NAMEPES Summer School
The Fourth Edition of the Summer School NAMEPES (North Africa and Middle East Politics and EU Security) will take place from 2nd July until 5th July at the University of Trento.
Contents
The Summer School intends to cover current developments of political and current affairs in the Middle East, but also to provide theoretical and methodological frameworks for those who want to enter the field of Middle Eastern studies (both in anticipation of an academic career and for a policy career). The macro-themes covered in this edition are the following:
- Theoretical approach: how to integrate IR and Middle East studies-other disciplines and integration with IR when looking at the Middle East.
- Peace and conflict in the MENA region-including Israel Palestine, regional role of Iran, with an additional focus on Yemen and its role over the Red Sea and the commercial routes.
- The EU in the MENA: objectives, tools and challenges-external action/ migration/ normative power vs economic power.
Teaching Committee
- Pejman Abdolmohammadi is Associate Professor in Middle Eastern Studies at the School of International Studies at University of Trento (Italy). He is also the Academic Coordinator of NAMEPES Project. His main research areas are the security and politics of the Middle East, with a particular focus on the geopolitics of the Persian Gulf and the Iranian domestic affairs and foreign policy.
- Ali M. Ansari is Professor of Modern History at the University of St. Andrews (UK) and founding director of the Institute of Iranian Studies. His research focuses on Iranian nation-building, social and intellectual history, ideology and myth, and Iran’s relations with the West.
- Giulia Daga is an PhD Alumna at the School of International Studies (University of Trento), currently a Researcher in the MENA Programme at IAI (Istituto Affari Internazionali) and an adjunct lecturer at John Cabot University, IULM University, and IES Study Abroad. Her research interests include the international relations of the Persian Gulf, with a focus on Oman.
- Fawaz A. Gerges is Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and holder of the Emirates Professorship in Contemporary Middle East Studies. He was also the inaugural Director of the LSE Middle East Centre (UK).
- Joel Gordon, Editor of the International Journal of Middle East Studies since 2019, is a political and cultural historian of modern Egypt and the Middle East at the University of Arkansas (US). His research focuses on political change, popular culture, historical memory and mass media, with particular attention to Egypt and the cultural aspects of Nasserism.
- Laura Guercio is a lawyer and professor of "Sociology of Political and Legal Phenomena" at the University of Perugia (Italy) and of “International Relations and Intelligence Systems” at the Cusano University (Italy). She has served as Secretary General of the Inter-Ministerial Committee for Human Rights at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and worked in several international projects in countries such as Libya, Yemen, Iraq, Iran, Palestine, and Afghanistan. Her research focuses on women's rights in the MENA region.
- Lorenzo Macellari is an Alumno of the University of Trento, where he graduated in European and International Studies, and in Comparative, European and International Legal Studies. He also worked as an intern at the Italian Embassy in Baghdad. His research interests include the evolution of hybrid regimes, focusing on the Iranian hybrid regime.
- Mahmood Sariolghalam is professor of International Relations, member of the Advisory Group at the Atlantic Council in Washington, and non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute. His research focuses on the international politics of the Middle East, Iranian foreign policy and political culture.
- Maysaa Shuja Al-Deen is senior researcher at the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies (Yemen). She has collaborated with Carnegie, Al Jazeera Studies Center and the Atlantic Council. Her research focuses on religious groups and actors in Yemen.
Admission
Eligibility requirements for non-UniTrento students
(remark for SIS students only): due to high demand, the cap of the spots for the Fourth Edition of the NAMEPES Summer School reserved to SIS students has been reached.
In order to apply, candidates need to fulfill the following eligibility requirements:
Academic background
● MA students, graduates, PhD students, preferably in Middle East Studies, International Relations, Political Science, Economics, Law, History.
● graduated with a BA degree are eligible only if they have completed at least one academic course in the field of Middle East Studies, or topics strictly related to this area.
English knowledge
● English B2 level
Application process
LINK to the on-line application [The link will be active from Monday, May 6th at 12:00]
The application process will be open until May 19 2024 h 23:59 (Italian time).
Students are asked to upload the following supporting documents:
- a CV
- an English B2 language certification (optional) or a statement certifying the level of knowledge
- a motivation letter.
Deadlines
May 19, 2024: Applications' Deadline
May 21, 2024: Confirmation of Selected Applications
Registration costs
- Non UNITN students: 400 euros
Tuition fee includes participation to the summer school intensive courses (full 4 days), coffee breaks and one social dinner with the speakers.
All other costs (travel expenses, accommodation, visa and health insurance, dinners, personal expenses, etc.) are at each participant's charge.
All the details concerning the fee payment will be available at the soonest.
Deadline
May 27, 2024: Participants' Registration Deadline:
Accomodation
Accommodation is not included. However, external participants may rely upon the NAMEPES team for assistance on accommodation. For further information please contact the team at namepes [at] unitn.it.
Past editions
NAMEPES Summer School started in 2021 as part of an EU co-funded Jean Monnet project that covered the first (2021) and second (2021) editions of the school. The third edition (2023) was conducted in cooperation with the International Master in Security, Intelligence and Strategic Studies (IMSISS), and was open only to IMSISS students.
You can learn more about the previous editions by listening to the alumni and to the Academic Coordinator Pejman Abdolmohammadi: https://www.securityintelligence-erasmusmundus.eu/the-programme/summer-university/
As part of the EU project’s outputs, NAMEPES produced additional learning material that is accessible online.
This included a series of short videos titled NAMEPES – Light. The series involved 5 international academics, each of whom discussed one the issues dealt with through the events of the project: UN Peacekeeping in the Middle East; the Arab spring; the EU migration policy in the Mediterranean; a changing balance of power in the Middle East; the Shia geopolitics. The objective of the series was to share some of the core issues covered in the other events of the project, together with additional insights, in order to overcome the movement restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic and reach a wider number of people. These videos have been published on NAMEPES YouTube and Facebook profiles, and shared also on its LinkedIn and Instagram pages.
Also, 6 selected working papers written by the participating students were published on NAMEPES website. These papers discussed some of the issues presented during the workshops / Summer Schools and engaging in wider reflections beyond the class discussions. These papers have been published on NAMEPES website and shared on NAMEPES social media pages, and can be retrieved from the links below:
Working papers 2023
- Curzi, Michele. "Oman's far sighted foreign policy: how moderation can shape geopolitics"
- Ullah, Zafar. "China's Emergence as Dominant Power in the MENA Region: A Smooth Sailing?"
- Piovesan, Giorgia. "Climate Change, Security, and the Middle East: A Critical Review"
Working papers 2022
● Wirmer, Allegra. “The Middle East between stasis and evolution: the case of the Islamic Republic of Iran”.
● Macellari, Lorenzo. “Dancing on the Heads of Snakes: Re-Thinking State Agency in the MENA Region”.
● Sip, David. “NAMEPES in 2022”.
Working papers 2021
● Morreale, Laura. "Territorial control, recognition and external intervention in civil conflicts: is a new praxis emerging in International Law?", A critical review of the lecture “The Financing of Civil Wars in Syria, Libya and Yemen: An International Law Perspective” by Prof. Marco Pertile.
● Flynn, Martin. "The Challenge of Building a Common Migration Policy and the 2016 EU-Turkey Agreement".
● Chaya, Said. "Caught in the Saudi-Iranian rivalry: Lebanon in the early years of the Syrian War (2011-2015)".
● De Siati, Elisa. "Putin's 'Make Russia Great Again' in the Middle East, Critical Review of the lecture: "The International Relations of the Middle East: The resilience of empire" by Prof. Fawaz Gerges.
Academic Coordinator
Prof. Pejman Abdolmohammadi; p.abdolmohammadi [at] unitn.it
Contacts
- NAMEPES Team: namepes [at] unitn.it
- School of International Studies - Program Office: sis [at] unitn.it
in cooperation with:
