This symposium will focus on the effects of September 11, 2001 in the United States and across the globe and will feature distinguished scholars in the field, who will present on various aspects of the topic to help the audience better understand the impact it had domestically and internationally. MSU president, Lou Anna Simon will introduce the all-day event at 9:30a.m.

Thursday, September 15, 2011 | Ballroom, MSU Union

8:30am:     Check-In and Networking Continental Breakfast

9:30am:     Welcome and Introductions

10:00am:   Session 1: Overview

"The War on Terror: Comparisons with the Cold War"- Mark N. Katz, George Mason University

"The Rise and Fall of al-Qaeda"- Fawaz Gerges, London School of Economics

Noon-1:00pm:  Lunch Break

1:00pm-1:15pm:   Presentation By Institute for Social Policy and understanding

1:15pm-3:20pm:   Session 2: Regional Impact  

“The Impact of 9/11 on the Arab World” - Andrew Flibbert, Trinity College

“The Implications of 9/11 for Iran and Turkey” - Mohammed Ayoob, Michigan State University

"The Impact of 9/11 on Afghanistan and Pakistan" - Christine Fair, Georgetown University

3:30pm -- 5:30pm:        Session 3: Evaluation

“The Domestic Consequences of 9/11” - Joanne Mariner, Hunter College, City University of New York

“Evaluating 9/11 and the War on Terror” - Ian Lustick, University of Pennsylvania  

5:30pm – 6:00pm:           Wrap-up Session (Tentative)

This event is free and open to the public. The Union Building is an accessible facility. Sponsored by the MSU Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives and Muslim Studies Program with the support of other co-sponsors.

Panel of experts:

C. Christine Fair is an Assistant Professor in the Center for Peace and Security Studies (CPASS) within Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service.She has authored, co-authored and co-edited several books including Treading Softly on Sacred Ground: Counterinsurgency Operations on Sacred Space (OUP, 2008 with Sumit Ganguly); The Madrassah Challenge: Militancy and Religious Education in Pakistan (USIP, 2008); Fortifying Pakistan: The Role of U.S. Internal Security Assistance (USIP, 2006); among others, and has written numerous peer-reviewed articles covering a range of security issues in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Iran and Sri Lanka. She is a member of the International Institute of Strategic Studies and  the Council on Foreign Relations. She has a PhD from the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilization (SALC) in 2004 and an MA from the Harris School of Public Policy as well as an MA from the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilians.

Andrew Flibbert is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.  He writes and teaches about international security and American foreign policy, with a regional specialization in the Middle East and North Africa.  His research has addressed the Iraq war, state failure, WMD proliferation, civilian suffering, human rights in the Middle East, and the political economy of cultural production.  He has published articles in Middle East Policy, Security Studies, Middle East Journal, Political Science Quarterly, and PS: Politics and Political Science, and he is the author of Commerce in Culture: States and Markets in the World Film Trade.  His current book project uses new theoretical work in international relations to explain American involvement in Iraq.

Fawaz A. Gerges is the Director of the Middle East Centre at the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Professor of Middle Eastern politics and international relations. He earned a doctorate from Oxford University. His special interests include Arab politics and Muslim politics in the 20th century, the international relations of the Middle East, political economy of the Middle East, risk analysis, state and society in the region, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and American foreign policy towards the Muslim world. He is author of several acclaimed books, including Obama and the Middle East: Overcoming the Bitter Inheritance; The Rise and Fall of Al Qaeda: Debunking the Terrorism Narrative; The Far Enemy: Why Jihad Went Global; America and Political Islam: Clash of Cultures or Clash of Interests?; and The Superpowers and the Middle East: Regional and International Politics. His many articles and interviews have appeared in media outlets worldwide.

Mark N. Katz is Professor of Government and Politics at George Mason University (Fairfax, VA). He writes on Russian foreign policy, the international relations of the Middle East, and transnational revolutionary movements. He has been a research fellow at the Brookings Institution, held a temporary appointment as a Soviet affairs analyst at the U.S. Department of State, was a Rockefeller Foundation international relations fellow, and was a Kennan Institute research scholar and research associate. He has also received a U.S. Institute of Peace fellowship and grant, and several Earhart Foundation fellowship research grants. He is currently a non-resident senior fellow at the Middle East Policy Council in Washington, DC. Links to many of his publications can be found on his website: www.marknkatz.com. (Ph.D., M.I.T.)

Ian S. Lustick is a Political Scientist specializing in applications of social science theory across a variety of substantive and theoretical domains.  He is also specialist on the modern history and politics of the Middle East and is currently the Bess W. Heyman Professor of Political science at the University of Pennsylvania. His present research focuses the future of the Arab-Israeli conflict, on applications of agent-based modeling in the social sciences, techniques of disciplined counterfactual analysis, the problem of modeling political violence, and applications of evolutionary theory. Dr. Lustick is a recipient of awards from the Carnegie Corporation, the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Social Sciences Research Council, and the United States Institute of Peace (Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley).  He has also done work on computer simulation projects funded by the Department of Defense.

Joanne Mariner is the Rita Hauser Director of Hunter College’s Human Rights Program.  Before joining Hunter in January 2011, she was the director of Human Rights Watch’s Terrorism and Counterterrorism Program. An expert on counterterrorism laws and policies, Mariner has testified before the European Parliament about CIA activities in Europe, and is a member of the board of advisors of the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – The Hague. In 2005, she received the American Society of International Law's Distinguished Women in International Law award. She graduated summa cum laude from Barnard College and received a JD from Yale Law School.

Mohammed Ayoob is University Distinguished Professor of International Relations, Michigan State University. A specialist on conflict and security in the Third World, his publications on the subject have included conceptual essays as well as case studies dealing with South Asia, the Middle East, the Persian Gulf, and Southeast Asia. He has also published books and articles on the interaction between religion and politics in the Muslim world. He has been awarded fellowships and research grants from the Ford, Rockefeller, MacArthur, and MSU Foundations, the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, and the East-West Center, Honolulu, Hawaii. He has acted as a consultant to the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty; the High Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change appointed by the UN Secretary General; and the Ford Foundation. His latest book is titled The Many Faces of Political Islam: Religion and Politics in the Muslim World (University of Michigan Press, 2008).