Birkbeck International Studies Guest Lecture

Mark Fitzpatrick — ›Iran and the Nuclear Crisis‹

With the process of the presidential elections in Iran fiercely contested and the outcome undecided, and outstanding questions on US-Iranian relations now imposing themselves ever more urgently, Mark Fitzpatrick will discuss the ongoing Iranian Nuclear Crisis. Recent quote: "[R]isks are still best minimised by reinforcing the binary choice presented to Iran of cooperation or isolation, and strengthening denial of supply." Still viable?

Mark Fitzpatrick is an internationally acclaimed expert on nuclear proliferation who has had a long and distinguished career in the US Department of State, among other roles as Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Non-proliferation. Presently, he is a Senior Fellow for Non-Proliferation at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, where he directs the Institute’s Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Programme. Among his many publications bearing on the Iranian nuclear file, is the 2008 IISS report ‘The Iranian Nuclear Crisis: Avoiding worst-case outcomes’ (IISS Adelphi Paper 398).

Tuesday 16th June 7.00 pm Room B20 Birkbeck Main Building,

Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX

Free entry; booking required – email jo.kwok@bbk.ac.uk

Majma‘ TMN and Shiite foreign policy

Expediency Council Recognition of Shiite Foreign Policy?
http://www.csr.ir/departments.aspx?lng=en&abtid=07&&depid=74&semid=1421


K. Barzegar's article appeared previously in Heartland: Eurasian Review of Geopolitics 1-2008: 76-83.

Colloque international 'Regards sur les chiites en Europe' - Strasbourg, 25th-26th September

"The colloquium organised by the research Center PRISME (CNRS / Robert Schuman University of Strasbourg) will bring together some twenty specialists of Shiisme, Muslims in Europe, and religious minorities. It will be one of the first attempts to realise an in-depth analysis of the Shiite presence on European ground: re-structuring, re-composition of believing and acting, relations to ethnicity, nation, and modes of declinations of belonging to the Umma. La coopération entre différentes minorités ethniques et courants religieux, les interactions qui s'établissent entre l'appartenance religieuse et la politique dans les pays d'origine devront également être mis en lien avec la situation d'autres composantes musulmanes d'Europe" (http://colloque-shiisme.mineurel.info/index_EN.html, accessed 23 July 2008).

Birkbeck Lecture, London 24th June

The lecture takes place in the context of the Modern Iran module of Birkbeck's International and European Studies programme.

The argument builds on Dr. Adib-Moghaddam's latest monograph - Iran in World Politics: the Question of the Islamic Republic. London/ New York 2008: Hurst & Co./Columbia Uni. Press.

Modern Iran - Cert HE Module Birkbeck, London

Modern Shi‘ism and Identity conference, University of Glasgow, 25-27th April

http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/theology/research/centreforthestudyofislam/latestnewsandinformation/
Contributions: A. Ansari - Title (T.B.C.); S. Bahmanpour - Title (T.B.C.); M. van den Bos - British-Iranian sketches of European Shi‘ism; J. Cole - Millenarian Themes in Contemporary Iraqi Shi‘ism; E. Corboz - The ‘Sacred’ history of clerical families and its symbolic significance for the transnational mobilisation of the Iraqi Shi‘a; S.M. Ghari S. Fatemeh - Who is authorised to speak on behalf of the faith? Women and the position of Marja‘iyya; S. S. Haghighat - Iranian Identity in the West: A Discursive Approach; D. Hermann - Siyasat al-modon of ‘Abd al-Reza Khan; R. Gleave - Title (T.B.C.); M. Leichtman - The Africanisation of Ashura in Senegal; S. Mervin - “Authenticity”, show and politics: the Shi‘i theatre in Lebanon; Z. Barth-Manzoori - Nationalism and Shi‘ism in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Compatibility of two Concepts of Identities with respect to the Educational System; M. M. Mojahedi - Shi‘ism in post-Revolutionary Iran: between Identity Politics and Traditional Culture; A. Monsutti - Shi‘ism and Political Mobilisation in Afghanistan since 1978; A.R. Norton -Title (T.B.C.); A. Sachedina - Shi‘ism and Identity: The Defining Moment in Contemporary Politics; D. Shankland - Trans Nationalism, Text and Faith amongst the contemporary Alevis in Europe; Y. Stoyanov - Title (T.B.C.); D. Thurfjell - Emotion and self-Control: A framework for analysis of Shi‘ite mourning rituals; R. Vissar - The Sadrists Between Mahdism, Neo-Akhbarism and Usuli Orthodoxy: Examples from Southern Iraq.

NRC 5-10-1963: 'Nederland-Perzië in de Gouden eeuw'