Peace Picks, February 3-7

Relatively few events this week, as the nation’s capital thaws from the deep freeze:

1. Peace and Stability in Afghanistan Post-2014: What Role for Regional Actors?

Tuesday, February 4 | 2pm – 3:30pm

Atlantic Council, 1030 15th St NW, 12th Floor

REGISTER TO ATTEND

The peaceful future of Afghanistan is intertwined with the peaceful future of the region even more so once the withdrawal of International Security Assistance Forces from Afghanistan will be completed by the end of 2014. The country’s direct and regional neighbors will have the honor and responsibility to support Afghanistan’s quest for independent, secure, and prosperous development.

In 2012, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) established a network of policy groups in Afghanistan, Central Asia, India, and Pakistan for a regional project entitled “Envisioning a Secure and Independent Afghanistan Post 2014. Perspectives and Strategies for Constructive Conflict Resolution from the Neighborhood.”

SPEAKERS
Sarah Hees
Regional Coordinator Peace and Security Policy
Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung

Mahmoud Saikal
Convener
Afghanistan Policy Group

Moderated by
Shuja Nawaz
Director, South Asia Center
Atlantic Council

Khalid Aziz, Convener, Pakistan Policy Group; Ashok Mehta, Convener, India Policy Group; Sanat Kushkumbayev, Convener (Kazakhstan), Central Asia Policy Group; and Haron Amin, Facilitator, Afghanistan Policy Group will also join the discussion.

Please use the West Tower elevators when you arrive.


2. Constructing the Narratives of Identity and Power

Wednesday, February 5 | 3:30 pm – 4:30pm

Woodrow Wilson Center, 6th Floor, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave NW

 REGISTER TO ATTEND

Twenty years ago Ukraine gained its independence and started on a path towards a free market economy and democratic governance. After four successive presidents and the Orange Revolution, there is a vast body of literature on the process of development and the current political, economic, and socio-cultural situation in Ukraine. Constructing the Narratives of Identity and Power provides a comprehensive outlook on Ukraine as it is presented through the views of intellectual and political elites. Based on extensive fieldwork in Ukraine, Karina V. Korostelina describes the complex process of nation building. Despite the prevailing belief in a divide between two parts of Ukraine and an overwhelming variety of incompatible visions, Korostelina reveals seven prevailing conceptual models of Ukraine and five dominant narratives of national identity.

Korostelina will present her book and discuss its themes with discussant Dr. Kate Brown, author of Plutopia, and answer questions from the audience on a topic more relevant now than ever.
3. Democracy in Crisis: Corruption, Media, and Power in Turkey

Thursday, February 6 | 10am – 11:30am

Newseum, Knight Conference Center, 8th Floor Conference Level
555 Pennsylvania Ave NW 

REGISTER TO ATTEND

Turkey’s democracy is in crisis. Shaken by last summer’s protests and a mounting corruption scandal, the government is lashing out at critics. Freedom House’s new report Democracy in Crisis: Corruption, Media, and Power in Turkey puts the current crackdown in context, and lays out steps for Turkey, the EU, and the United States to protect democracy and a free media in Turkey.

Opening Statement:
David J. Kramer
President, Freedom House

Panelists:
Steven A. Cook
Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations

Susan Corke
Director of Eurasia Programs, Freedom House

Andrew Finkel
Co-founder of P24, an NGO supporting independent journalism in Turkey

Moderator:
Carla Anne Robbins
Clinical Professor of National Security Studies, Baruch College, City University of New York


4. Unconventional Energy and U.S. National Security

 Thursday, February 6 | 5:15pm – 7:30pm

Willard InterContinental Hotel, 1401 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

REGISTER TO ATTEND  

Join Center for a New American Security (CNAS) for an event featuring remarks on energy and national security by former National Security Advisor Thomas E. Donilon and the rollout of a major new report of the CNAS Unconventional Energy and U.S. National Security Task Force, Energy Rush: Shale Production and U.S. National Security. This event will feature:

Remarks by
Thomas E. Donilon
Distinguished Fellow; Council on Foreign Relations, former National Security Advisor

A presentation of the Report’s Key Findings by
Elizabeth Rosenberg
Senior Fellow and Director of the Energy, Environment and Security Program Center for a New American Security

And remarks by the Unconventional Energy and U.S. National Security Task Force Co-Chairs
Ambassador Paula J. Dobriansky
Senior Fellow; Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Former Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs

Governor Bill Richardson
Founder, Richardson Center for Global Engagement, former two-term governor of New Mexico, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Secretary of the Department of Energy, and 15-year U.S. Congressman from New Mexico

Senator John Warner
Advisor and Fellow; The Pew Charitable Trusts, Senior Advisor at Hogan Lovells US LLP, Former Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, 30-year U.S. Senator from Virginia, and Secretary of the Navy

 

5. Thinking Through “Tradition” About Politics in Egypt Today 

Thursday, February 6 | 6pm – 7:30pm

Georgetown University – Copley Formal Lounge, 37 St NW and O St NW

REGISTER TO ATTEND

Professor Talal Asad will revisit the lecture, “The Idea of an Anthropology of Islam” he delivered at Georgetown nearly 30 years ago, and brings it up to date by drawing briefly on Hannah Arendt’s thesis on the connections between tradition, authority, and religion in European history, and by taking up Arendt’s theoretical account to explore aspects of ‘revolutionary’ politics in Egypt today.

Talal Asad is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the City University of New York Graduate Center. Dr. Asad is a sociocultural anthropologist of international stature specializing in the anthropology of religion with a special interest in the Middle East and Islam. He is the author or contributing editor of several books, including ‘On Suicide Bombing’ (2009, Columbia University Press), and ‘Formations of the Secular (2003, Stanford University Press), and has published in a wide variety of international journals. Dr. Asad has taught at New School University, Johns Hopkins University, University of California at Berkeley, King Saud University, Riyadh, Ain Shams University in Cairo, and the universities of Khartoum, Sudan, and Hull, England.

Lecture will be followed by a light reception in the Copley Formal Lounge.

Contact: Elisabeth Sexton, Public Affairs Coordinator
email: ccasevents@georgetown.edu
phone: (202) 687-6215

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