The Center for the Study of Islam & Democracy (CSID) and the Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion at Columbia University cordially invite you to a special event/discussion with the former Foreign Minister of Tunisia:

Could ISIS Allies Destabilize the Tunisian Democratic Transition?

How, and Why? What Could the US Do to Help Tunisian Democrats?

Friday, October 2, 2015

3:00 to 5:00 p.m.

School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA)

Room 1512 in International Affairs Building

420 West 118th Street on the corner of Amsterdam

Columbia University, New York, New York

Coffee and light refreshments will be available

with:

His Excellency Dr. Rafik Abdessalem

Tunisian Foreign Minister (2011 - 2013) and member of

the Executive Committee of the Nahdha Party

Moderator and Opening Discussant:

Prof. Alfred Stepan
Director of the Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religionand the Wallace Sayre Professor of Government, SIPA and Political Science Emeritus.

Dr. Rafik Abdessalem was the Foreign Minister of the post-revolutionary Tunisian government from 2011-2013 when it was lead by the moderate Islamist party, Nahdha. He is now a member of Nahdha's Executive Committee in charge of External Relations and quite informative about the current coalition between Nahdha and Nidaa Tounes. He is coming to Columbia directly after a visit to Washington where the security crises such as the recent attacks on the Bardo Museum and the Sousse Tourist beaches aimed at destroying the Arab world's best chance for a democratic success were the major subject.

Dr. Abdessalem was head of the Research and Studies Office at the Al Jazeera Center for Studies. He founded the Maghreb Center for Research and Translation and chaired the London Platform for Dialogue. He was also a visiting scholar at the Oxford Center for Islamic Studies. He has published two books and numerous articles in the leading Arabic daily Asharq Al-Awsat. From 1987 to 1990 he was a member of the Executive Office of the Union Générale des Etudiants de Tunisie (UGET). He holds a B.A. in philosophy from Mohamed V University in Rabat and a PhD in politics and international relations from the University of Westminster.

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