Mosaic: Summer 2015

MIDDLE EAST INITIATIVE MOSAIC Summer 2015

“Deepening Harvard Kennedy School’s relationship with the institutions and peoples of the Middle East.”

In This Issue:

4 FACULTY RESEARCH

6 FELLOWS & STUDENT RESEARCH

8 EVENTS

Suhail Mohamed Faraj Al-Mazrouei, Minister of Energy for the UAE, meets with HKS students at the World Future Energy Summit 2015 in Abu Dhabi during the January UAE Policy Field Visit.

The Middle East Initiative’s growth over the 2014-2015 year reflects our commitment to connect Harvard Kennedy School and the Middle East around the region’s most critical challenges and opportunities.

I am delighted to share with you the activities of the Middle East Initiative (MEI) over the past year featured in this issue of the Mosaic. At the heart of MEI is our community of faculty, students, visiting scholars, staff and research fellows, which continues to grow, as do our opportunities to engage with pressing policy issues through programming both on campus and in the region.

10 STUDY GROUPS

This year, we dramatically increased the opportunities for research through the launch of our research fellows program and additional faculty grants. We also hosted a series of public events that discussed political, social, economic and cultural changes in the region.

Executive Education programming offered the opportunity for many executives from the region to join us at Harvard, and we supported cross-disciplinary study groups to encourage innovative thinking and action.

STUDENT ENGAGEMENT

Our presence in the Middle East also manifested itself as we supported increased numbers of students conducting research in the region or participating in the two field-study experiences we offered. The experiential course on Syrian refugees in Jordan brought to life the realities on the ground of providing humanitarian relief to communities displaced by conflict; the UAE field visit provided our students with insights on engaging with sustainable energy and environmental concerns. Our commitment to connect HKS and the region was also evident through the many student recruitment events we held that have increased the number of new students from the Middle East on campus every year.

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14 EXECUTIVE EDUCATION

All of these successes are made possible by the commitment of the MEI team, our faculty, alumni and donors to whom we are very thankful. We look forward to welcoming you to one of our programs so that we can, together, share in the richness of learning from and engaging with the diversity of the Middle East... belfercenter.org/MiddleEast

–Hilary Rantisi, Director, Middle East Initiative

Global Impact

Faculty Research

Research Fellows

Student Research

Deepening Engagement with the Middle East Program Highlights Morocco Daniel Tostado (HKS ’16) traveled to Casablanca for his summer internship on providing legal aid to refugees.

Turkey MEI screened two Turkish films, Winter Sleep and Once Upon a Time in Anatolia.

Saudi Arabia Professor Venkatesh Narayanamurti began a research project on emerging solar desalination technologies in the GCC. Kuwait 40 Kuwaitis participated in the customized “Decision-Making Under Risk and Uncertainty” Executive Education program.

Yemen A panel of experts discussed the political future of Yemen.

Egypt Samer Shehata presented on Egypt’s ‘Deep State’ as part of visiting scholar Michael C. Hudson’s study group.

UAE MEI welcomed its inaugural Emirates Leadership Initiative research fellows.

Jordan Students participated in an experiential learning course on humanitarian crisis management.

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Events

Study Groups

Student Engagement

Middle East Initiative | Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs

Exec. Education

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Faculty & Affiliate Research Faculty Research Grants MEI awarded funding to five new proposals from Harvard Kennedy School faculty for research on the Gulf Cooperation Council and the broader Middle East region.

Tarek Masoud,

Sultan of Oman Associate Professor of International Relations, is working to bring cutting-edge scientific methods to identify processes of radicalization and investigate central aspects of the violent extremist threat emanating from the Syrian conflict.

Christine Letts,

Rita E. Hauser Senior Lecturer in the Practice of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership, is expanding her global project on philanthropic giving and social investment to map and analyze institutional philanthropy in Kuwait and Tunisia.

Examining the most critical issues Marshall Ganz,

Senior Lecturer in Public Policy, is leading a project which seeks to examine what can be learned from concerted efforts to construct civil society under conditions of relative stability in the Arab world (see p.14 for details).

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The Middle East Initiative offers funding each year to Harvard faculty to conduct research on issues of critical importance to the region. See faculty highlight (at right) for information on additional projects.

Faculty Spotlight: Venkatesh Narayanamurti Dr. Narayanamurti is the Director of the Science, Technology and Public Policy Program at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School. He is also the Benjamin Peirce Professor of Technology and Public Policy and a Professor of Physics at Harvard.

Dr. Narayanamurti received two research grants this year for the following projects: •

“Assessing and Strengthening University‐Industry Collaborations in the Gulf: The Need for Local and Comparative Analysis,” funded by the Kuwait Program; and

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“Emerging Solar Desalination Technologies in the Gulf—Understanding Local Adoption Drivers and Technology Barriers to Inform Cost-Effective Decision-Making,” funded by the Emirates Leadership Initiative.

Dr. Narayanamurti is also wrapping up a previously awarded project, “The Science, Technology and Innovation Gap in the Gulf: Revamping University Education & Innovation in Sustainable Technologies,” with Dr. Laura Diaz Anadon and Dr. Afreen Siddiqi, both at the Belfer Center. They published the article, “Prospects for Policy Advances in Science and Technology in the Gulf Arab States: The Role for International Partnerships,” in the Journal of Higher Education in June 2014. Following field interviews and site visits in Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Dr. Siddiqi and Professor Diaz Anadon co-directed a workshop at the 5th Annual Gulf Research Meeting held at the University of Cambridge in August 2014. They are currently working with Dr. Narayanamurti toward a journal article and policy brief that will be completed in 2015.

MOSAIC | Summer 2015

Featured Publications MEI Faculty regularly engage in research on diverse contemporary issues facing the Middle East.

The Arab Spring: Pathways of Repression and Reform

Harvard Faculty Affiliates

MEI Co-Author: Tarek Masoud

MEI welcomed Professor Melani Cammett of the Department of Government as its newest faculty affiliate in March 2015.

MEI worked with its nine Harvard faculty affiliates over the course of the year to plan and execute events, as well as on the faculty research and visiting scholar components of the Kuwait Program, and on the research fellows and faculty research components of the Emirates Leadership Initiative. Several of our faculty affiliates also serve on the advisory committee of the Kuwait Program.

Visiting Scholars MEI hosted two visiting scholars this year: •

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Abbas Al-Mejren (Fall 2014), Professor of Economics at Kuwait University, conducted a research project to assess the development policies of oil rich, rentier states in the Gulf, as well as the application of the global standard indicators and criteria used to evaluate development policy success to these states. He presented his work in a seminar, “Assessing the Policies of Oil Rich States of the Gulf toward Development: Growth vs. Merit.”

Michael C. Hudson (Spring 2015), Seif Ghobash Professor of International Relations and Arab Studies, Emeritus, at Georgetown University, organized and led the Study Group, “Rethinking the Arab Spring: The Collapse of Legitimacy in Arab Politics,” which brought together Middle East experts to re-examine the foundational concepts of legitimacy, the state, civil society, religion and regional stability in the wake of the Arab uprisings.

See more on p.10-11.

“I think there are two big lessons that we can learn from the Arab Spring about prospects for democracy in developing countries around the world. The first is that the more revolutionary your revolution is, the less likely it is to lead to democracy. The second thing that I think the Arab Spring reinforces is the importance of the state… what we learn from what happened in Syria, what’s happened in Iraq, what’s happened in Yemen or in Libya, is just how important having a state is, if you want to get to democracy.”

– Tarek Masoud, during an interview with Doug Gavel, June 2, 2015

A Political Economy of the Middle East MEI Co-Authors: Melani Cammett, and Ishac Diwan

“The fourth edition of A Political Economy of the Middle East is a substantially revised and updated version of this classic text, originally authored

by Alan Richards and John Waterbury. The new edition includes a new framework for understanding politics, economics and the intersection between the two across the entire Middle East. Existing chapters are updated and rewritten while new chapters are included.”

– Melani Cammett, from melanicammett.net

Middle East Initiative | Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs

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Research Fellows In September 2014, MEI welcomed its inaugural cohort of Research Fellows as part of the Emirates Leadership Initiative (ELI). ELI is a new and exciting collaboration between the Middle East Initiative and the Center for Public Leadership, funded by the government of the United Arab Emirates.

It features four main programs: the Graduate Fellowship Program; Policy Field Visits to the UAE; Executive Education Programs; and the Research Initiative.

“The fellowship reshaped and deepened my approach to Middle East research, and I am now in a more rigorous position from which to build my career.”

For more information about these research fellows or the Emirates Leadership Initiative, please visit our website: belfercenter.org/MiddleEast.

Manal A. Jamal

Jean Lachapelle

Associate Professor, Dept. of Political Science, James Madison University

PhD Candidate, Dept. of Political Science, University of Toronto

Project: “The Arab Uprisings & Movement Mobilization in Cross Regional Perspective”

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–Atiyeh Vahidmanesh

Dissertation: “The Dictator’s Fear: Threat Perception and State Violence in Egypt”

Mostafa Hefny

Yasser ElShimy

PhD Candidate, Dept. of Political Science, Columbia University

PhD Candidate, Dept. of Political Science, Boston University

Dissertation: “The Material Politics of Revolution and CounterRevolution”

Dissertation: “The Fumbled Transition: Egypt’s Failed Consolidation of Democracy”

Muhammed Y. Idris

Atiyeh Vahidmanesh

PhD Candidate, Dept. of Political Science, Pennsylvania State

PhD Candidate, Dept. of Economics, Virginia Tech

Dissertation: “Measuring Democratization: Censure in Middle Eastern Institutions”

Dissertation: “Inequality of Opportunity, Social Mobility and Education Achievement in the Middle East”

MOSAIC | Summer 2015

Student Research As part of its ongoing effort to support student research in the Middle East, MEI awarded 16 HKS students with funding for summer research and internships or winter research for their Policy Analysis Exercise (PAE) or Second Year Policy Analysis (SYPA), the capstone of the curriculum for all second-year students.

Carol Tan (MPP ’15) has devoted much of her time at HKS to examining the Syrian civil war and the associated refugee crisis in neighboring countries. Her PAE aligned with the work of the HKS study group on Carol Tan attends a private-sector the Syrian refugee crisis, roundtable event in Jordan on a 2014–2015 initiative of providing aid to refugees from Syria. which Tan served as lead researcher. Directed by Professor Claude Bruderlein, the students and fellows in the study group focused on the education, health and livelihoods of refugees from Syria in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. Their work culminated in a paper published by the European Institute of the Mediterranean, available at belfercenter.org/MiddleEast.

For their SYPA, Daniel Garrote Sanchez (MPA ’15) and Karina Baba (MPA ’15) conducted research with Colleges of Excellence, a privatepublic vocational training program in Saudi Arabia. “Youth unemployment in Saudi Arabia has increased significantly over the last decade, reaching roughly 30% among the 14–25 age group. In response to this mismatch of skills in the labor market, the Ministry of Labor has allocated significant resources to vocational training programs,” they reported.

“The objective of our research was to explore factors influencing the performance of these programs in both the education and labor markets.”

Other student projects supported by MEI in 2014-15 include: • “Iraq and OPEC: Structuring a Sustainable Energy Policy” in Iraq and Saudi Arabia

• “Oil and Gas Governance” in Lebanon

• “Export Infrastructure and Monetizing Options for Lebanon’s Oil and Gas Industry” in Lebanon

• “Promoting Free Markets to Foster Economic Growth and Oil Trends in GCC Countries” in France

• “Inclusive Security in Negotiations: Structural Barriers to Women’s Entry and Participation” in Israel and Palestine

• “Barriers to Providing Legal Aid to Refugees” in Morocco

• “Leveraging US Diplomatic Tools in the Middle East” in Jordan and Tunisia

• “Communications for Multiparty Negotiations and Conflict Resolution” in Lebanon

Middle East Initiative | Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs

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Events Highlights As part of a robust events calendar, the Middle East Initiative hosted 66 events during the 2014-2015 academic year, bringing experts and practitioners from diverse fields to address pressing topics and to highlight numerous countries and sub-regions.

For audio recordings and a full listing of the year’s events, visit belfercenter.org/MiddleEast and click Events.

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66 Events

Gender & Women’s Issues

Mediterranean Crisis

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MEI Affiliate and demographer Philippe Fargues spoke on the deadly migration routes used by North African and Middle Eastern migrants to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe, the social and economic forces driving the migrants, and the EU response.

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MEI convened two panels of experts to discuss Yemen’s political future.

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Following Yemen

Films Tackle Gender Two of four film series selections took on Gender topics. GETT: the Trial of Viviane Amsalem (Israel, 2014) provided a provocative look into divorce and religious marriage laws in Israel, and Wadjda (Saudi Arabia/Germany, 2012) looked at the life of a young woman learning to navigate the gendered social and moral fabric of everyday life in Saudi Arabia.

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Still Waiting for Tomorrow Legal expert Susan Akram presented her new book on the law and politics of refugee crises.

Making History in Tunisia Former Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa addressed the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum on his role in Tunisia’s transition to democracy.

A New Cold War Political Scientist Gregory Gause investiaged inter-state rivalries in the Middle East as products of modern power politics, not ingrained religious hatred.

Surveying Arab Youth Economist Ishac Diwan presented his research on youth attitudes about the economy, religion, and politics in the Middle East.

Hosting Diplomats Fromer U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford recounted his time in Syria during protests against Bashar Al-Assad and analyzed U.S. policy in Syria, Iraq, and throughout the region. MEI Senior Fellow and former Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy led discussions across campus, including a public address on Egypt’s role as regional leader and complex relationship with the U.S.

Tracking Syria, Iraq, and ISIS MEI looked beneath the surface of ISIS’ emergence. Journalist Rania Abouzeid discussed the Syrian uprising’s trajectory from peaceful protest to civil war, and eventually IS, while Political Scientist Jonah Schulhofer-Wohl analyzed why and how armed factions in civil wars fight alongside and against each other, focusing on Syrian rebel groups. Guest experts in Michael Hudson’s study group Rethinking the Arab State also looked at the rise of ISIS. For more on this study group, turn to pages 10-11.

Islam and Democracy Jocelyne Cesari presented her latest book, The Awakening of Muslim Democracy, on religion in state institutions in the Muslim World at an event moderated by MEI Senior Fellow Farah Pandith.

Middle East Initiative | Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs

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Study Groups Spring 2015: Rethinking the Arab State Kuwait Visiting Scholar Michael C. Hudson Examines the Crisis of the Arab State The 2011 uprisings presented a crucial opportunity to re-examine previously accepted propositions about legitimacy, the state, civil society, religion, and regional stability.

From the time he began writing on Middle East politics in the 1960s to completing his most recent book, The Arab Uprisings: Catalysts, Dynamics, and Trajectories (2015, co-editor and contributor), Professor Michael C. Hudson has seen approaches to understanding political life in the Middle East rise and fall in popularity. A foremost authority on the region, Hudson joined the Middle East Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School as the spring 2015 Kuwait Foundation Visiting Scholar with an ambitious goal: to reassess the study of the Arab state after the 2011 upris“The ings shook the states and state system of the region to the core.

“United States Military Deployments and the Status of Women in the Arab World” with Amaney Jamal (Princeton University)

upheavals now convulsing the Arab world and the larger Middle East are multi-dimensional—social, economic, political, and geo-strategic; in order to understand them we need to adopt a multi-disciplinary approach.”

The Kuwait Foundation Visiting Scholars program brings senior policymakers and academics to the Kennedy School to engage with students and faculty on issues of significance to the Middle East, and to conduct a research project or facilitate a study group. Hudson brought profound knowledge of the region’s contemporary politics and complexities to the position, coming to MEI after having most recently served four years as the founding director of the Middle East Institute and Professor of Political Science at the National University of Singapore. He is also Seif Ghobash Professor of Arab Studies and International Relations, Emeritus at Georgetown University, where he directed the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies intermittently for just over two decades.

–Michael C. Hudson

Hudson’s most visible and in-depth contribution to the HKS community was leading the study group, “Rethinking the Arab State,” a semester-long inquiry into Middle East politics after the 2011 uprisings, which brought together eight distinguished experts and over three hundred participants.

In addition, Hudson led and attended numerous seminars, researched and produced new scholarship, and met with everyone from first-year MPP students to former foreign ministers.

As Hudson built his study group, he focused on a multi-disciplinary approach, a good fit at the policy-oriented Kennedy School and necessary in the wake of massive and continuous upheaval. With a visionary goal and strong leadership, the series produced unique insights, which will illuminate further investigation of a complex and ever-changing region.

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“Can the United States ‘Manage’ the Middle East? Should it Try?” with Stephen Walt (Harvard Kennedy School)

“By the end of the study group, I had a new base of knowledge that I simply didn’t have about the region” –Khaled Kteily, MPP ‘16

Key Findings “Rethinking the Arab State” convened eight leading Middle East scholars from diverse fields to analyze the crisis of legitimacy of the Arab state in the wake of the 2011 uprisings.

“The Syrian State: A Stateless Regime or Sate with Many Regimes?” with Bassam Haddad (George Mason University)

Speakers addressed various aspects of the topic, including how relatively ‘strong’ states like Egypt and Saudi Arabia defended their power, how weak (or failed) states like Iraq and Syria have fragmented to competing power bases and ideologies, as well as how Islamism and sectarianism are reshaping the region’s ideological playing field and how regimes mediate minority rights amidst domestic and international pressures.

Below are several common themes and key conclusions from the study group:

The Syrian Refugee Crisis MEI hosted a year-long, evidence-based study group on the Syrian Refugee Crisis aimed at generating engagement and identifying long-term strategies for addressing refugee and host nation needs. Under the direction of Professor Claude Bruderlein, students and fellows from Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard School of Public Health, and the Harvard Center for Middle Eastern Studies developed research and policy expertise by gathering information on refugee needs, discussing regional engagement on policy options, and networking with key technical, professional, and political stakeholders.

Turn to page 7 to see one student’s journey and page 13 to read about the related policy field course in Jordan. For more about the study group, visit: belfercenter.org/MiddleEast and click on Study Groups.

• The 2011 uprisings began a long transformation process. It is premature and facile to assert that a participatory “spring” has given way to an authoritarian “winter.”

• Arab states vary in terms of “stateness” and legitimacy, but Arab bureaucracies embed powerful interests in state structures, making the wholesale redrawing of borders unlikely.

• All Arab states lack vibrant, well-integrated civil society in politics.

And budding civil society lacks organization and leadership to effectively reshape old autocratic structures.

• Socioeconomic problems underpin political turbulence.

Widespread corruption drives illegitimacy. Neo-liberal economic policies are part of the problem.

• Political Islam—while far from monolithic—has flourished in the vacuum created by falling dictators and lack of counterbalance from the liberal “center.”

• Intra-Islamist (Sunni-Shia) Sectarianism is a potent political rift and is easier to inflame than contain, posing huge long-term risks for regimes that have fueled it for their short-term advantage.

• The Middle East can no longer be “managed” by outside powers. U.S. and other military interventions have failed to bring democracy or stability.

For the full report, lecture recordings, photos, and more, visit belfercenter.org/HudsonArabState

Middle East Initiative | Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs

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Student Engagement From the Middle East to Cambridge Recruiting & Enrollment Student representation at HKS from the region continues to steadily rise, thanks in part to an increase in the number of student fellowships and recruiting efforts in the region with the Office of Admissions and the Office of Student Diversity and Inclusion. This year, MEI helped to arrange 20 information sessions in 8 countries: Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates.

HKS students celebrate at the graduation ceremony.

Student Spotlight: Q&A with Noor Shoufani Noor Shoufani is a recipient of the Kuwait Foundation Fellowship for Outstanding Emerging Leaders. The Fellowship is awarded each year to students from the Arab world who have demonstrated leadership potential and have made a commitment to making a transformative impact on the communities they intend to serve.

Q: What were you doing prior to beginning at HKS? A: I was a Program Manager in the DC office of Education for Employment (EFE), where I was a senior member of the team overseeing the organization’s expansion in MENA. I advised MENA-based CEOs and board members of non-profits on sustainability, growth, capacity building, institutionalization, and competitiveness. I also managed projects focused on youth entrepreneurship, innovation, and employability training.

Q: What are you most looking forward to about returning to HKS for your second year?

A: I will be a teaching fellow for Professor Marshall Ganz, working with his team on the Public Narrative class, which was an instrumental class for me this year. I am also looking forward to meeting the new incoming cohort of MPAs!

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Noor Shoufani (second from right) with peers at a student-run event she helped to organize.

Q: What else are you involved in at HKS? A: I am the Vice President of the Arab Caucus, where I work with the team to host events focused on the Middle East to introduce our classmates to a different face of the region. I am also a member of the Palestine Caucus and helped plan the Palestine Trek, where we took 100 students on a visit to Palestine over spring break in March.

MOSAIC | Summer 2015

Students take a break from classes to tour Wadi Rum, a 280 square mile valley home to Bedouin tribes in southern Jordan.

Photo Credit: Loïc Bruderlein

From Cambridge to the Middle East Policy Experience Visit to the UAE In January, MEI supported a visit to the UAE to learn about alternative energy and the country’s environmental challenges and opportunities.

The visit to the UAE was the first of its kind through the new Emirates Leadership Initiative at HKS, organized with the Center for Public Leadership (CPL). 27 students from 17 countries participated in the weeklong excursion, meeting with government officials, Harvard alumni, and representatives from environmental reserves and sustainability projects. The students also visited Masdar Institute of Science and Technology and Masdar City, a planned, sustainable eco-city designed to be a hub for cleantech companies. Wael AlMazeedi, Chairman of Free Access to Energy (FATE) Consortium and MC/MPA ‘98, served as an advisor to the trip. AlMazeedi joined the students back on campus at the end of March for a report-back of the experience, hosted by MEI and CPL.

“The unique insights we gained in Jordan from exposure to local complexities and discussions with practitioners, would have been impossible to develop in Cambridge, far away from realities on the ground.”

–Ruben Brekelmans, MPP ’15

Course on Humanitarian Crisis Management in Jordan MEI also supported a field study course in Jordan that built upon last year’s course on the same topic, this time bringing together 15 students from HKS and other graduate schools to examine the rehabilitation needs of refugees from Syria. “What the field study made clear is that assistance for refugees is linked inextricably to Jordanian and regional political dynamics,” said Alexandra Stanek, MPP ’15.

“I am leaving the course with a much more nuanced understanding of political dynamics in the Arab World. Moreover, I am leaving with a broader understanding of the interconnectedness of technical challenges, such as providing water or shelter, and political challenges, namely resolving fundamental tensions between helping others and ensuring stability.”

Together with the Belfer Center, MEI supported the production of a documentary on the course, which offers an insider’s view to the student experience and highlights the benefits of on-site, experiential learning. belfercenter.org/JordanFieldCourse2015

The 4th edition of the student-led Harvard Journal of Middle Eastern Politics and Policy, published in June, features an interview with former Tunisian Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa, as well as papers and commentaries on the Islamic State, President Obama’s foreign policy, Jordan’s reliance on transboundary water resources, and more. MEI is proud to once again support the journal and pleased to see its continued growth.

Middle East Initiative | Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs

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Executive Education Leadership, Organizing, and Action As part of its ongoing efforts to support the development of leaders in the Middle East, MEI awarded scholarships to 13 participants from the region who completed the online Executive Education course “Leadership, Organizing and Action: Leading Change” (LOA) this spring. Taught by one of MEI’s nine faculty affiliates, Professor Marshall Ganz, the course is designed to help leaders of civic associations, community groups, and social movements learn how to organize communities that can mobilize power to make change. As Professor Ganz points out, “the practice of organizing can only be learned through experience that engages heart, head, and hands. Our hands must learn to do new things, new skills, and new practice. Our heads must learn how to use our resources strategically to achieve new outcomes. And our hearts must give us the courage, hope, and commitment to risk action.”

Professor Marshall Ganz giving a lecture at HKS.

The participants supported by MEI included leaders from Save the Children in Lebanon, Norwegian People’s Aid in Turkey, the Palestinian Human Rights Organization, Mercy Corps in Jordan, and El-Mahrousa Center for Socioeconomic Development in Egypt, among others.

Over the semester, participants were tasked with organizing a constituency to turn its resources into the power to achieve a valued outcome. The five key practices to doing so are: 1. Mobilizing shared values to motivate action by public narrative; 2. Building intentional relationships committed to a common purpose; 3. Structuring authority based on team leadership; 4. Strategizing turning resources we have into the power we need to achieve specific objectives; 5. Turning strategy into observable, concrete, and significant action on the ground.

Professor Ganz is also the recipient of one of MEI’s faculty research grants. The project will examine civil society in countries including Palestine, Lebanon, Tunisia, and Syria, but will focus on Jordan, a country he says has found itself “in the eye of the storm: a place of relative calm in the midst of turmoil on all sides.”

Professor Ganz is quick to note that “calm” is of course relative. “As a semi-democracy, lacking in the oil wealth of other states, Jordan faces critical tribal and demographic tensions, not the results of having received enormous influxes of Palestinian, Iraqi and Syrian refugees.”

“The course challenged me to think about and reaffirm what calls me to organize.”

–LOA course participant

Nisreen Haj Ahmed (MC/MPA ’08) will also collaborate on the project from Jordan. Co-founder of Ahel, a leadership development, community organizing and advocacy center launched in Jordan in 2010, she will work with Ganz to closely examine what can be learned from the effort to construct Arab civil society under conditions of relative stability. Although in depth analysis of Ahel’s experience over the last four years is central to the project, it will be enriched by systematic comparison with other organized responses to similar challenges. Haj Ahmed will join Ganz at HKS in 2016 to complete the final phase of the project.

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MOSAIC | Summer 2015

Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty

Mai AlZanki asks a question during a lecture on the frameworks for assessing risk.

This year’s annual Executive Education course sponsored by the Kuwait Program at Harvard Kennedy School focused on exploring the best mechanisms to think and act strategically under varying degrees of uncertainty. Strategists and executives in both business and governmental institutions invariably need to adapt their plans to a world of rapid, volatile change.

In the absence of adaptive schemes that are built into the framework of strategic planning, decision-makers often find themselves falling behind their competitors, falling out of business, or, in the case of governmental institutions, falling below the expectation of their citizens.

Led by faculty chair Professor Kessely Hong, the May program introduced 40 private-sector leaders from Kuwait to the basic framework of strategic planning under uncertainty.

Over the coming months, the participants will continue to build on the course back home in Kuwait through smaller workshops.

Professor Dutch Leonard speaks about a case study on adaptive leadership skills.

Izzat Abou-Amarah and Ghadeer AlOmran prepare for a negotiation role-play exercise.

Participants during a lecture on team strategies for decision-making.

Middle East Initiative | Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs

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Upcoming at MEI

Dov Waxman, Professor of Political Science, International Affairs, and Israel Studies at Northeastern University, discusses the politics, ethics and strategies of Israel’s military campaigns.

Fall 2015 Preview •

Hedi Larbi, former Tunisian Minister of Economic Infrastructure and Sustainable Development and Advisor to the MENA Vice President of the World Bank, will join MEI as the fall Kuwait Foundation Visiting Scholar. His study group, “Toward a New Development Model and Social Contract in the Arab World,” will explore possible processes for identifying the main components needed to empower Arabs to participate in managing public affairs, and ensure accountable governance, freedom and human rights.

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The next field experience course will bring students to Morocco to study the public policy challenges associated with migration from North Africa. The course will examine Morocco’s approach to addressing the evolving migration patterns in and around the country and the ensuing social transformation by considering local and regional response mechanisms, and the role of civil society, international cooperation, and governance.

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MOSAIC | Summer 2015

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