The IE International Relations Club is pleased to present a speech by Dr. Ibrahim Al-Marashi titled \"What\'s Next for Egypt? Lessons learned from the Iranian Revolution\" on Thursday February 24^th at 5PM...]]>  

The IE International Relations Club is pleased to present a speech by Dr. Ibrahim Al-Marashi titled \"What\'s Next for Egypt? Lessons learned from the Iranian Revolution\" on Thursday February 24^th at 5PM; room A-301 (Ma. de Molina, 11-13).

To sign up for this speech please register at the Alumni Agenda events site:

http://www.ie.edu/alumniweb/alumniagenda/DetalleEvento.aspx?id=11975

Spaces are limited.

A wave of change is passing through the Middle East and North Africa; from Iran to Morocco people are taking to the streets to voice their grievances. Extensive media coverage has been dedicated to the popular revolution in Egypt and now everyone is interested in finding out what the future holds for Egypt.

The mainstream media coverage of the revolt in Egypt has compared it to the 1979 Iranian Revolution. While the events were revolutionary, this talk will debate the myths of this comparison and argue that the analogy is due to Islamophobia rather than any valid historical reasoning. This forum will also revisit the Iranian uprising of 2009 and how it can be compared to the Egyptian Revolution, particularly focusing on the role of social media and emboldened youth movements in both countries.

Dr. Ibrahim Al-Marashi completed his DPhil at University of Oxford, completing a thesis on the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Dr. Al-Marashi received a MA in Arab Studies at Georgetown in 1997. He has BAs in History and Near Eastern Studies from the University of California Los Angeles. He is an Iraqi-American who lived at various times in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Egypt and Morocco. He was a scholar at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and is currently Assistant Professor of Contemporary History and Freedom of Speech at IE School of Communication. He is also professor of History and Media Policy.

The IE International Relations Club is also organizing a forum on the topic of social media and modern democratic movements in March. Time and location will be announced soon. Stay tuned to the IE International Relations Club announcements by joining the club on IE Portal (http://portal.ie.edu/clubs), Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=373915475524) and Linkedin (http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=2568543).

Symposium Series, Winter Semester 2010

with Dr. Rolf Strøm-Olsen, Professor of Humanities

Sala Capitular, Segovia Campus, IE University

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010-02-17 18.30-20.00...]]>  

Symposium Series, Winter Semester 2010

with Dr. Rolf Strøm-Olsen, Professor of Humanities

Sala Capitular, Segovia Campus, IE University

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010-02-17 18.30-20.00

Reconsidering Nations and Nationalism

Writing in the 17th century, Thomas Hobbes, the subject of our first Symposium, simply assumed that there was such a thing as nations, that \"English\" or \"French\" were self-explanatory categories of political and social identity. But what makes someone \"English\" or \"French?\" This question plagued thinkers starting in the late eighteenth century and remains an actively debated question today.

Our second Symposium tackles the big questions of nationalism from both a historical and theoretical perspective. Using the influential and controversial work by Ernst Gellner, Nations and Nationalism, as a starting point, we\'ll ask whether the concept of the nation is, in fact, a modern construction, a result of economic forces (as Gellner argued) that serve to coalesce identities into national categories. We will consider several crucial questions around the topic.

• Does nationalism manufacture difference between ethnic and linguistic groups and did Western colonialism accelerate the development of nationalist identities?
• What are the contradictions between nationalism and liberalism, between closing borders to reinforce identities versus opening borders to expand prosperity?
• What role has the media played in reinforcing nationalist identities?
• In an age of economic and political globalisation, do we have to redefine our concept of what the nation means?

To confirm your participation and to receive the readings, please send an email toArtsHumanities@ie.edu, with the subject \'Symposium.\'

Prof. Rolf Strøm-Olsen received his doctorate in History from Northwestern University and is a professor of Humanities at IE University.

 On Tuesday, May 22, Tomás Abadía will give a talk to the Master in International Relations students on \"EU-Latin American Relations\".  Mr Abadía is a Senior Policy Adviser with the European External Action Service.  In the past, he worked for t...]]>  

 On Tuesday, May 22, Tomás Abadía will give a talk to the Master in International Relations students on \"EU-Latin American Relations\".  Mr Abadía is a Senior Policy Adviser with the European External Action Service.  In the past, he worked for the European Commission\'s Directorate General for External Relations, where he was responsible for the relationship with Argentina, Río Group, Brazil, and Mercosur.  He was also the Head of the Commission\'s delegation in Costa Rica and Panamá\".