Name: Open Lecture: The post-Cold War Middle East and North Africa – the Arab Spring and the Islamic State
Start: 2025-03-25T15:30:00+01:00
Location: Faculty Council Room, Narutowicza 59a, 90-131 Łódź, Poland

$Open Lecture: The post-Cold War Middle East and North Africa \u2013 the Arab Spring and the Islamic State$

Following the end of the Cold War, the Middle East and North Africa seemed to adjust to the new reality of a unipolar world; however brief it proved, regional dynamics burst into the fore with unexpected force and relevance. The 2010s were defined by developments along the two essential characteristics of the region: ‘Arabness’ (the Arab character) and Islam. The Arab Spring surprised everyone and added a new interpretation to being an Arab, long lost in the pan-Arab slogans and political rhetoric. The Islamic State challenged the existing international order based on the ‘territorial state’ by conquering and claiming territory itself. And in the meanwhile, the most prolonged conflict between Israel and Palestine (the Arabs) quietly disappeared from the agenda.
Erzsébet N. Rózsa has an MA in Arabic Studies, Iranian Studies, and English Studies. She holds a PhD in International Relations. She is a professor at the University of Public Service, Budapest and an academic advisor at the Institute for World Economics of the Center for Economic and Regional Studies. She is also an External Fellow at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Her research fields include the political, security and social processes of the Middle East, Egypt, Iran, the Iranian nuclear debate, nuclear non-proliferation, the Middle Eastern NWFZ/WMDFZ, and the Euro-Mediterranean cooperation institutions.