<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#FF0022">TUESDAY October 26, 2010</font></b></div></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; ">Emile Bustani Middle East Seminar at MIT</div></div><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><div><b>Dr. Augustus Richard Norton</b></div><div>Professor of International Relations and Anthropology</div><div><b>Boston University</b></div></div><div><br></div><b>October 26, 2010</b><div>4:30-6:30pm</div><div><b>"Lebanon: Consensus in Times of Enmity"</b><div><a href="http://events.mit.edu/event.html?id=12784410&date=2010/10/26">http://events.mit.edu/event.html?id=12784410&date=2010/10/26</a></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><b>Abstract</b></div><div>Dr. Norton will discuss the role of political consensus and compromise in a political setting that no one group or sect may dominate. Outside powers, such as the US, have approached Lebanon at times as though a system of majority rule could prevail, whereas the usual pattern is consensual decision-making. He will analyze the rather unusual coalescence of several communities, but particularly the Shi'a and the role of several key regional players, including Israel, Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia; and compare the role of these regional players to the role played by predecessors in the pre-civil war period. Professor Norton will speculate on the likelihood of a new war with Israel, and argue that, should a war occur, the result would likely be almost certainly the opposite of what Israel might seek to accomplish.</div><div><br></div><div><b>Augustus Richard Norton</b> (Ph.D., University of Chicago) is a Professor in the Departments of International Relations and Anthropology at Boston University, and Visiting Professor in the Politics of the Middle East at the University of Oxford.<span> </span>He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and in 2006 was an advisor to the Iraq Study Group (“Baker-Hamilton Commission”).<span> </span>His most recent book is <i>Hezbollah: A Short History </i>(Princeton University Press, 2009).<span> </span>He directed the “Civil Society in the Middle East program”, and he has published a variety of books and articles on political reform, including <i>Civil Society in the Middle East</i> (E. J. Brill, 2 vols., 1995, 1996, 2005).</div><div><br></div><div><b>Seminars will be held at </b><b>building E51-145,</b><b> 70 Memorial Drive, Cambridge.</b></div><div><a href="http://whereis.mit.edu/?q=E51-145&zoom=16&lat=42.36226996640223&lng=-71.08632802963257&open=object-E51&maptype=mit">http://whereis.mit.edu/?q=E51-145&zoom=16&lat=42.36226996640223&lng=-71.08632802963257&open=object-E51&maptype=mit</a></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>For More information about the Bustani Seminar: </div><div><a href="http://web.mit.edu/cis/bustani">http://web.mit.edu/cis/bustani</a></div><div><br></div><div><br><div apple-content-edited="true"> <div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div><div><div>Contact: <a href="mailto:pardisp@mit.edu">pardisp@ mit.edu</a></div></div><div><br></div></div><br><br></div></div> </div><br></div></div></div></div><br></div></div><br></div></div><br></body></html>