The Second Phase of Jihad : the Al Qaeda Era (1998-2005)

“Inside the MEM” is the global educational component of the MEM Freethinking Platform, fostering a greater understanding of the complex situation in the Middle East Mediterranean region.

Through a series of conferences held by renown French political scientist and arabist Gilles Kepel, Professor at the Paris Institute for Political Studies (Sciences PO), and Director of the Middle East and Mediterranean Chair at PSL Paris Sciences et Lettres Research University, based at École Normale Supérieur, students, scholars and the general public will have the opportunity to convene and share insights. This multi-generational, mixed format enables a broad discussion on the topics of political and social unrest in the MEM region, from the Arab Spring up to the current crises.

All conferences are open to the public and will be held in English.

For information and registrations: [email protected]

The full programm of the conferences for the academic year 2017-2018

2017 

• Thursday, September 21, 6:30PM, The Setting of the Postcolonial System in the MENA Region and its Ambiguities
• Friday, September 22, 10AM, From Nationalisms to Islamism: the Watershed Decade of 1970s
• Thursday, October 19, 6:30PM, The First Phase of Jihad: from Afghanistan to Algeria (1979-1997)
• Thursday, November 23, 6:30PM, The Second Phase of Jihad: the Al Qaeda Era (1998-2005)
• Thursday, December 14, 6:30PM, The Third Phase of Jihad: the Ideological Underpinnings and Implementation (2005- …)

2018

• Thursday, February 22, 6:30PM, The Dynamics of the Arab Upheavals of the 2010s: North Africa
• Thursday, March 8, 6:30PM, The Dynamics of the Arab Upheavals: the Arabian Peninsula and the Persian Gulf
• Thursday, April 12, 6:30PM, The Dynamics of the Arab Upheavals: The Levant
• Thursday, May 3, 6:30PM, From the Arab-Israeli Conflict to the Sunni-Shia Confrontation: the Great Powers Game
• Friday, May 4, 10AM, From the ISIS «Caliphate» to the Jihad in the West: the European Challenge