On Monday 9 July 2007 Dr Mamoun Fandy, IISS Senior Fellow for Gulf Security, will launch his new book (Un)Civil War of Words from 12.30pm.
As the war on terror rages, another battleground has quickly taken shape and is being waged on daily newscasts around the world. In the Arab world, al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya are leading the fight. But do these news networks simply provide the news? Or are they, as westerners suspect, tools used by governments and terrorists alike to relay their message to the man on the street as both Arab and Western leaders struggle to win the hearts and minds of millions of people? Fandy examines the impact that these and other news organisations have had on the war on terror, on the Arab world, and on the relationships that Arab nations share with each other, as well as those they share with the West. Focusing on al-Jazeera and other Arab networks, Fandy examines the battle between the Arab world and the West through the popular medium of television. He explores how autocratic governments control the media in order to preserve their own power while simultaneously engaging in a war of words, with their neighbours, the West, or many times, both.
Dr Fandy is the Senior Fellow for Gulf Security at The International Institute for Strategic Studies. Dr Fandy previously served as Senior Fellow of Arab and Middle East Politics at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University in the US, and as Editor of the bi-monthly Qadaya ‘Alamiyya (Global Issues). Prior to that he was a Senior Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington DC, Professor of Middle East Politics at the Near East–South Asia Center for Strategic Studies (NESA) at the National Defense University, and Professor of Arab Politics at Georgetown University. His publications have included Saudi Arabia and the Politics of Dissent; Kuwait as a New Concept of International Politics; and (Un) Civil war of Words: The Politics of Arab Media (forthcoming). Dr Fandy’s popular articles have appeared the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and more regularly in the Christian Science Monitor. He is a columnist for the Pan-Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat. He appears on various TV channels such as CNN, FoxNews, BBC and PBS , al-Arabiya and many other Arabic TV channels.
Copies of this book will be available to buy at the launch at a special discounted rate. Cash purchases only.
This meeting will be held on the 5th Floor at Arundel House, 13-15 Arundel Street, Temple Place, London WC2R 3DX.
If you would like to attend this book launch, please RSVP: Kathleen James on E-mail:
james@iiss.org or Tel: 020 7395 9109.
