Abstract:

During his talk, Dr Gérard Chaliand will frame the rise of IS/Daesh in the global context of events which took place in the Middle East since 2003, and will attempt to answer the following questions: what is the military situation in Iraq and Syria. Which are the forces present on the ground, directly or indirectly. What are the perspectives ahead, on the regional and international level, for this war of attrition.

About the Speaker:

Dr Gérard Chaliand is a political scientist and has widely written about International relations and on geopolitics.

As an observer of insurgency warfare and terrorism, he has spent more than 40 years in Asia, Africa and Latin America and has had close battlefield contacts with African, South American, Afghan and Vietnamese guerrillas, among others.

Dr Chaliand has written more than 50 books, 22 of which have been translated into English.

His recent books in English are: History of Terrorism from Antiquity to al Qaeda (with A. Blin), U.C. Press, 2007, and Wars and Civilisations, U.C. Press, (forthcoming 2014).

He has taught at the Ecole Nationale d’Administration, as well as the War College in Paris. He has also been a visiting professor at Harvard, Berkeley and UCLA.

Dr Chaliand was Director of the European Centre for the study of Conflicts as well as an advisor to the Centre of Analysis and Planning of the French Foreign Ministry.

He has spent over a year in Iraq in the last 10 years and about the same length in Afghanistan, both during the soviet intervention and American presence. He has been a senior visiting fellow at the Centre for Conflict and Peace Studies (CAPS) in Kabul and has just being teaching a semester in Iraqi Kurdistan (Erbil and Suleymani).

Co-hosted by Embassy of France, Middle East Institute (NUS) and RSIS.