

1015 15th Street, N.W., 6th Floor
Washington, DC 20005
Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East
Michael Doran is a senior fellow and director of the Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East at Hudson Institute. He specializes in Middle East security issues.
Research Fellow, Center for Terrorism Research, Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Tony Badran is a research fellow with the Center for Terrorism Research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Washington Bureau Chief, <i>al-Rai</i> (Kuwait)
The assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri a decade ago not only cut down one of the region’s moderate Muslim leaders but also became a major catalyst for the broader sectarian war currently engulfing the Middle East.
Hariri’s death initially gave rise to Lebanon’s pro-democracy March 14 movement, one of the region’s most hopeful political trends. Over time, though, the country’s democratic dreams were shattered as the Iranian-backed Hezbollah tightened its grip in Lebanon and the Arab uprisings of 2011, symbolized in the nonviolent opposition that first arose against Syria’s Assad, descended into radicalism and war.
Indeed, in the wake of Hariri’s murder, clear fault lines are now readily seen between Sunni and Shia, Saudi Arabia and Iran, moderate and extremist. The question now facing Lebanon and the rest of the Middle East is which path will the region follow in the years ahead—that of Hariri, the moderate who sought to educate Lebanese students across the sectarian divide to build a bright future for the country, or that violent, anti-democratic ideology of his assassins?
Hudson Institute hosted a panel discussion on Rafik Hariri’s legacy and the future of Lebanon and beyond. Hudson Senior Fellows Lee Smith and Michael Doran joined Tony Badran of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and Hussain Abdul Hussain, Washington bureau chief for al-Rai (Kuwait) to discuss how Lebanon’s fate may shape the region for years to come.
An update on the war in Ukraine with Žygimantas Pavilionis, Radoslaw Fogiel, and Oleksandr Merezhko, chairs of the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committees of Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine, respectively.
Join Hudson Institute and International Republican Institute experts in welcoming award-winning Angolan investigative journalist Rafael Marques as he presents new information about the malign influence of Chinese aid.
Hudson Distinguished Fellow and former US Attorney General Bill Barr and Hudson Media Fellow Jeremy Hunt discuss how policymakers can restore the rule of law to America's southern border.
Hudson Institute will host Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Dr. Ely Rattner and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asia Lindsey W. Ford for a conversation on the Department of Defense’s vision for building a more resilient security architecture in Southeast Asia.