 On the sidelines of the second annual MENA Think Tank Forum (September 15-16, 2025), our Institute and the Arab Think Tank Network held a panel discussion on "Building an Arab Voice on the Governance of Global Public Goods" on September 16, with Roula Majdalani, Tarik Yousef, Ishac Diwan, moderated by Albert Kostanian. The discussion addressed key challenges and opportunities for the Arab region concerning global public goods and explored ways for regional and international collaboration that promote regional priorities while also supporting more inclusive global solutions. You can watch the full recording here: "SOVEREIGNTY RECONSTRUCTION, & REFORM: ASSESSING THE GOVERNMENT'S PROGRESS & LOOKING AHEAD"9/1/2025
 On July 4, 2025, the Institute hosted a closed roundtable on "Sovereignty, Reconstruction, & Reform: Assessing the Government's Progress & Looking Ahead," a discussion organized by a collective of policy institutes, including Arab Reform Initiative, Carnegie Middle-East Center, Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs, Kulluna Irada, the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies, Middle East Institute, and The Policy Initiative.
Moderated by Institute Director Joseph Bahout, speakers included The Policy Institute Founding Director Sami Atallah, Kulluna Irada Managing Director Diana Menhen and Minister of Economy and Trade Amer Bisat. Starting with an overview of current Lebanese political dynamics within the wider regional context, the discussion tackled the government’s actions and policy direction to date, how Lebanon should approach the procurement of aid, reform priorities and challenges, as well as challenges related to policy implementation and governance. أقام معهد عصام فارس للسياسات العامة والشؤون الدولية في الجامعة الأميركية في بيروت، بالتعاون مع كل من المعهد الفرنسي للشرق الأدنى (إيفبو)، والمعهد الألماني للأبحاث الشرقية، وجامعة "سواس" في لندن، ومركز البحر المتوسط لعلم الاجتماع والعلوم السياسية والتاريخ (MESOPOLHIS) جلسة حواريّة يوم الخميس 19 حزيران ٢٠٢٥ بعنوان "بعد خمسين سنة: ماذا ورثنا من حرب لبنان؟"، جمعت أستاذة علم الإجتماع السياسي ورئيسة تحرير السفير العربي نهلة الشهّال، ونقيب المهندسين السابق والرئيس الفخري لجمعية "إيكوموس لبنان" جاد تابت.
On June 5, the Institute and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) Regional Peace and Security Project held a workshop on “Which Role for China in Lebanon and Syria?” The workshop addressed China's growing role and influence in Lebanon and Syria
On April 4, the Institute and the Faculty of Medicine at the American University of Beirut launched the Program on Medical History, Ethics & Policy (MHEP) with a timely conversation titled “Crisis, Care, and Policy: A Conversation with Minister Haneen Sayed,” moderated by Joelle Abi-Rached, Associate Professor of Medicine and MHEP Founding Director.
As part of the 2025 Beirut Security Debates (BSD), the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy & International Affairs (IFI) at the American University of Beirut and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) held a Book Reflection on "The Temptation of Mars: War and Peace in the 21st Century," with H.E. Minister of Culture Ghassan Salamé, moderated by Institute Director Joseph Bahout. The discussion took place on Tuesday, April 8, 2025.
About the Event: While the end of the Cold War and the 1990s seemed to offer the world a perspective of peaceful and positive globalization, where wars and conflict could pave the way to an era of transnational and multilateral cooperation and global governance, the 21st century is proving this promise wrong. The use of force, preemptive wars, cross-border aggressions, and blatant breaches of basic humanitarian laws and laws of war have become frequent, and almost regular, since 2003. Is War back to our political normalcy, as a means to settle disputes, replacing collective security by law and norms with an unlimited use of military force as the sole and predominant language in international relations? What has led to this global and collective setback, and how do we address this new trend, which could threaten world security once again? In his latest book, “La tentation de Mars: Guerre et paix au XXIe siècle” (The Temptation of Mars: War and Peace in the XXIst Century; Fayard, 2024), Salamé draws the contours of the new global chessboard, based upon a quarter of a century of experience in international organizations. The discussion used the book as a basis for a wider debate about today’s world fractures and trends, with a special focus on the Middle East, where war has been reshaping the region for a long while, amidst talks of new dynamics of normalization and redistribution of power. |
