Post-Assad Syria: A Window of Hope or a New Crisis?

The Global Kurdish Initiative for Peace and the Department of Politics, Governance, and Economics (PGE) at the School of International Service is pleased to invite you for an insightful discussion on the future of Syria in the aftermath of the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. The event will explore potential pathways for Syria, examining whether the post-Assad era presents a window of hope, peace and prosperity for the country and broader region or heralds a new wave of crisis and instability under the new leadership in Damascus.

Key themes will include the new regime's approach for governance, the issue of minorities and women's rights, regional and international relations, and choices regarding Syria’s constitution and political system. The issue of federalism for Kurds in Northeastern Syria, its implications for Kurds across the Middle East and US strategic interests will also be key topics of the discussion.

The panel will feature distinguished speakers, including General Joseph Votel, former Commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM); Caroline Rose, Director of the Strategic Blind Spots Portfolio at the New Lines Institute; and Sirwan Kajjo, Voice of America (VOA) reporter and current MA student at the School of International Service (SIS).

Following introductory remarks by PEG Chair Carl Levan, the panel discussion will be moderated by SIS Barzani Scholar In-Residence and Director of the Global Kurdish Initiative for Peace Yerevan Saeed.

Food will be served at the end of the event.

Speaker Bios:

General Joseph L. Votel is a retired U.S. Army Four-Star officer and the former Commander of the U.S. Central Command – responsible for U.S. and coalition military operations in the Middle East, Levant and Central and South Asia. During his 39 years in the military, he commanded special operations and conventional military forces at every level. His career included combat in Panama, Afghanistan and Iraq. Notably, he led a 79-member coalition that successfully liberated Iraq and Syria from the Islamic State Caliphate. He preceded his assignment at CENTCOM with service as the Commander of U.S. Special Operations Command and the Joint Special Operations Command.

Following his retirement from military service, General Votel served as the President & CEO of Business Executives for National Security (BENS). He is member of the Board of Trustees of Noblis Corporation and a Strategic Advisor for Sierra Nevada Corporation and AGI, Inc. Votel is a Board Director with AeroVironment, Minnesota Wire, DC Capital Partners, Helix Decision Science and a member of the Government Advisory Board for Insight Partners. He is a non-resident Distinguished Fellow at the Middle East Institute and the Distinguished Chair of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point.

General Votel is a member the Executive Board at the UPenn Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law (CERL). He is a member of the Board for both Bravo Zulu House and the Veterans Defense Project. Votel is a member of the advisory Board for Spirit of America. He is a current member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Votel was recognized with the Distinguished Military Leadership Award from the Atlantic Council, the U.S. – Arab Defense Leadership Award from the National Council on U.S. - Arab Relations, the Patriot Award from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, the SGT James T. Regan Lifetime Achievement Award from the “Lead the Way” Foundation and the Freedom Award from the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum.

Votel is a 1980 graduate of the United States Military Academy and earned master’s degrees from the U.S. Army Command and Staff College and the Army War College. He is married to Michele; and they have two grown sons, a daughter-in-law and two grandchildren. The Votels reside in Lake Elmo, Minnesota.

www.joevotel.com

Caroline Rose is the Director of the Strategic Blind Spots Portfolio at the New Lines Institute, where she leads and produces research on the intersection of defense, security, illicit trades, and geopolitical landscapes from Europe to the Middle East and North Africa. Her portfolio at the institute includes two projects: the Project on the Captagon Trade and the Project on Post-Withdrawal Security Landscapes. Previously at the institute, Rose served as the head of the Power Vacuums Program. As of fall 2023, she is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service teaching a graduate course on the nexus of illicit economies, armed conflict, and insecurity.

Prior to joining the New Lines Institute, Rose served as an analyst at the forecasting firm and publication Geopolitical Futures, where she worked on political, economic, and defense developments in the Middle East and Europe, with a focus on the Mediterranean and the Levant. She is also the author of a special policy report on the trade of the illicit drug “captagon” in the Mediterranean and Gulf and its effect on security challenges – a culmination of her studies and field work as Research Associate for the LSE International Drug Policy Unit’s Middle East Initiative.

Rose has repeatedly briefed U.S. and allied ministries, intelligence agencies, embassies, and legislative bodies on the captagon drug trade and insecurity in the Middle East, and their effects on U.S. and partner interests. Her commentary and work on defense issues, security challenges, and geopolitical developments have been featured in The Washington Post, CNN, BBC News, The Sunday Times, Foreign Policy, Politico, Al Jazeera, BBC World Service, Voice of America, Deutsche Welle, Australian Broadcasting Company, The Financial Times, The Independent, and other outlets.

Rose holds a Master of Science in International History from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies from the American University’s School of International Service. She tweets at @CarolineRose8.

Sirwan Kajjo is a Washington-based journalist and researcher who extensively writes about Syria. He works for Voice of America (VOA) where he reports on Kurdish politics in Syria and beyond. Sirwan holds a BA in government and international politics from George Mason University. He is currently a graduate student at American University.

Carl LeVan focuses on comparative political institutions, democratization, and African security. His second book on Nigeria, "Contemporary Nigerian Politics: Competition in a Time of Transition and Terror" (Cambridge 2019), explains how the ruling party lost in 2015 – the first time an incumbent party had ever been defeated. He is the co-editor of three books, including most recently the Oxford Handbook of Nigerian Politics (Oxford 2018), a collection of 44 new essays, edited with Patrick Ukata. He has also published on the Boko Haram insurgency, power sharing in east Africa, the economic performance of coalition governments, comparative authoritarianism and property rights in Abuja, Nigeria.
His research interests beyond Africa include the politics of constitution-making. His 2017 book “Constituents before Assembly: Participation, Deliberation and Representation in the Crafting of New Constitutions,” co-authored with Todd Eisenstadt and Tofigh Maboudi, examines all new constitutions 1974-2014. His current research project examines problems of democratic politics in "post-truth" America.
Prior to joining academia, he worked as a legislative director in the U.S. Congress and then as an adviser to Nigeria's National Assembly. He publishes the blog, Development4security and tweets @Dev4Security. A frequent commentator on African politics, he has appeared on PBS NewsHour, NPR's Diane Rehm Show, Voice of America TV, BBC World Television, al Jazeera, MSNBC, Amy Goodman's Democracy Now!

Yerevan Saeed (moderator) is the Barzani Scholar in Residence at American University’s School of International Service and a non-resident fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington He is a TEDx speaker and former lecturer at the University of Kurdistan Hewler. Saeed previously was a visiting scholar and research associate at AGSIW. Saeed is a political analyst who researches and writes on security, political, and energy issues in the Middle East, focusing on Iraq, Turkey, Iran, the Gulf, and the Levant. He has served as White House correspondent for the Kurdish Rudaw TV, and his work has been published in the Washington Institute’s Fikra Forum, the Diplomatic Courier, The New York Times, the London-based Majalla magazine, Rudaw, Global Politician, and several Kurdish newspapers. In addition, he has been interviewed by Voice of America, NPR, CNN, Voice of Russia, and Kurdish television programs and newspapers. From 2009-13, Saeed worked with Stratfor; additionally, he worked for several media outlets, including The New York Times, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, BBC, and The Guardian, as a journalist and translator in Iraq from 2003-07.

Co-Sponsored by the Global Kurdish Initiative for Peace and the Department of Politics, Governance, and Economics at SIS.

Host or Publisher School of International Service