S1E55 - Amichai Magen - Defeating an Ideology

In the wake of Hamas’ unprecedented attack across Israel’s southern border with Gaza, we met with Amichai Magen, Visiting Fellow in Israeli Studies at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies to take stock of the humanitarian and geopolitical dynamics in Israel, Gaza, the Middle East, and the globe writ large.  As the chess pieces of this conflict continue to move, the central question is whether pragmatic Islamic states can establish stability by resisting the seeds of chaos sewn by the “Axis of Resistance.”  The irony of jihadist terrorism is that Muslims disproportionately bear the brunt.  Tectonic plates are shifting.  Will Hatikva (The Hope) prevail?  Listen for what phoenix might rise from these ashes.  Magen quotes Israel’s first prime minister David Ben Guron to say, “If you don’t believe in miracles, you’re not a realist.”  Join us.

Biography

Amichai Magen is the Visiting Fellow in Israel Studies at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. In Israel, he is a Senior Lecturer (US Associate Professor), Head of the MA Program in Diplomacy & Conflict Studies, and Director of the Program on Democratic Resilience and Development (PDRD) at the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy, Reichman University. His research and teaching interests address democracy, the rule of law, liberal orders, risk and political violence.

Magen received the Yitzhak Rabin Fulbright Award (2003), served as a pre-doctoral fellow at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL), and was a National Fellow at the Hoover Institution. In 2016 he was named Richard von Weizsäcker Fellow of the Robert Bosch Academy, an award that recognizes outstanding thought-leaders around the world. Between 2018 and 2022 he was Principal Investigator in two European Union Horizon 2020 research consortia, EU-LISTCO and RECONNECT. Amichai Magen served on the Executive Committee of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) and is a Board Member of the Israel Council on Foreign Relations (ICFR) and the International Coalition for Democratic Renewal (ICDR). In 2023 he will join the Freeman Spogli Institute as its inaugural Visiting Fellow in Israel Studies.

Recent Article: This Was Never Supposed to Happen

Conversation recorded on October 13, 2023.