In this lecture, Professor Selim will review and account for the relations between Kuwait and the twelve countries comprising the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). He will assess the main dilemmas of these relations and suggest  modalities for their further development. To achieve these objectives he will analyse Kuwait-CIS relations within analytical frameworks used to account for relations between two unequal parties.

Dr Suhrke will discuss her book on Afghanistan. An analytical narrative of the international involvement after 2001, the book addresses a series of questions concerning the dynamic of the intervention and its related peace-building mission. What explains the apparent systemic bias towards a deeper and broader international involvement over almost a decade? To what extent do tensions inherent in the project itself explain the very mixed results? What are the implications for the future?

The Arab Spring began in Tunisia in December 2010 and the country is still leading the way in Arab transitions to democratic government. In October 2011, Tunisia held its first genuinely free and fair elections since independence in 1956 and a coalition government has since been formed which includes both Islamists and secularists, and which is preparing a new constitution that will in turn set the rules for presidential and national assembly elections within a year.

Niilofur Farrukh’s presentation will have two layers. The first will focus on the curatorial strategy  that aimed to bring this taboo subject under discussion and seek justice for the fi ve women who were buried alive in the name of honour in Nasirabad in 2007. The two year long tour was designed to take the exhibition to towns close to the region with the highest rate of honour crimes in Pakistan as well as large cities.