PASEF/ASEF Luncheon

"The state of Kurdistan and the State of Kurdistan", Thursday, November 13, 2014

Dr. Brendan O'Leary will present "The state of Kurdistan and the State of Kurdistan," an up-to-date review of the politics of contemporary Iraq, and US foreign policy, centered on the Kurdistan region, which has recently come under attack from the Islamic State.

O'Leary is the Lauder Professor of Political Science at Penn. He was born in Ireland, raised in Nigeria, the Sudan, and Northern Ireland, and educated at Oxford and the London School of Economics. In 2014, he received the inaugural Juan Linz Prize of the International Political Science Association in recognition of his scholarship on decentralization, multinational and ethnic conflict, and federalism.

He was appointed constitutional advisor to the Kurdish Regional Government in Iraq from 2003-2009. From 2009-2010 he served as Senior Advisor on Power Sharing to the United Nations. His ideas contributed to the Good Friday Accords, which ended the sectarian violence in North Ireland.

O'Leary has published three books especially relevant to his November 13 talk: The Future of Kurdistan in Iraq (2005), Terror, Insurgency, and the State: Ending Protracted Conflicts (2007), and How to Get Out of Iraq with Integrity (2009).

The luncheon will begin at 12 PM at the University Club. Cost and University Club details.