CFR Academic Conference Calls

BYU is holding regular CFR Conference Calls. They are normally held in the small conference room in the HRCB (just south of the lobby). Here is some additional information forwarded by Cory Leonard.


On behalf of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), I invite you and your students to participate in the next session of the Winter/Spring 2009 CFR Academic Conference Call Series on Thursday, February 5, 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. (ET). Mona Yacoubian, special adviser to the Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention's Muslim World Initiative at the United States Institute of Peace, will lead the discussion on "Dealing with Damascus." For the complete schedule of upcoming Academic Conference Calls, visit http://www.cfr.org/educators/newsletter_detail.html?id=1275.

Ms. Yacoubian is the coauthor, along with Scott Lasensky, of the Council Special Report "Dealing with Damascus: Seeking a Greater Return on U.S.-Syria Relations." She has consulted for a number of organizations, including the World Bank, the U.S. Department of State, RAND Corporation, and Freedom House. From 1990 to 1997, Ms. Yacoubian served as the North Africa analyst in the State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research, where she focused on the crisis in Algeria. She is a frequent commentator on leading U.S. and international news outlets, and was a Fulbright scholar in Syria and an international affairs fellow at CFR, where she published a monograph titled "Algeria's Struggle for Democracy."

As background for the discussion, you may wish to have your students review the following materials:

1) "Engaging Syria? Lessons from the French Experience," Policy Briefing, International Crisis Group, January 15, 2009; http://www.crisisgroup.org/library/documents/middle_east___north_africa/arab_israeli_conflict/syria/b27_engaging_syria___lessons_from_the_french_experience.pdf

2) Richard N. Haass and Martin Indyk, "A Time for Diplomatic Renewal: Toward a New U.S. Strategy in the Middle East," Restoring the Balance: A Middle East Strategy for the Next President, a CFR-Saban Center at Brookings Book, December 2008; (The chapter will be included with the dial-in instructions.)

3) Scott Lasensky and Mona Yacoubian, "Dealing with Damascus: Seeking a Greater Return on U.S.-Syria Relations," Council Special Report, Council on Foreign Relations, June 2008; http://www.cfr.org/content/publications/attachments/Syria_CSR33.pdf

4) Jeremy M. Sharp, "Syria: Background and U.S. Relations," CRS Report for Congress, May 1, 2008 (Updated).http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RL33487.pdf

Irina A. Faskianos
Vice President, National Program & Outreach
Council on Foreign Relations
58 East 68th Street, New York, New York 10065
tel 212.434.9465 cell 201.463.4515 fax 212.434.9829
ifaskianos@cfr.org www.cfr.org