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Peace Picks | March 8 – March 12, 2021

Notice: Due to public health concerns, upcoming events are only available via live stream

1. The Women Who Took on ISIS | March 8, 2021 | 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM ET | Center for Strategic and International Studies | Register Here

Speakers

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon: Author, Journalist, and a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations

Beverly Kirk: Fellow and Director for Outreach, International Security Program, CSIS

Nina Easton: Non-resident Senior Associate

Please join the Center for Strategic and International Studies for a Smart Women, Smart Power celebration of International Women’s Day featuring New York Times best-selling author Gayle Tzemach Lemmon. She will discuss her new book, The Daughters of Kobani (2021), her best-selling book Ashley’s War: The Untold Story of a Team of Women Soldiers on the Special Ops Battlefield (2015), which is being made into a major motion picture, and her extensive research and experience covering the women who serve and live in conflict-affected areas of the world.

2. The Politics of History in Saudi Arabia | March 8, 2021 | 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM ET | Wilson Center | Register Here

Speakers

Rosie Bsheer: Harvard University

Christian F. Ostermann (moderator): Director, History and Public Policy Program, Wilson Center

Eric Arneson (moderator): Professor of History, George Washington University

Sherene Seikaly: Professory, University of California Santa Barbara

Asher Orkaby: Fellow, Wilson Center

3. The Voices of South Sudan’s Women | March 8, 2021 | 10:00 AM – 11:15 AM ET | United States Institute of Peace | Register Here

Speakers

Ambassador Bonnie Jenkins: Founder and Executive Director, Women of Color Advancing Peace, Security and Conflict Transformation

Rita Lopidia: Executive Director, EVE Organization for Women Development

Nyachangkuoth Rambang Tai: Special Assistant, Chairperson Advisor to the African Union

Susan Stigant: Director, Africa Center, U.S. Institute of Peace

In recent years, South Sudanese women have made significant strides in their push for inclusion in national peace processes. Women negotiators were crucial in shaping the 2018 peace agreement—revitalizing what had been a stalled and contentious process—and also secured a new quota that requires 35 percent of government representatives to be women, opening the door for a more expansive role in national affairs. But despite these signs of progress, women’s voices remain conspicuously absent among publicly written narratives of South Sudan, which continue to be dominated by the opinions, analysis, and stories of male writers. In celebration of International Women’s Day, please join USIP, Oxfam International, and FEMRITE—the Ugandan Women Writers Association—for a discussion about how women’s literary voices can contribute to building a deeper understanding of the impact of conflict in South Sudan and inspire progress toward peace.

4. US-German and trans-Atlantic relations in the 21st century | March 9, 2021 | 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM ET | Brookings Institution | Register Here

Speakers

John Allen: President, Brookings Institution

H. E. Heiko Maas: Federal Foreign Minister, Federal Republic of Germany

H. E. Emily Haber: German Ambassador to the United States

Fiona Hill: Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution

Constanze Stelzenmüller: Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution

Suzanne Maloney: Vice President and Director, Foreign Policy, Brookings Institution

Since the end of the Second World War, trans-Atlantic relations have been the bedrock of the rules-based international order. The development of a prosperous, democratic, and reunited Germany stands as a testament to the results of more than 75 years of trans-Atlantic cooperation. Today, the United States, Germany, Europe, and the larger international order are beset by numerous challenges, from illiberal actors at home to challenges posed by authoritarian strategic competitors like China and Russia. On Tuesday, March 9, Foreign Policy at Brookings will host German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas for a keynote address in honor of the launch of the Fritz Stern chair, followed by a panel discussion considering the current state of U.S.-German and U.S.-European relations and the prospects for reform to best address the challenges of the 21st century.

5. Ending the Yemen conflict – Voices of local peace-builders | March 9, 2021 | 8:00 AM – 9:00 AM ET | European Council on Foreign Relations | Register Here

Speakers

Radhya Al-Mutawakel: Co-founder and Chairperson, Mwatana for Human Rights

Rasha Jarhum: Founder and Director, Peace Track Initiative

Muna Luqman: Executive Director, Food4Humanity

Helena Gronberg: Program Director, Better Peace Initiative, ICAN

Ellie Geranmayeh (moderator): Deputy Director, MENA program, ECFR

After six years of conflict, culminating in what the UN has labelled the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis, the new Biden administration has vowed to redouble US support to the political process in Yemen. But despite recent momentum, securing peace in Yemen is going to be immensely challenging and the humanitarian situation looks set to worsen this year. This event will consider how women peace-builders in Yemen are providing essential gender-responsive humanitarian and peacemaking support, including by helping broker negotiations on the ground, while also advocating for human rights, the release of detainees and ceasefires. The discussion will explore why and how these efforts should be included in the UN-led political process in Yemen.

6. The Arab Spring: Precursor to the disinformation age? | March 10, 2021 | 11:00 AM ET | Atlantic Council | Register Here

Speakers

Rasha A. Abdulla: Professor, Journalism and Mass Communication Department, The American University in Cairo (AUC)

Andy Carvin: Resident Senior Fellow and Managing Director, DFRLab, Atlantic Council

Borzou Daragahi: Nonresident Senior Fellow, Middle East Programs, Atlantic Council

As we mark the 10th anniversary of the revolutions across North Africa and the Middle East collectively known as the Arab Spring, one question that remains unanswered is whether the use of social media during the that time presaged today’s world of rampant disinformation, coordinated online trolls and weaponized information. While most governments were initially caught flat-footed when it came to using the Internet in response to these revolutions, manipulating information to maintain domestic control is increasingly commonplace. How did we get here? In this virtual event organized by The Atlantic Council, we will explore how social media was turned on its head over the course of a single decade from a symbol of hope to a tool for manipulation. 

7. Bridging the Divide Between Elite and Grassroots Anti-Corruption Activists | March 10, 2021 | 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM ET | Carnegie Endowment for International Peace | Register Here

Speakers

Abigail Bellows: Non-resident scholar, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Bruno Brandão: Director, Transparency International-Brazil

Hussein Khalid: Executive Director, HAKI Africa

Ketakandriana Refitoson: Executive Director, Transparency International-Madagascar

Nada Zohdy: Director, Open Gov Hub

Around the world, ineffective and even fraudulent responses by governments to COVID-19 have escalated citizens’ demands for greater transparency and accountability and civil society actors are responding to meet that need. But tangible progress against corruption will require more than just showing up. It will necessitate cooperation between “elite” and “grassroots” civil society organizations. This event will feature three leading practitioners on how they forge civic partnerships in the era of COVID-19. 

8. Reflections on US-China Relations | March 10, 2021 | 8:30 AM – 9:30 AM ET | Hoover Institution | Register Here

Speakers

Matt Pottinger: Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution

Elizabeth Economy: Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution

H.R. McMaster: Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution

The Hoover Institution will host a discussion about the great-power competition between the United States and China, the rising risks for Western businesses in China, and the strategic pitfalls the West must avoid. After his remarks, Matt Pottinger will join Hoover Institution Fellows Elizabeth Economy and H.R. McMaster in conversation.

9. Light Water Capitalism: Nonproliferation and U.S. Global Power | March 11, 2021 | 12:15 PM – 2:00 PM ET | Belfer Center | Register Here

Speakers

Jayita Sarkar: Ernest May Fellow in History & Policy, International Security Program

How do the exports of U.S. power reactors relate to nonproliferation, global capitalism, and U.S. empire? And what does that tell us about the dominance by design of U.S. government and businesses in the decolonized world, where they promised development but delivered debt? This seminar pursues this inquiry through investigating the role of the light water reactor as an instrument of U.S. nonproliferation policy from the mid-1950s until the end of the 1980s.

10. MEI Defense Leadership Series: Episode 11 with Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East Simone Ledeen | March 12, 2021 | 9:30 AM – 10:30 AM ET | Middle East Institute | Register Here

Speakers

Bilal Y. Saab: Director, Defense and Security Program, MEI

Simone Ledeen: Former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East

In this episode, MEI Senior Fellow and Director of the Defense and Security Program Bilal Y. Saab speaks to former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East Simone Ledeen, currently a Nonresident Senior Fellow with MEI’s Defense and Security Program. This conversation will focus on U.S. policies toward the Middle East during the Trump administration and lessons learned. Saab will be taking audience questions throughout, and factor as many as possible into the discussion.