking shape in the region?
 
Agenda

Speakers:

Prof. Jun Arima, Professor of Energy & Environmental Policy

Mr. Shoichi Itoh, Manager and Senior Analyst

Ms. Jane Nakano, Senior Fellow, Energy and National Security Program

Mr. Alan Yu, Senior Fellow and Director, International Climate Policy

Moderator

Dr. Miyeon Oh, Director and Senior Fellow, Asia Security Initiative

5. The aftermath of president Bolsonaro’s visit to Washington and prospect of economic reform| Wednesday, March 20, 2019 | 2:30 am – 5:00pm | The Wilson Center |1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW Washington, DC 20004-3027 | Register Here |
President Jair Bolsonaro will make his first official visit to Washington as president from March 17-19, as the government looks to fulfill its promise of strengthening relations with the United States. Yet the most promising area of bilateral dialogue—economic and commercial relations, including greater U.S. investment in Brazil—will depend heavily on the new government’s capacity to deliver much-needed reforms at home, particularly the approval of meaningful pension reform in the Brazilian National Congress. Talk of a looming China-U.S. trade rapprochement could also create challenges during the presidential visit, not only for the new Brazilian government’s pro-Western agenda, but also because Brazil emerged as one of the largest beneficiaries of the China-U.S. trade dispute.

AGENDA

Panel I: The View from the IMF: Boom, Bust, and the Road to Recovery in Brazil 

Antonio Spilimbergo, Assistant Director, Western Hemisphere Department at the IMF and Mission Chief for Brazil 

Krishna Srinivasan, Deputy Director, Western Hemisphere Department at the IMF

Moderator: Anna Prusa, Associate, Brazil Institute

Panel II: Assessment of President Bolsonaro’s Visit to Washington and the Political Environment Back Home

Roberto Simon, Senior Director of Policy, Council of the Americas

Nicholas Zimmerman, Consultant, Macro Advisory Partners

Thiago de Aragão, Partner and Director of Intelligence, Arko Advice

Mauricio Moura, Founder and CEO, IDEIA Big Data

Moderator: Paulo Sotero, Director, Brazil Institute