invites you to a luncheon briefing: 

“Iran: Parliamentary Elections Under the Shadow of War”

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 featuring:

Hooshang Amirahmadi
Founder and President 
American Iranian Council (AIC)

and

Shireen Hunter
Visiting Professor
ACMCU

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In this panel, speakers will discuss some of the key forces competing for power in Iran’s upcoming parliamentary elections. The March 2012 elections for the ninth parliament since the Islamic Revolution in Iran will take place under the shadow of international sanctions and the threat of war. The ruling elite, although highly divided, is looking for large-scale participation in the elections as sign of popular support for the Islamic system. Meanwhile, the reformist camp is officially absent from the scene and aims at discrediting the elections as useless by claiming that the results are determined not by the people, but by powerful elements of the regime. Yet the elections will be hotly contested because of the deep splits which have emerged within the conservative ranks and the strong likelihood that some reformists will take part in the elections under the banner of some of the more moderate conservatives. The forthcoming elections are also significant because their result will indicate which tendency is more likely to win the next presidential elections in 2013.

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Hooshang Amirahmadi holds a Ph.D. in planning and international development from Cornell University and is a professor of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. In academic year 2008-2009, he was a Senior Associate Member at the University of Oxford, U.K.  Professor Amirahmadi has served as director of the University's Center for Middle Eastern Studies, and as chair and graduate director of his department at the Bloustein School. He is the founder and president of the American Iranian Council (AIC) (www.american-iranian.org), president of Caspian Associates, Inc. (www.caspian-associates.com), and was a candidate for President in the ninth presidential elections in Iran in June 2005. Dr. Amirahmadi’s most recent book on The Political Economy of Iran under the Qajars is forthcoming (spring 2012) from I.B. Tauris Publishers in London. He is the author of Revolution and Economic Transition: The Iranian Experience, the first book-length analysis of the post-revolutionary Iran, and three other books in Persian on civil society, industrial policy, and geopolitics of energy. Dr. Amirahmadi is also editor of 10 books on Iran and the Middle East, and 16 conference proceedings on US-Iran relations. He has authored over 200 scholarly journal articles and book chapters as well as numerous editorials, magazine articles, interviews and book reviews (in English and Persian). He writes for and edits the two official AIC publications, AIC Insight and AIC Update, and publishes in numerous electronic media. A frequent contributor to lots of conferences in Europe, North America, Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, Dr. Amirahmadi’s writings have been translated and published in Europe, Iran and the Arab World. Dr. Amirahmadi is a frequent contributor to national and international TV, radio, and newspapers. He has also served as consultant for the UNDP, the Aga Khan Foundation, the World Bank, and several governments, law firms, and private companies throughout the world. A recipient of many grants and awards from prestigious foundation and several corporations, his graduate teachings at Rutgers include courses on global restructuring and public policy, international economic development, and the Middle East in transition. 

Shireen T. Hunter is a Visiting Professor at the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding with which she has been associated since 2005. Prior to this she was Director of the Islam Program at CSIS (1998-2005), Visiting Senior Fellow and Director of Mediterranean Program at the European Policy Center in Brussels (1994-1997), and Deputy Director of the Middle East Program at CSIS (1983-1993). Dr. Hunter was also an academic fellow of the Carnegie Corporation of New York (2000-2002). Before that she was a Visiting Scholar at the Brookings Institution (1979-1980) and Research Fellow at the Harvard Center for International Affairs (January-August 1979). From 1965-1978 she was a member of the Iranian Foreign Service. She served in Tehran, London, Geneva (United Nation's European Office) and participated in UN general Assembly meetings in New York. She reached the rank of Counsellor. Dr. Hunter is the author of 12 books and monographs and editor/contributor of 12 books and monographs. She has published more than 40 book chapters and 45 journal articles as well as more than 200 opinion pieces in major U.S. and Middle Eastern newspapers. She has lectured widely in the U.S., Europe, the Middle East and the Former Soviet Union Republics to universities, government and business audiences and presented papers to conferences. She appears regularly in the media in the US and Europe including the Persian language programs of the VOA and the BBC. Her books have been translated into Arabic and Persian and are widely used in courses at universities. 

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Thursday, February 23, 2012

12:30pm - ICC 270

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Seating is limited.

Lunch will be served.

For directions to the Center and information on parking, please visit: http://acmcu.georgetown.edu/about/contact/