Center for Interdisciplinary Study of Monotheistic Religions(CISMOR)Doshisha University

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Public Lectures

International Conference

Peace and Security in the Middle East: Alternative Ways to Democratization

Date: 2013/02/16 9:30− 16:15
Place: Room 101, Shikokan, karasuma Campus, Doshisha University
Lecture: 【 Speakers 】
-※Norman Cook
 Former Executive Policy Director in Charge of the Middle
East and Africa at CIDA (Canadian International
Development Agency)
-Nurşin Güney
 Department of Political Science and International Relations,
 Yıldız Technical University, Turkey
-Peter Wagner
 Hungarian Institute of International Affairs (HIIA), Hungary
-Ryoji Tateyama
 Department of International Relations, National Defense Academy of Japan

【 Moderators 】
-Satoru Nakamura
 Graduate School of Inter-cultural Studies, Kobe University
-Hisae Nakanishi
 Graduate School of Global Studies, Doshisha University

※There is a change in the speaker
Summary:
On February 16, 2013, an international conference titled “Peace and Security in the Middle East” was held at Doshisha University.

The conference started with a keynote speech by Ms. Hisae Nakanishi who served as moderator of the conference. According to Ms. Nakanishi, this conference was held as a venue to report the results of a research project funded by the Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research, “Creating Interdisciplinary Research Collaborations for Prevention of Conflicts in the Middle East.” Designed to explore measures to prevent conflicts in the area from the Middle East to North Africa, this research project focused on the following three objectives: (1) to stabilize the situations in Afghanistan and Palestine, especially through reconciliation among opposing political parties in these countries; (2) to conduct research on the framework to develop interregional cooperation and mitigate conflicts in this area from the perspective of relationships with foreign powers such as the U.S., EU, Russia and China; and (3) to conduct research on security in the Persian Gulf, focusing on the human rights issue in this area, the role of Saudi Arabia, and the Iranian nuclear issue. Ms. Nakanishi also added that in this area, political, social and economic resources are currently distributed not only by governmental agencies but also by local or international NGOs, and further research is required in this regard.

The keynote speech was followed by four presentations. First, Professor Ryoji Tateyama made a presentation titled “Failure of the Isolation Policy against Hamas.” Israel blockaded the Gaza Strip for six years from 2006, and the U.S., Japan and other countries had imposed economic sanctions against and cut off diplomatic relations with Hamas that rules the Gaza Strip. However, this isolation policy resulted in strengthening the rule of Hamas, contrary to its intended purpose of weakening it. Professor Tateyama discussed the cause of the failure of the isolation policy, stating that the Hamas-Israel conflict is a typical conflict between parties in an asymmetric power relationship, namely a state and a non-state entity.

Mr. Peter Wagner then gave a presentation titled, “Preparing for the Endgame in Syria: Lessons Learned from EU and NATO’s Involvement in the Syrian Civil War,” in which he analyzed the background to the involvement of the EU and NATO in the Syrian Civil War in light of the difference in political aims among EU states as well as the necessity of the U.S. to cooperate with the EU. Then Mr. Wagner proposed a plan for the EU and NATO to resolve the Syrian Civil War.

Next, under the theme of “Conflict Escalation and the Reshaping of Foreign Policies toward the Arc of Conflict,” Mr. Norman Cook spoke about the foreign policies of major countries and international organizations in dealing with the escalation of conflicts in the area from Tunisia to Syria. He pointed out the emergence of new priorities and principles to be considered in formulating foreign policies against the backdrop of the escalation and intensification of conflicts in the aforementioned area during the past two years, and discussed the above theme in light of the history of cooperation and confrontation between the U.S. and EU countries in foreign policies for the area.

The last presentation: “Turkey’s Nuclear Policy in the Face of Iran’s Debatable Nuclear Program” by Professor Nurşin Güney, analyzed the nuclear policy of the Turkish government and discussed its characteristics and problems.

A lively question-and-answer session then followed concerning the presentations just made and there was also a summary of the discussions from Ms. Nakanishi which successfully ended the conference.
(Norimasa Fujimoto, Research Assistant, Graduate Student of School of Theology, Doshisha University)
*The entire program will be conducted in English
*Free of charge
*No reservation required

Hosted by:
Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (Research Representative: Hisae Nakanishi)
CISMOR

Co-hosted by: Graduate School of Global Studies, Doshisha University
Program