IRAQ & THE GULF

Peter W. Moore - Associate Professor of Political Science at Case Western Reserve University

Friday August 28, 2009
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Crawford Hall - Room 9
Inamori Center
Case Western Reserve University

Dear Colleagues,

The U.S. Military may “disengage” from Iraqi cities, but that does not mean the U.S. government is disengaging either from Iraq or the many conflicts in the surrounding region.

Pete Moore spent the last year as a Fulbright Scholar in Dubai, teaching at Zayed University and researching the economic dimensions of the insurgencies in Iraq. This has given him an opportunity for a different view of the developments in Iraq, relations between Iran and its neighbors, and how the financial crisis is influencing the Persian Gulf region.

We are very glad to welcome him back to campus, and that he will lead the discussion for the academic year’s first Friday Public Affairs discussion.

As usual, we will gather in Room 9 of the Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence, on the lower level of Crawford Hall, for free cookies, beverages, and brown bag lunch.

Best regards,
Joe White

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About Our Guest

Associate Professor of Political Science Peter W. Moore joined our faculty in 2005 and was promoted and tenured in 2007.  Pete joined us from a tenure-track position at the University of Miami, trading sun for snow and the beach for better public schools.  Cleveland weather likely did not seem too severe to him, however, as he earned his Ph.D. from McGill University and also held positions as a post-doctoral fellow at Dartmouth College and Assistant Professor at Concordia University in Montreal.

Professor Moore’s research focuses especially on the relationship between economics and politics in the Middle East.  One set of questions involves theories of the “rentier state.”  These theories argue that failures to develop economically successful democratic states are due in part to governments having sources of income that do not require support from the public (i.e. taxes); these income sources can range from oil wealth to foreign aid.  An example of this work is his article on “Rentier Fiscal Crisis and Regime Stability in the Middle East: Business and State in the Gulf” (Studies in Comparative International Development 37:1, 2002).  A related set of questions involves the relationship between organized business interests and the state, especially in  Professor Moore’s book, Doing Business in the Middle East: Politics and Economic Crisis in Jordan and Kuwait (Cambridge University Press, 2004).

Professor Moore’s second major project focuses on the economic dimensions of the insurgency in Iraq.  These involve factors such as the trade routes between Jordan and Iraq, fees for protection on those trade routes, and the business in trucking petroleum products that is created by blowing up pipelines.  Insurgencies and civil wars always have some economic basis, and in his work Pete is comparing the Iraqi situation to the histories of civil conflict in Algeria and Lebanon.  During the 2008-09 academic year, Professor Moore taught on a Fulbright  Fellowship at Zayed University in Dubai, which gave him an opportunity to do research at sites of major trade routes into Iraq.  He also had a fine vantage point to observe other dimensions of Middle Eastern  political economy, such as the effects of the financial crash on the Gulf, and the rising tensions between the United States and Iran.

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Friday Lunch Upcoming Topics and Speakers:

September 4: The Roberts Court: Past and Prologue? With Jonathan Entin, Professor of Law and Political Science; and Ken Ledford, Associate Professor of History and Law
 
September 11: Ohio’s Budget and Ohio’s Tax Code. With Zack Schiller, Research Director, Policy Matters Ohio
 
September 18: The Constitution and Human Rights. With Peter H. Irons, Emeritus Professor of Political Science, UC San Diego.
 
September 25: Where is Germany Heading? The September 27 Elections. With Mark Cassell, Associate Professor of Political Science, Kent State University

October 2: Burning River Reborn? The State of the Cuyahoga. With Michael Scott, The Cleveland Plain Dealer

October 9: ***Special Location - Clark Hall Room 206, the Baker-Nord Center Seminar Room*** Bush, Barack, and the Meltdown. With Kathryn C. Lavelle, Ellen and Dixon Long Associate Professor of World Affairs. Room to be determined

October 16: Virtue, Vice, and Contraband: The History of Contraception in America. With James M. Edmonson, Curator, Dittrick Medical History Center and Museum

October 23: Reforming Cuyahoga County Government. Speakers TBA

October 30: The University’s “Internationalization” Initiative. With David Fleshler, Associate Provost for International Affairs

November 6: Unhealthy Claims About “Healthy” Foods. With Hope Barkoukis, Associate Professor of Nutrition

November 13: What Should the Common Reading for New Students Do? With Mano Singham, Director, University Center for Innovation in Teaching and Education

November 20: Chesapeake Bay and the Need for Dark Green Environmentalism. With Howard R. Ernst, Associate Professor of Political Science, U.S. Naval Academy

November 27: Thanksgiving Break

December 4: What the Health Care Reform Legislation Will Do, or Why Health Care Reform Failed, or Health Care Reform: What Next? or All of the Above. With Joe White, Professor of Political Science

The Friday Lunch discussions are held on the lower (ground) level of Crawford Hall. Visitors with mobility issues may find it easiest to take advantage of special arrangements we have made. On most Fridays, a few parking spaces in the V.I.P. lot in between Crawford Hall and Amasa Stone Chapel are held for participants in the lunch discussion. 

Visitors then can avoid walking up the hill to the first floor of Crawford by entering the building on the ground level, through the garage area under the building. The further door on the left in that garage will be left unlocked during the period before the Friday lunch. On occasion, parking will be unavailable because of other university events.

For more information about these and other Center for Policy Studies programs, please see http://policy.case.edu.