Countering violent extremism remains a critical security challenge confronting Western democratic societies. Policy makers face difficult questions about how to prevent their citizens from engaging in terrorism, what to do with citizens that seek to travel abroad to fight in “jihad,” and how to minimize the potential for violent attacks when fighters return to their countries of origin. Local communities also have an important role to play in countering violent extremism.

Model United Nations provides students the opportunity to learn about and discuss today's most relevant issues of international diplomacy through participation in an academic simulation.

What is ISIS and what is the impact of this radical Sunni insurgent group in Iraq, Turkey, and Syria? Can continued US involvement in the region bring sustained peace or will it propel continued inter-sectarian bloodshed?
Three experts will share their opinions along with time for Q&A.

Lunch is provided.

Expert Panel includes:

The number of refugees entering the EU and Turkey has risen dramatically as a result of conflicts and crises in North Africa and the Middle East. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHRC) reported that European countries recorded 264,000 asylum applications during the first six months of 2014, an increase of 24 per cent from the same period the year before. The largest increase – 73 per cent – in asylum seekers was reported by countries in Southern Europe, in particular Italy and Turkey.

Dr. Luke Peterson will discuss his newly published book Palestine-Israel in the Print News Media: Contending Discourses in which he argues for the existence of national perspectives conditioning international events which are constructed, distributed, and reinforced in the print news media. Dr. Peterson will connect his research on representations of Palestine-Israel in recent conflict events with the ongoing news media portrayals of the Islamic State and American intervention in the Middle East throughout the course of the twenty-first century.

Jim Busis, CEO and Publisher of The Jewish Chronicle and former director of the Asia Pacific Institute at the American Jewish Committee, will discuss the past, present, and future of PRC-Israel relations.

The Global Studies Center, University of Pittsburgh presents Middle East Dialogues, a 3-part series of video-conference discussions with college students at American University in Cairo.

You are invited to participate in the discussion. Come and exchange ideas about the pressing issues of our times from students whom may have a very different world view. Read the two brief articles and come engaged to dialogue!

The Global Studies Center, University of Pittsburgh presents Middle East Dialogues, a 3-part series of video-conference discussions with college students at American University in Cairo.

You are invited to participate in the discussion. Come and exchange ideas about the pressing issues of our times from students whom may have a very different world view. Read the two brief articles and come engaged to dialogue!

Dr. Alpan, a visiting scholar in the Center’s International Research Scholar Exchange Scheme, will discuss how energy emerges as a practical security concept and is represented in policy discourses in Europe and Turkey. Ever since the end of Cold War and since 9/11 in particular, the concept of ‘security’ has experienced a profound conceptual change. This talk will examine the securitization of ‘energy’ within the EU and Turkey and its impact on from a comparative perspective.

Orientalism and Hollywood: A Match Made in Heaven

Join Dr. Luke Peterson, UCIS Visiting Professor in Contemporary International Issues at The University of Pittsburgh for a film screening event and discussion connecting the contemporary practice of Orientalism with modern American culture, Hollywood films, and twenty-first century American policy in the Middle East and beyond. The film screening and discussion will take place on Friday, September 19, 3:00-5:00pm in 4130 Posvar Hall.