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Rebecca Anne Proctor is an independent journalist, editor, author, and broadcaster based in Dubai and Rome, from where she covers the Middle East and North Africa. She is the former editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar Art and Harper’s Bazaar Interiors.
Considering the Information Infrastructure for American-style Universities in the Middle East
Originally posted December 2010
In the past 15 years, American educators – faculty, librarians, and administrators – have been invited to transfer their expertise to the Middle East and to assist in developing American-style universities. Attempting to transplant a culturally-based educational system into new nations with different values poses unique opportunities to reflect on what constitutes American education and what components must be included in the transfer.
Western Sahara: Deferred Referendum or Lasting Settlement?
Over the last decade, the dispute over the future status of the Western Sahara territory, which has set Morocco and the Algeria-backed pro-independence Polisario front in opposition, has entered a qualitatively new phase. This is due to attempts at finding a negotiated outcome instead of the long-delayed self-determination referendum. The idea of a political solution to break a twice deadlocked (1997 and 2000) UN self-determination referendum for the Western Sahara territory has steadily revived the prospect of autonomous status for the territory within Moroccan jurisdiction.
Panelists will examine how the reverberations from last year's Arab Awakening, including the resulting unrest in Syria and the rise to power in Egypt of the Muslim Brotherhood, are re-shaping Hamas' relations with its patrons Iran and Syria, its rival, Fatah, and even the dynamics inside the organization itself.
