The revolutions that swept much of the Arab world in 2011 heralded not only political change, but also signalled to the Western world the need for new forms of engagement.
Dr Anne Aly has recently returned from a business and diplomatic mission in the Gulf and shares some insights into how Australian Arab relations can move forward in a time of uncertainty and rapid change. This seminar was presented by the John Curtin Institute of Public Policy on Friday 25th May 2012 at Curtin University.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgxWAXz-QBo[/youtube]
Chapter markers
00:00 – Dr Anne Aly Speech
35:13 – Q&A 1: Are the ‘Brotherhood’ far to the left or to the right?
35:54 – Q&A 2: What about women’s issues?
39:11 – Q&A 3: What do you mean by “an Arab form of democracy?”
40:38 – Q&A 4: Will America’s attitude to the new governments influence Australia’s approach to them?
41:36 – Q&A 5: What would the relationship be between an Islamic government and a Western countries?
42:49 – Q&A 6: How does economic policy work with high unemployment?
45:03 – Q&A 7: How do regional influentials, particularly small counties like Qatar, how they might influence the region?
46:13 – Q&A 8: Can you see a situation where Iran may overrun Kuwait again?
43:34 – Q&A 9: Do you see the secular civil elites re-establishing their authorian power in countries like Egypt?
47:07 – Q&A 10: Why now, and what effect did technology like Facebook, Twitter and SMS have?
51:25 – Q&A 11: Now that the youth are engaged in politics; after the revolution, do you think there will be strong leaders in the next generation?
52:32 – Q&A 12: In Egypt, what is the expectation of the ordinary man in the street from democracy?
About the speaker
Egyptian born, Dr Anne Aly is an Early Career Research Fellow in the School of Social Sciences and Asian Languages at Curtin. She is a nationally and internationally renowned scholar in the fields of terrorism, counter terrorism and radicalisation studies. Anne is the author of Terrorism and Global Security: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives (Palgrave Macmillan).
She was appointed a board member of the Council for Australian Arab Relations (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and also serves on the board of the WA Chapter of the Australian Arab Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In 2011, Anne was inducted into the WA Women’s Hall of Fame in recognition of her contributions to the field of security.
