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The Middle East Institute is honored to host Riad al-Khouri and Graeme Bannerman to discuss "The Future of Democracy in Lebanon.”

Riad al Khouri is a Visiting Scholar, Middle East Center at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Mr. al Khouri is an economist specializing in the Middle East and North Africa region. He has undertaken extensive research on regional trade and political economy, among other topics, and writes widely about development issues. He taught economics at the American University in Beirut (AUB) and Beirut University College (now the Lebanese American University) and worked as a consultant for the European Commission, ESCWA, GTZ, ILO, IOM, OPEC Fund, UNDP, UNIDO, USAID, and the World Bank, among many other public sector organizations, as well as for numerous private firms.

Graeme Bannerman is an Adjunct Scholar at the Middle East Institute. He has run his own international consulting firm since 1987 that focuses on the Middle East and includes governments, private industry and educational institutions. Before entering the private sector, Bannerman worked on the staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1979 until 1987. His positions included Committee Staff Director under Chairman Richard Lugar. From 1979 to 1984, he was responsible for the Middle East and South Asia. Dr. Bannerman served as a Middle Eastern affairs analyst and on the Policy Planning Staff at the US State Department before going to work for the US Senate. He focused on Arab-Israeli affairs during the time of Camp David and the negotiation of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty. Bannerman has taught at several institutions including Georgetown University, the George Washington University, and the American University in Beirut. He also has participated as an international observer of elections in Georgia, the Philippines, Haiti, Pakistan, the West Bank/Gaza, Mongolia, and Yemen. The views expressed in his presentations are his alone and not those of the Middle East Institute.