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The Middle East Directions Programme in collaboration with the EUI’s School of Transnational Governance is organising the second edition of the MEDirections Summer School, taking place in Florence (Italy) on 9 – 11 July 2018.

The Summer School on Post-Conflict Stabilisation will focus on the main challenges facing the post-Islamic State (IS) scenario. It aims to provide policy-makers, practitioners and academics with in-depth analyses on the most relevant factors affecting these areas and the broader region. Three case studies will be central to the programme: Syria, Iraq and Libya.

A predominantly military approach by the International Coalition and the MENA countries characterises the fight against IS terrorism. Over the past year, IS has lost most of the territories it had controlled in Syria, Iraq and Libya since 2014. To date, post-conflict stabilisation efforts have been limited and have focused primarily on security and humanitarian assistance.

Fundamental questions surrounding post-IS defeat remain largely unanswered: How can sustainable pacification of the liberated areas be ensured? How can a local and national governance system conducive to long-term stabilisation be created? How can the impact of stabilisation and reconstruction aid be maximised? How can the IS military defeat’s influence on the jihadist sphere in the MENA region and in Europe be controlled?

To seek answers, the Summer School will address three strategic issues by drawing on practitioners’ experience, on the latest academic analysis and on field-based research:

1. The economic and security dimensions of post-conflict stabilisation: how to build an assistance strategy that provides basic services to communities;
2. Strengthening local powers and identifying local actors who can play a positive role in building inclusive governance systems;
3. The future of jihadist movements: how to build a narrative that counters IS ideology in the case-study areas and deal with IS’s former fighters or militants.

SCIENTIFIC COORDINATORS:

Agnes Favier (EUI) and Virginie Collombier (EUI).

INSTRUCTORS:

Frederic Wehrey | Senior Fellow, Middle East Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Amer Karkoutli | Syria Stabilisation Programmes Specialist

Loulouwa Al Rachid | Co-director, Programme on Civil-Military Relations in Arab States, Carnegie Middle East Center

Emadeddin Badi | Consultant and Stabilisation Facility Project Coordinator, Peaceful Change Initiative

Charles Lister | Senior Fellow, Middle East Institute

Oussama Chourbaji | General Manager, AFAQ Academy

Keynote lecture by Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou | Professor and Chair of the Department of International History, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies

For more details and practical information, please visit the dedicated webpage at: https://middleeastdirections.eu/post-conflict-stabilisation-day-military-defeat/

Link to the EUI’s announcement: https://www.eui.eu/events/detail?eventid=148566

Programme

PRACTICAL INFORMATION