The presentation will focus on:
• How can conflicts be resolved in states where extremist organizations seek their own territory?
• What does the Arab Spring mean for North and West Africa and what are the prospects of developing democracy in these regions?
• What are the challenges for weak states in trying to combat terrorism and revolution from the grassroot level?
• What makes this region different for analysts to understand?

Dr. I. William Zartman is the Jacob Blaustein Professor Emeritus of International Organizations and Conflict
Resolution at SAIS and member of the International Steering Committee of Processes of International Negotiations
(PIN) Program, Clingendael, Netherlands and the International Academic Advisory Council on Mediation of the
UN Department of Political Affairs. He is the author and editor of many books including his most recent, The
Global Power of Talk (2012). He received his doctorate from Yale and an honorary doctorate from the Catholic
University of Louvain, and a lifetime achievement award from the International Association for Conflict
Management.

The Prof. Saul M. Katz International Lectureship on Economic & Social Development was established in
1994 by one of GSPIA’s founding faculty members, Dr. Saul M. Katz. During much of Dr. Katz’s tenure at
GSPIA, he served as the Director of Programs in Economic and Social Development (now the Masters in
International Development degree). Katz was considered an international authority on economic and social
development, with a special interest in the implementation of development policies, programs and projects. He
was a world renowned expert on agricultural and food policies.