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Jean-Pierre Cassarino holds a professorship at the Robert Schuman Center for Advanced Studies (RSCAS/European University Institute, Florence) where he directs the Return migration and Development Platform (http://rsc.eui.eu/RDP/). He is also research associate at the Tunis-based Institut de Recherche sur le Maghreb Contemporain (IRMC). Since the mid-1990s, he has published extensively on international migration, particularly on return migration and has carried out numerous field surveys investigating returnees’ manifold patterns of reintegration. Selected publications include: (ed.) Unbalanced Reciprocities: Cooperation on Readmission in the Euro-Mediterranean Area, The Middle East Institute Press, Washington, 2010; (ed.) “Conditions of Modern Return Migrants”, International Journal on Multicultural Societies, Vol. 10, Issue 2, UNESCO, Paris, 2008; (ed.) Return Migrants to the Maghreb Countries: Reintegration and development challenges, RSCAS, European University Institute, Florence, 2008; Tunisian New Entrepreneurs and their Past Experiences of Migration in Europe: Networks, Resource Mobilisation, and Hidden Disaffection. Ashgate Publishers, Aldershot, 2000. Email: [email protected]
Unforgiven and unforgotten: Beirut’s port blast one year on
On August 4, 2020, images out of Beirut shocked the world. Hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate exploded in the capital’s port, destroying most of the city and leaving behind 206 victims, thousands of injured, and hundreds of thousands of displaced. In this series, guest contributors join MEI’s resident and non-resident experts to reflect upon the political, legal, urban, and foreign policy implications of what may well be Lebanon’s crime of the century.
تحالف هندي-إبراهيمي في تصاعد: كيف تنشئ الهند وإسرائيل والإمارات نظامًا جديدًا عابرًا للإقليم
ثمة تحالف جيوستراتيجي جديد وملحوظ إلى حد ما وهو آخذ في التصاعد. لفترة طويلة، ظلت الهند وإسرائيل والإمارات تتمتع بعلاقات سطحية في مجال المعاملات، غير أن اتفاقيات التطبيع في العام الماضي بين إسرائيل والعديد من الدول العربية – وعلى رأسها الإمارات – جنبًا إلى جنب مع محاولة تركيا العودة كزعيمة للمنظومة الإسلامية والتباعد المتزايد بين الإمارات وباكستان، قد أوجدت تحالفًا غير مسبوق ولعله غير متوقع بين الهند ودول الاتفاقيات الإبراهيمية. هذا الاتفاق متعدد الأطراف قد يملأ الفجوة التي تُخلفها أمريكا في الشرق الأوسط كذا لديه القدرة على تغيير الجغرافيا السياسية والجيواقتصادية في المنطقة.
The EU and the Syrian conflict: A decade on, what comes next?
EU institutions and individual member states remain committed to the peaceful settlement of the Syrian conflict, but after 10 years the question of what to do next seems most pressing. Will the EU be a passive bystander, idly watching the actions of other international players like Russia, China, Iran, or Saudi Arabia, or will it take on a more active role? And what would such a role look like?
the years leading up to the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, the Taliban had strained relations with Iran. Tensions between the two sides escalated to the point that the Iranian government and the Quds Force actually assisted American forces during the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.
Tehran’s policy toward the Afghan Taliban has created new clashes within Iranian government circles. These clashes recently escalated as influential hard-line media and associates of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) made public efforts to portray the Taliban in a positive light.
Testimony | “Lebanon: Assessing Political Paralysis, Economic Crisis, and Challenges for U.S. Policy”
The following testimony was presented to the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East, North Africa, and Global Counterterrorism on July 29, 2021.
Chairman Deutsch, Ranking Member Wilson, distinguished Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for this opportunity to offer my thoughts on the unfolding economic and political crises in Lebanon, and their implications for U.S. policy.
حلقة 42: آفاق التشكيل الحكومي في لبنان — مع كريس أبي ناصيف
يستضيف إبراهيم الأصيل في هذه الحلقة مدير برنامج لبنان في معهد الشرق الأوسط، كريس أبي ناصيف، لمناقشة آفاق تشكيل الحكومة برئاسة نجيب ميقاتي والسيناريوهات المتوقعة.
On August 4, 2020, a cache of improperly stored ammonium nitrate caused a devastating blast in the port of Beirut. Chris Abi-Nassif, Mona Fawaz, and Aya Majzoub join host Alistair Taylor to discuss the investigation into the blast, the reconstruction process, and the political, economic, and social impact in Lebanon.
Intissar Fakir and Fadil Aliriza of MEI’s Program on North Africa and the Sahel discuss the context and consequences of Tunisian President Kais Saied’s political maneuvers earlier this week, which opponents were quick to label a “coup.”
Missing the bigger implications of US withdrawal from Afghanistan
As the United States exits from Afghanistan, on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, it is important to reflect on the broader and longer-term reverberations of that withdrawal. In examining the withdrawal, peace process, and the recent dynamic of militia building and Taliban control, it’s becoming clear that a different transnational threat to U.S. interests is emerging.
