Convening

Summary

This September, the RESOLVE Network’s 2017 Annual Forum, hosted by the US Institute of Peace, will feature discussions from preeminent international scholars and experts from across the Network’s 20 plus partner organizations. In addition to offering opportunities to connect with leading thinkers, practitioners and policy makers engaged in policy responses to violent extremism, the day long series of thematic panels and roundtable discussions will highlight findings from a year-long study on the rise of violent extremism in Bangladesh and preview upcoming research on the politics of religion in the Lake Chad Basin region.

AGENDA

08:15     Registration & Coffee  

09:00     Welcome & Introductory Remarks  

• Carla Koppell, Vice President, Applied Conflict Transformation, US Institute of Peace
• Thomas Hushek, Acting Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, US Department of State

09:20     After Raqqa: Responding to the Next Wave of Violent Extremism in a New Era  

• Speakers:
  • Ali Soufan, CEO, The Soufan Group
  • Geneive Abdo, Author, The New Sectarianism: The Arab Uprisings and the Rebirth of the Shi'a-Sunni Divide
  • Sahar Aziz, Professor of Law and Chancellor’s Social Justice Scholar, Rutgers University Law School
• Moderator: Candace Rondeaux, Director, RESOLVE Network

10:30     Coffee Break

11:00     Entering and Exiting Violence  

• Speakers:
  • Dr. Dale Eickelman, Professor of Anthropology, Dartmouth College
  • Dr.  John Horgan, Professor, Global Studies Institute, Georgia State University
  • Dr. Marc Sageman, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy Research Institute
• Moderator:  Ivo Veenkamp, Deputy Executive Director, Hedayah

12:15     Lunch

13:15     Concurrent Sessions 1

The Politics of Religion in the Lake Chad Basin  

• Speakers:
  • Ambassador John Campbell, Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations
  • Ibrahim Yahaya Ibrahim, Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Florida
  • Chris Kwaja, Lecturer and Researcher, Centre for Conflict Management and Peace Studies, University of Jos
• Moderator:  Susan Stigant, Director, Africa Programs, US Institute of Peace

Bangladesh on the Brink: Surveying the Evolving Geography of Political Violence  

• Speakers:
  • Wahid Abdallah, RESOLVE Network Research Fellow
  • Salina Aziz, RESOLVE Network Research Fellow
  • C. Christine Fair, Associate Professor, Security Studies Program, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University 
  • Ali Riaz, Professor, Department of Politics and Government, Illinois State University 
• Moderator:  Andrew Blum, Executive Director, Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice

The Demographics of Discontent: Identity, Migration, and Social Dislocation

• Speakers:
  • Camille Schyns, Program Officer, Libya and the Horn of Africa, European Institute of Peace 
  • Muhammad Amir Rana, Director, Pak Institute for Peace Studies
  • Emily Winterbotham, Research Fellow, Royal United Services Institute
  • Haldun Yalçınkaya, Coordinator, Security Studies, ORSAM
• Moderator:  Gary Milante, Director, Peace and Development Programme, SIPRI

14:45     Coffee Break

15:15     Concurrent Sessions 2

Filling the Vacuum: Insecurity, Governance Gaps, and Extremism  

• Speakers:
  • Cheryl Frank, Head of Transnational Threats and International Crime Division, Institute for Security Studies
  • Farrah Hawana, Associate Program Coordinator, SANA Project, Small Arms Survey
  • Philipp Rotmann, Associate Director, Global Public Policy Institute  
  • Imtiaz Gul, Executive Director, Center for Research and Security Studies
• Moderator: Cameron Chisholm, President and Founder, International Peace & Security Institute  

Bangladesh on the Brink: Community, Secularism, and Religion  

• Speakers:
  • Mubashar Hasan, RESOLVE Network Research Fellow
  • Niloy Biswas, RESOLVE Network Research Fellow 
  • Amena Mohsin, Center for Genocide Studies, Dhaka University
• Moderator:  Matthew J. Nelson, Reader in Politics, SOAS, University of London  

16:30      Reception