Arab North Africa in Focus [2022 Arab-US Policymakers Conference]

The 31st Annual Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference, Arab-U.S. Uncertainties: What Lies Ahead?, convened at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C., on November 2-3, 2022. These are some of the conference proceedings.

 

 
“Arab North Africa in Focus”

Featuring:

Dr. William Lawrence – Arab North Africa specialist and former diplomat; American University School of International Service Professor; National Council International Advisory Board Member.

Dr. John Duke Anthony – National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations Founding President and Chief Executive Officer.

The Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference is the signature annual symposium organized and administered by the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations.

Surveying Geo-Political Dynamics in Arab North Africa: What Implications for the United States and the Region?

On January 27, 2022, the National Council convened an online program “Surveying Geo-Political Dynamics in Arab North Africa: What Implications for the United States and the Region?”

 

 

Joining the program were:

Featured Specialist:

  • Dr. William Lawrence, American University School of International Service Professor and C&O Resources Senior Advisor; Analyst, Educator, International Programs Director, and Former Diplomat.

Context Provider:

  • Dr. John Duke Anthony, National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations Founding President and CEO.

Audio and video recordings of the program are available above and below, and on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and elsewhere.

“Surveying Geo-Political Dynamics in Arab North Africa: What Implications for the United States and the Region?” podcast (.mp3)

Dr. John Duke Anthony Participates in Program on The Green March

On November 7, 2019, National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations Founding President and CEO Dr. John Duke Anthony spoke at a special program on “Celebrating the 44th Anniversary of the Green March: Understanding the History and the Present Legacy” at The American University Washington College of Law. The event was organized by the Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco in Washington, D.C. The panel discussion was moderated by Professor Elisabeth Myers and also featured former Congressman Jim Moran and author Wafa Faith Hallam.

Dr. John Duke Anthony took part in a panel discussion on “The 44th Anniversary of the Green March: Understanding the History and the Present Legacy” on November 7, 2019, at American University in Washington, D.C.

“Geo-Political Dynamics: Egypt and North Africa” – 24th Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference

Session on Geo-Political Dynamics: Egypt and North Africa with Ms. Ellen Laipson, Dr. William Lawrence, Dr. Dirk Vandewalle, Dr. Paul Sullivan, and Dr. Abderrahim Foukara from the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations’ 24th Annual Arab-US Policymakers’ Conference, “U.S.-Arab Relations at a Crossroads: What Paths Forward?,” on October 15, 2015, in Washington, DC.

Watch on YouTube

Listen to Podcast (.mp3)

Read Transcript (.pdf)

The Consolidation of a New Arab Political Order

Operation Decisive Storm Coalition Forces' spokesman Saudi Brigadier General Ahmed Asiri provides a briefing on developments in the campaign.

Operation Decisive Storm Coalition Forces’ spokesman Saudi Brigadier General Ahmed Asiri provides a briefing on developments in the campaign. Photo: Saudi Press Agency.

While the Saudi-led Operation Decisive Storm against the Yemeni Houthis and their allies continues and its long-term results are so far unknown, it is not pre-mature to project that a new Arab political order is being consolidated. Its elements include a firm and sustainable commitment to fight extremism and sectarianism, bring order and stability to the heart of the Arab world – namely, Syria and Iraq – and design, chart, and lead an independent course for the protection of pan-Arab national interests.

Such an order has a leader in the collective energies and capabilities of the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, with Saudi Arabia as a first among equals, and essential assistance from such countries as Egypt, Jordan, and Morocco. Indeed, to assure its collective interests, arrive at a hoped-for peaceful stability, and sustain much needed political, economic, and social development, the Arab world must coalesce around a strong political order that can utilize its capacities and permissible international conditions to achieve what it needs and deserves. Importantly, the consolidated new Arab political order appears to emphasize essential principles that require astute judgment, committed resources, and continuous vigilance.

Fighting Extremism and Sectarianism

The status quo states of the new Arab order are cognizant of the threats represented by the plethora of extremist groups operating at the heart of the Arab world. In Yemen, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has staked a claim in Hadramawt Province abutting the Saudi Arabian border after it lost its bases in Shabwa and Abyan to the west. In Iraq and Syria, the Islamic State group has erased the borders between the two countries in a mission to re-establish an imagined and borderless Islamic Caliphate while al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front controls strategic areas of Syria. Both organizations are serious threats to Lebanon and its pluralist political society.

In Libya, the Islamic State group, al-Qaeda affiliated Ansar ash-Shari’a, and a sundry of militias have settled, and promise to both keep the country unstable and use it as a base to spread chaos and mayhem elsewhere. In Tunisia and Egypt, jihadist extremists are waging a war of attrition against state security institutions. The actors of the consolidating Arab political order must know full well that they alone can address this threat in a fashion that combines a sense of shared responsibility for common interests and an attempt at forging an independent course that serves such interests.

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Geo-Political Dynamics: Egypt & Arab North Africa – 2014 Arab-US Policymakers Conference

The National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations23rd Annual Arab U.S.-Policymakers Conference included a session on “Geo-Political Dynamics: Egypt & Arab North Africa” that featured Dr. Paul Sullivan, Dr. Michele Dunne, Ms. Ellen Laipson, Dr. Michael Hudson, and Dr. William Lawrence.

An audio and video recording of the session as well as a link to the transcript are available below. Videos of the entire 2014 conference are available on YouTube and podcasts of the conference are available through iTunes and FeedBurner.

 

 

Transcript (.pdf)

Audio only: