Contributor(s): Dr Bernard H. Casey | Much of the discussion about the impact of societal ageing in Cyprus has concentrated on the fiscal costs associated with the public pension scheme. Less well known is the system of supplementary retirement provision in Cyprus. Since the Second World War, however, a relative complex structure was built up based on provident funds and pension plans. As well as being complex, the supplementary system was inequitable - public sector employees were considerably better provided for than private sector employees, and up to a third of the workforce had no supplementary provident or pension fund coverage at all. The financial and economic crisis, which hit Cyprus hard, had particularly dramatic consequences for its supplementary pension system. Provision for employees in the public sector was abolished completely, at least for new entrants. Provident funds, and those pension schemes that were funded, were victims of the "haircut", since a substantial proportion of their resources were held as savings accounts in banks. These deposits were large enough to be "uninsured", and, if they were with either of the two largest banks, they were "bailed-in" under the terms of the Troika's rescue package. Whether a system of supplementary provision will be rebuilt, and if so, how it might look, is an open question.

Contributor(s): Professor Yezid Sayigh | Professor Yezid Sayigh will explore the nature of Syria’s revolution, its armed rebellion, and its opposition. He will reflect in particular on the drivers and dynamics of armed struggle and its impacts, placing this in comparative perspective with other historical experiences and anticipating likely trajectories going forward. Yezid Sayigh is a senior associate at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, where his work focuses on the Syrian crisis, the political role of Arab armies, security sector transformation in Arab transitions, the reinvention of authoritarianism, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and peace process. Previously, Sayigh was professor of Middle East studies at King’s College London. From 1994–2003, he served as assistant director of studies at the Centre of International Studies, Cambridge. From 1998–2003, he headed the Middle East program of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. Sayigh was also an adviser and negotiator in the Palestinian delegation to the peace talks with Israel from 1991–1994. Since 1999, he has provided policy and technical consultancy on the permanent-status peace talks and on Palestinian reform. Sayigh is the author of numerous publications, including most recently The Syrian Opposition’s Leadership Problem (April 2013); Above the State: The Officers’ Republic in Egypt (August 2012); “We serve the people”: Hamas policing in Gaza (2011); and Policing the People, Building the State: Authoritarian transformation in the West Bank and Gaza (2011).