Last two lectures by Gilles Kepel for the first "Inside the MEM" series

The final lectures by Gilles Kepel for the first Inside the MEM series will be held on May 3 and 4. The lecture series that accompanied students and the public on a journey of discovery through the new configurations and challenges of the Middle East Mediterranean region, will conclude with the conferences by Professor Riccardo Bocco (May 14), and Ambassador Cosimo Risi (May 17).

Professor Kepel will devote his penultimate lecture (3 May, 6.30pm, Room A21, The Arab-Israeli Conflict and Sunni-Shia Confrontation: New Fault-lines) to the great conflicts and divisions that have long characterized the region. He will analyse the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Sunni-Shia confrontation, and the war in Lebanon, including, the influences and the balance of the major world powers.  Exploring and identifying the causes in the past, the lecture will shine a light on the developments and the persistent, though changing, impact of these tensions on the present.              

The final lecture by prof. Kepel (Friday 4 May, 10am, Room A24, The Isis ‘Caliphate’ and its Aftermath) focuses on the genesis, the evolution, the vicissitudes and the consequences of the ‘Isis Caliphate’. It will draw a map of the territories controlled by Isis, describe the key elements of the terrorist propaganda and offensive, and discuss about the reconquered Mosul and the fall of Raqqa.

Closing lectures of the first conference series Inside the MEM:

• La questione dei rifugiati palestinesi in Medio Oriente
  Prof. Riccardo Bocco (Graduate Institute Geneva)
  Monday, May 14, 6:30pm (room A11, Lugano campus)
   
• La Russia di Putin in Medio Oriente e nel Golfo
  Amb. Cosimo Risi
  Thursday, May 14, 6:30pm (room A11, Lugano campus)

In anticipation of the important upcoming MEM Summer Summit to be held this summer in Lugano:

• MEM Seminar: 16 − 24 August 2018
• MEM Forum: 25 − 26 August 2018