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[PAST EVENT] Arab Spring Ten Years After: The Continuing Quest for Democracy in the Middle East

March 12, 2021
4pm - 5:15pm
Location
Zoom
Access & Features
  • Open to the public
  • Registration/RSVP
Tamara Sonn
Tamara Sonn

Tamara Sonn, the 2021 Virtual Kraemer Middle East Distinguished Scholar-In-Residence, will speak about, "Arab Spring Ten Years After: The Continuing Quest for Democracy in the Middle East," on Friday, March 12, 2021, at 4pm via Zoom. The lecture is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Please note: At the request of the speaker, the lecture will not be recorded.

The explosion of pro-democracy movements across the Arab world in 2011 took many observers by surprise. Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, “We’re facing an Arab awakening that nobody could have imagined.” But pro-democracy movements are nothing new in the region. This talk will trace the history of pro-democracy movements in the Middle East over the past century, arguing that democratic impulses remain strong and suggesting that the U.S. has an important role to play in nurturing them.

Professor Sonn is Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani Professor in the History of Islam and Director of the Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. Learn more.

The Kraemer Middle East Distinguished Scholar-In-Residence is offered yearly, and provides the opportunity for a scholar specializing in Islamic law and governance to spend a short period of time at William & Mary sharing his or her expertise with the university community. The Scholar-In-Residence is open to all geographical areas and sub-disciplines, provided the Scholar’s background, interest and topical focus are on or clearly related to Islamic law and governance.

The Reves Center works closely with the Center for Comparative Legal Studies and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding at William & Mary Law School to identify potential scholars and promote this initiative.

Professor Sonn's talk for the Law School is entitled "Revolution and Counter-Revolution: How Political Islam Became the Enemy," on February 24, 2021, from 4pm - 5:15pm. Information and registration for that talk are online.

The Kraemer Middle East Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence was established with a generous gift from Carole A. and Richard C. Kraemer ’65.

This lecture is also presented in celebration of the Asian Centennial at William & Mary.

Contact

[[kjhoving,Kate Hoving]]