This podcast is part of an ongoing TCF series that explores progressive policy proposals for America’s most pressing international priorities.

As part of our running series exploring in detail what an alternative progressive U.S. foreign policy would look like, on this episode of TCF World we turn to Iran. We analyze what an effective foreign policy toward Iran should look like, taking into account Iran’s destabilizing record of expansion and militarism in the Middle East.

Tensions with Iran are as high as they’ve been in decades, after U.S. President Donald J. Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal negotiated by his predecessor. Today, the most pressing matter is how to avoid an escalation with Iran that leads to war. 

If and when this crisis passes, what are the options for salvaging the deal, or managing the fallout of its collapse? The original nuclear deal was negotiated in 2015 and is known by its formal title, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Many of the deal’s supporters, including several candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination, argue that the United States should reenter the original deal after Trump is no longer in office. We explore how the original deal could be revived, or what could take its place if it has completely collapsed by the time Trump’s successor takes office in 2021 or 2025. 

Participants include:

• Ariane Tabatabai, associate political scientist, RAND Corporation

Progressives still have to figure out how to translate into policy widely shared concerns with global inequality, authoritarianism, climate change, and reflexive militarism. In this episode, Thanassis Cambanis, Michael Wahid Hanna, and Daniel Benaim discuss the contours of a future progressive foreign policy in the Middle East, what’s missing from the current debates, and the limits of American power.

Participants include:

• Thanassis Cambanis, senior fellow, The Century Foundation

For years, the United States has invested significant political capital in attempting to broker a peaceful resolution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. However, these attempts have largely failed. Israel’s occupation is more entrenched than most Americans realize, and Palestinian politics appear increasingly splintered. Many commentators and policymakers now believe a two-state solution is no longer viable. In this podcast, Khaled Elgindy identifies two main blind spots that have hobbled America’s role as an effective mediator: Israeli power and Palestinian politics.

Participants include:

• Khaled Elgindy, nonresident fellow, Brookings Institution

Although it’s still widely used by analysts and policymakers, the term “sectarianism” has distorted efforts to explain political dynamics in Iraq. Since 2003, Iraqi society has undergone significant transformations as a result of social, political, and other forces. Fanar Haddad discusses the drivers of political instability in Iraq. Sectarian dynamics have evolved, along with Iraqi views of nationalism. The political system has normalized, both domestically and regionally. A more inclusive notion of citizenship, Haddad argues, requires a strong institutional basis.

This podcast is part of “Citizenship and Its Discontents: The Struggle for Rights, Pluralism, and Inclusion in the Middle East” a TCF project supported by the Henry Luce Foundation.

Participants include:

• Fanar Haddad, senior research fellow, Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore

This podcast is in Arabic.

From the Queen Boat incident in 2001 to the waves of arrests following Mashrou’ Leila’s concert in Cairo in 2017, Egypt’s LGBTQ community has always endured a precarious position. In recent years, Egyptian authorities have directed a brutal crackdown against its members. Ahmed El Hady discusses the recent intensification of repression and the crisis facing LGBTQ Egyptians. El Hady, an activist and a neuroscientist, situates the struggle for LGBTQ rights in Egypt within the broader quest for political freedoms that began in 2011. Any discussion of rights, he argues, must incorporate LGBTQ rights as well.

This podcast is part of “Citizenship and Its Discontents: The Struggle for Rights, Pluralism, and Inclusion in the Middle East” a TCF project supported by the Henry Luce Foundation.

Participants include:

• Ahmed El Hady, activist and neuroscientist, Princeton University

Despite enjoying more autonomy than other parts of Kurdistan, Iraqi Kurdistan is losing its position as the center of gravity for Kurdish nationalism. The unwillingness of Kurdish elites to relinquish their power, economic crisis, and regional instability have made political evolution all the more difficult. As a result, Kurdish society and young Kurds in particular are disengaging from the political process. In this podcast, two researchers who conducted extensive fieldwork in Iraqi Kurdistan discuss the current political impasse of Kurdish nationalism. They argue for a new social contract that provides rights based on citizenship rather than party affiliation or patronage-based networks.

This podcast is part of “Citizenship and Its Discontents: The Struggle for Rights, Pluralism, and Inclusion in the Middle East,” a TCF project supported by the Henry Luce Foundation.

Participants include:

• Cale Salih, research officer, United Nations University Centre for Policy Research

This podcast is in Arabic.

The question of universal rights in the Middle East is a delicate one. As pluralism and rights come under threat from communal violence, authoritarianism, and religious identity politics, the call for universal rights becomes even more necessary. Yet marginalized groups face unique challenges that set them apart from the wider population. Our guests discuss the basis of rights and how to create inclusive forms of citizenship. The biggest challenge they contemplate is how to push for universal rights without erasing difference.

This podcast is part of “Citizenship and Its Discontents: The Struggle for Rights, Pluralism, and Inclusion in the Middle East,” a TCF project supported by the Henry Luce Foundation. This podcast is in Arabic.

Participants include:

• Karl Sharro, architect and critic

The question of universal rights in the Middle East is a delicate one. As pluralism and rights come under threat from communal violence, authoritarianism, and religious identity politics, the call for universal rights becomes even more necessary. Yet marginalized groups face unique challenges that set them apart from the wider population. Our guests discuss the basis of rights and how to create inclusive forms of citizenship. The biggest challenge they contemplate is how to push for universal rights without erasing difference.

This podcast is part of “Citizenship and Its Discontents: The Struggle for Rights, Pluralism, and Inclusion in the Middle East,” a TCF project supported by the Henry Luce Foundation.

Participants include:

• Karl Sharro, architect and critic

At the end of March, the last die-hard supporters of the Islamic State were driven out of the final remnant of a once-sprawling territorial caliphate encompassing vast swathes of Iraq and Syria. Associated Press reporter Sarah El Deeb covered the end of this phase of the Islamic State at the remote riverbank hamlet of Baghouz.

The group’s territory is gone, but the followers that El Deeb interviewed have not given up their allegiance to the violent group and its extreme, nihilistic ideology. El Deeb discusses the conundrum of what to do with thousands of captured Islamic State supporters—and her fear that it’s only a matter of time before the group returns in yet another incarnation.

Participants include:

• Sarah El Deeb, reporter, Associated Press

Technologies and methods of controlling civilian life developed and tested in the Middle East often migrate to the United States and other world markets, where they’re used on some of the most marginalized populations. In particular, the Israeli security industry plays a pivotal global role in developing policing tactics, weapons, and instruments, which are marketed around the world.

Shimrit Lee discusses the expanding Israeli security industry and how it promotes its products and security philosophy with a profound, if often unexamined, impact on global police tactics. Lee argues that the marketing tropes used by this growing security industry have contributed to further normalization of violence against civilians.

Participants include:

• Shimrit Lee, curator, writer, and educator, New York University