Think Tanks in the Middle East with Dr. Maha Yahya

Dr. Maha Yahya, the director of Carnegie’s Beirut Center, spoke to the third Tsinghua-SAIS cohort on April 11, 2018 as part of our Policy Research in a Simulated Think Tank course. Dr. Yahya is an alumnus of MIT and has an Associate of Arts degree in Architecture.

中东的智库

2018年4月11日，卡耐基贝鲁特中心主任马哈耶亚博士与第三届清华-SAIS学生举行了会谈，此次会谈为该项目模拟智库政策研究课程的一部分。耶亚博士毕业于麻省理工学院，获得建筑学文学学士学位，如今活跃于国际关系政策研究领域。

When asked about her transition from the architectural to the policy world, she explained that the fundamentals of engineering and the process of construction assisted her in developing general, interdisciplinary approaches to macro-level policymaking. Her first projects focused on the informal housing sector, which constitutes a significant challenge in regional economic development and provided the bedrock for her future success.

The Carnegie Beirut Center is one of the few places in the Middle East where open discussion is possible, as censorship in Lebanon is limited, particularly in comparison to neighboring countries. Beirut is the cultural and intellectual capital of the Middle East, and it has been Dr. Yahya’s mission to create a safe space at the Beirut Center for the discussion of diverse political and intellectual topics. She used the example of a recent dialogue including a Shiite cleric and a Tunisian atheist to illustrate the success of this endeavor.

To Yahya, the role of a think tank is to provide insightful knowledge and careful analysis. While occasionally such institutes may provide brief comments on current events, they are not journalistic organizations. Think tanks should provide powerful research, and aim to produce policy that can shape broader society. Yahya believes Carnegie is a unique, global, diffuse network that can provide a bottom-up perspective on international issues.

There are challenges to providing this kind of analysis and work. While Carnegie has the reputation of being nonpartisan and largely objective, cultivating a sense of credibility, there are areas where one must be careful. Yahya showed concern for those who may expose themselves to unwanted attention and scrutiny by speaking to the Beirut center about sensitive topics. Thus, even if conducting the research was safe for individual researchers, the center had to be conscious about protecting their sources.

During the conversation, Dr. Yahya spoke on numerous issues ranging from the Contentious Politics Project on which her center is working, to a discussion of the ongoing political situations in Syria, Yemen, Egypt, Tunisia, and Turkey. Reflecting on the current political atmosphere in these countries and the struggles some citizens face, Yahya commented that while the Arab Spring has led to a counterrevolutionary backlash from several authoritarian governments, people who have tasted freedom will not readily forget its flavor.

The Tsinghua-SAIS cohort thanks Dr. Yahya for her insights and perspective.

2018年4月11日，卡耐基贝鲁特中心主任马哈耶亚博士与第三届清华-SAIS学生举行了会谈，此次会谈为该项目模拟智库政策研究课程的一部分。耶亚博士毕业于麻省理工学院，获得建筑学文学学士学位，如今活跃于国际关系政策研究领域。对于这样的跨领域转变的选择，她解释道，基本工程原理的学习和对施工过程的了解有助于她之后对宏观决策的一般性和跨学科方法的学习。她的第一个项目中落脚于非正规住房领域，该类型住房的治理对于地区经济发展而言，是一个重大挑战，此次研究也为她未来的成功奠定了基础。

卡内基贝鲁特中心是中东少数可以公开讨论政治的地方之一，这是因为，与邻国相比，黎巴嫩的审查制度相对宽松。贝鲁特是中东的文化与智慧之都，耶亚博士的使命就是在卡耐基贝鲁特中心创建可以自由讨论各种政治问题的空间。举例而言，她最近的一次对话就包括了什叶派神职人员和突尼斯无神论者，不同人群的参与说明了这一努力的成功。

耶亚认为，智库的功能是提供有见地的见解和谨慎的分析。有时，这些研究机构也会提供简短的时事评论。但智库并非新闻机构，智库应提供具有强大理论支撑的研究，并且旨在制定政策，塑造更广阔的社会。耶亚认为，卡内基全球政策中心作为一个独特的智库，拥有全球布局的网络，可以为国际问题研究提供自下而上的视角。

要提供这种分析和研究还存在诸多挑战。尽管卡内基中心以无党派和客观著称，享有较高的声誉，具有可信性，但在某些领域必须小心谨慎。耶亚表示，她很关注那些因为向贝鲁特中心提供敏感消息而让自己受到不必要的关注和审查的人。因此，即使进行研究工作的研究人员是安全的，中心也必须有意识地保护信息的来源。

在会谈期间，耶亚博士谈论了很多话题，包括贝鲁特中心正在进行的“争议政治项目”（Contentious Politics Project），以及叙利亚、也门、埃及、突尼斯和土耳其当前的政治局势等。耶亚认为，在这些国家目前的政治气氛和公民斗争中，虽然阿拉伯之春引发了几个专制政府的反革命反弹，但自由的火种必不会熄灭。

清华SAIS项目的同学们十分感谢耶亚博士分享的见解和观点。