Featured Content Slideshow

Group photo of Crown-affiliated staff, faculty, fellows, and doctoral students

Who We Are

Crown Center faculty, staff, fellows, and doctoral students gathered recently at our two-day retreat, where the latest Center-based research was shared, workshopped, and discussed.

Israelis from the Druze community participating in a rally

Arabs in the Jewish State: Israel's Minorities and the War in Gaza

How is the Israel-Hamas War reshaping Israel's democratic foundations and attitudes toward national identity? Daniel Amir offers a novel approach to this question by examining the way the conflict has affected Israel's Arab minorities.

girl taking a selfie in front of a robot

New Crown Conversation — "Beyond Robots: Artificial Intelligence in the Middle East"

Nagla Rizk and Omer Shah shed light on how AI technologies are being used in Egypt and Saudi Arabia and reflect on the possibilities and challenges of AI in the region.

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The Crown Center for Middle East Studies is committed to conducting balanced and dispassionate research of the modern Middle East that meets the highest academic standards. The center seeks to help make decision- and opinion-makers better informed about the region. The scope of the center's research includes the 22 members of the Arab League as well as Turkey, Iran and Israel. The Crown Center's approach is multidisciplinary in its study of the politics, economics, history, security, sociology and anthropology of the region's states and societies.

Latest Crown Publication

Israelis from the Druze community participating in a rally

How is the Israel-Hamas War reshaping Israel's democratic foundations and attitudes toward national identity? In this Middle East Brief, Daniel Amir offers a novel approach to this question by examining the way the conflict has affected Israel's Arab minorities, who make up one-fifth of the country's population. Amir traces the legal status of minorities within Israel and compares the recent treatment and political mobilization of Druze, Bedouin, and other Arab Israeli groups. Such a minority perspective, Amir argues, complicates our image of the war and demonstrates how the internal debates around Israeli civic identity and belonging, temporarily paused after October 7, continue apace as the country battles its external enemies.

Image credit: Sebastian Scheiner via AP

Crown Center Analyses on Hamas and Israel

Seated on a stage from left to right: Michal Ben-Josef Hirsch, Khalil Shikaki, Shai Feldman, and Abdel Monem Said Aly

The Crown Center is dedicated to sharing balanced and dispassionate research on the Middle East. Please see the Crown Center analyses which delve into the roots and evolution of the conflict between Hamas and Israel.

Image credit: Craig Bailey/Perspective Photo

Upcoming Events

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Stay tuned for our Fall 2024 lineup coming soon!

Image credit: Mikhail Alaeddin / Sputnik via AP

Counter/Argument: A Middle East Podcast

Counter/Argument: A Middle East Podcast

Counter/Argument: A Middle East Podcast is produced by the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University. Through conversations with scholars and practitioners encompassing a variety of disciplines and perspectives, each episode will debunk key misconceptions about the contemporary Middle East. "Counter/Argument" is committed to a balanced and dispassionate approach to the region and to making scholarship more widely accessible. Available wherever you get your podcasts.

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subscribe, rate and review, and most importantly, please share with a friend! 

Image credit: Chae Lee