Description
From Gaza and Lebanon to Syria, Sudan and Iran, this conversation examines what happens when states and societies begin to systematically unravel.
Exploring war, sanctions, infrastructural destruction, financial collapse and humanitarian breakdown, the panel will consider the political and human consequences of prolonged instability and institutional erosion.
Bringing together geopolitical analysis with humanitarian and economic perspectives, the discussion asks how modern societies survive under sustained pressure, and what the collapse of civic and economic life reveals about the changing nature of power and conflict in the 21st century.
About the Academic
Professor Paul Rogers
Paul is Emeritus Professor of Peace Studies at Bradford University. He is a biologist by original training, lecturing at Imperial College in plant pathology and working as a senior scientific officer in Uganda and Kenya. He moved to Peace Studies at Bradford University in 1979, working primarily on the changing causes of international conflict, especially in relation to socio-economic divisions and environmental limits to growth. He is international security adviser to Open Democracy, writes a weekly column, and is a frequent broadcaster. His most recent book is The Insecurity Trap, Hawthorn Press, 2024.
About the Speakers
Salman Shaikh
Salman Shaikh is the Founder and CEO of The Shaikh Group (TSG), a specialised peace-building organisation dedicated to mitigating and resolving violent conflict, with a focus on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Shaikh has extensive experience leading mediation and Track II diplomacy initiatives with local actors, governments, and key international actors – with a focus on Syria, the broader Levant, the Gulf region and Iran. Before establishing TSG, Shaikh was the director of the Brookings Institution’s Doha Center, where his research focused on conflict resolution, domestic policy, and geopolitics of the Middle East. Shaikh previously worked the United Nations in a number of offices. Shaikh also served as director for policy and research in the private office of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bin Nasser al-Missned, the Consort of the former Emir of the State of Qatar.
Alanoud Hamad Al Thani
Sheikha Alanoud bint Hamad Al Thani is a Qatari businesswoman. She serves on the board of directors of the Qatar Financial Centre and was appointed as the centre’s chief business officer and deputy chief executive officer in 2023. Prior to her appointment, she served as managing director of business development at the centre, launching initiatives to promote employment throughout the COVID-19 pandemic in Qatar. Sheikha Alanoud was the first woman and youngest person to be appointed to the centre’s executive committee. In March 2021, she was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. In 2022, she was a recipient of the Arab Woman of the Year Award and was named by Forbes as one of the 50 Most Powerful Businesswomen in the Middle East and North Africa.
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