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Rex J. Brynen

Academic title(s): 

Professor

Rex J. Brynen
Contact Information
Address: 

855 Sherbrooke St. W.
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 2T7

Phone: 
514 399-9646
Email address: 
rex.brynen [at] mcgill.ca
Office: 
Leacock 510
Degree(s): 

PhD, University of Calgary

Research areas: 
Comparative Government and Politics
Areas of interest: 
  • Conflict simulation and serious game design.
  • Security and development in fragile and conflict-affected states.
  • Middle East politics: Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon; Arab-Israeli peace process (with special emphasis on development assistance and refugees); regional conflict, security and development in the Middle East; authoritarianism and democratization in the Arab world.
  • Intelligence analysis and strategic forecasting.

Professional activities: 
  • CNN Academy (2022-present)
  • (2020-23)
  • Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council (2016-18)
  • Interdepartmental Experts Group on Middle East Intelligence, Intelligence Assessment Staff, Privy Council Office (1995-2018)
  • Special Advisor, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (1995-96)
  • Political and Security Policy Staff, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (1994-95)
  • Short-term consultant to: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada,Canadian International Development Agency, Department of National Defence, Defence Research & Development Canada, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (UK Ministry of Defence), Global Affairs Canada, International Development Research Centre, Privy Council Office, NATO, Slitherine Software, US Department of State,World Bank, various United Nations agencies, and others.
Selected publications: 

Books

  • , 9th ed. (with Howard Handelman). New York:Rowman & Littlefield, 2019.
  • (co-editor and contributor, with Roula el-Rifai). London: Pluto Books, 2013.
  • (co-editor and contributor, with Roula el-Rifai). London: Pluto Books, 2013.
  • (coauthor with Pete Moore, Bassel Salloukh, and Marie-Joelle Zahar). Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2012.
  • (co-editor and contributor, with Roula el-Rifai). London: I.B. Tauris, 2007.
  • (co-editor and contributor, with Bassel Salloukh). London: Ashgate, 2004.
  • Washington DC: United States Institute of Peace, 2000.
  • ,(co-editor and contributor, with Bahgat Korany and Paul Noble), Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1998.
  • ,(co-editor and contributor, with Bahgat Korany and Paul Noble). Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1995.
  • The Many Faces of National Security in the Arab World.(coeditor and contributor, with Bahgat Korany and Paul Noble). London: Macmillan, 1993.
  • Echoes of the Intifada: Regional Repercussions of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict.(editor, and contributor with Neil Caplan) Boulder: Westview Press, 1991.
  • Sanctuary and Survival: The PLO in Lebanon.Boulder: Westview Press, 1990.

Serious Games (selected)

  • with Juliette Le Ménahèze, Harrison Brewer, and Brian Train (Nuts! Publishing, 2022).
  • Delivering the Needle: COVID-19 vaccine national tabletop exercise (Public Health Agency of Canada, 2020)
  • (The New Yorker, 2020)
  • (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 2020)
  • (The Game Crafter, 2017)
  • (Global Affairs Canada, 2017)
  • (The Game Crafter, 2016)
  • (The Game Crafter, 2015)

Articles and Book Chapters

  • Rex Brynen, “All Politics is Local? A Stakeholder Consultation Classroom Simulation,” in Ryan Gibb et al, eds. Short Games and Active Learning in Political Science: Beating the Clock (Taylor & Francis, forthcoming).
  • “Gaming ‘Fog and Friction’: How Simulations Enhance Student Learning of Complex Policy Processes.” In Matthew Schnurr and Ann Macleod, eds., (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2021).
  • “,” Digital War (Summer 2020).
  • "."In Mick Dumper, ed.,Contested Holy Cities: Urban Dimensions of Religious Conflicts(London: Routledge, 2019).
  • “Democracy and Security in the post-Arab Spring Middle East.” In Anders Jägerskog, Michael Schulz, and Ashok Swain, eds.,The Routledge Handbook on Middle Eastern Security(London: 2019).
  • Rex Brynen, “Incorporating Nonkinetic Effects and Semicooperative Play into Wargame Design.” In Graham Longley-Brown, Successful Professional Wargames: A Practitioner’s Guide (History of Wargaming Project, 2019).
  • "." (with Simon Drees and Karin Geffert). GMS Journal for Medical Education 35, 4 (2018).
  • “ISIS Crisis: Using a Matrix Game to Explore Contemporary Conflict.” In John Curry, Chris Engle, and Peter Perla,eds.,The Matrix Game Handbook: Professional Applications from Education to Analysis and Wargaming (History of Wargaming Project, 2018).
  • "Compensation for Palestinian Refugees: Law, Politics, and Praxis," Israel Law Review51, 1 (2018).
  • "Here (Very Likely) Be Dragons: The Challenges of Strategic Forecasting."In Thomas Juneau, ed.,(Rowman & Littlefield, 2017).
  • "Gaming the Non-Kinetic." InPat Harrigan and Matthew Kirschenbaum, eds.,(Cambridge: MIT Press, 2016).
  • “,”Revista Española de Desarrollo y Cooperación35 (Winter 2015).
  • ","International Peacekeeping21, 4 (2014).
  • "UNRWA as Avatar: Current Debates on the Agency — and their Implications." In Sari Hanafi, Leila Hilal, and Lex Takkenberg., eds.. London: Routledge, 2014.
  • "" (with Gary Milante).Simulation & Gaming44, 1 (February 2013).
  • ","Middle East Journal, 67, 1 (Winter 2013).
  • "Refugees." In Joel Peters and David Newman, eds.. (London: Routledge, 2012).
  • “The Iraq War and (non)Democratization in the Arab World.” In Mokhtar Lamani and Bessma Momani, eds.From Desolation to Reconstruction: Iraq’s Troubled Journey(Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2010).
  • ,PS: Political Science & Politics43 (January 2010).
  • “Palestine: Building Neither Peace Nor State” In Charles Call and Vanessa Hawkins Wyeth, eds.,Building States to Build Peace(Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2008).
  • “Aid as Carrot, Aid as Stick: The Politics of Aid Conditionality in the Palestinian Territories,"Accord(2008).
  • “Canada's Role in the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process”. In Paul Heinbecker and Bessma Momani, eds,Canada and the Middle East: In Theory and Practice(Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2007).
  • “Managing Public Resources: The Experience of the Palestinian “Proto-State””. In James Boyce and Madalene O’Donnell, eds,Peace and the Public Purse: Economic Policies for Postwar Statebuilding(Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2007).
  • (with David Romano) “The Palestinians: Finding No Freedom in Liberation” In Ray Hinnebusch and Rick Fawn, eds.The Iraq War: Causes and Consequences(Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2006).
  • “Perspectives on Palestinian Refugee Repatriation” In Mick Dumper, ed.Palestinian Refugee Repatriation: Global Perspectives(London: Routledge, 2006).
  • “Donor Assistance: Lessons from Palestine for Afghanistan.” In Gerd Junne and Willemijn Verkoren, eds,Post Conflict Development: Meeting New Challenges(Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2004).
  • ""Middle East Journal, Spring 2002.
  • "Mirror, Mirror? The Politics of TV Science Fiction." In David Schultz, ed.,It's Showtime! Media, Politics and Popular Culture(Baltimore: Peter Lang, 2000).
  • "Palestine." (with Hisham Awartani and Clare Woodcraft). In Shepard Forman and Stewart Patrick, eds.,Good Intentions: Pledges of Aid for Post-Conflict Recovery.Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2000.
  • "Building Economic Peace and Regional Security: The Primacy of Politics" [in Arabic]. In Augustus Richard Norton, ed.,al-Amin fi al-sharq al-awsat: tawjihat jadidah[Security in the Middle East: New Directions]. Palestinian Council on Foreign Relations, 1999.
  • "Recent Political Developments." In World Bank,Development Under Adversity? The Palestinian Economy in Transition(Washington, DC: World Bank,1998).
  • "Much Ado about Nothing? The Refugee Working Group and the Perils of Multilateral Quasinegotiation,"International Negotiations2, 2 (November 1997).
  • ","Journal of Palestine Studies26, 2 (Winter 1997).
  • (with Jill Tansley) "The Refugee Working Group of the Middle East Multilateral Peace Negotiations,"Israel-Palestine Journal2, 4 (Autumn 1995).
  • ","Journal of Palestine Studies25, 1 (1995).
  • "The Palestinians and Confidence-Building Measures in the Arab-Israeli Conflict", in G. Ben-Dor and D. Dewitt, eds,Confidence and Security Building in the Middle East: The Arab-Israeli Nexus(Boulder: Westview Press, 1994).
  • "",Canadian Journal of Political Science, 35, 1 (1992).
  • (with Paul Noble) "The Gulf Conflict and the Arab State System: A New Regional Order?"Arab Studies Quarterly13, 1-2 (Winter/Spring 1991).
  • "",Canadian Journal of Political Science, (1991).

Other Reports

  • Sean William Havel, Peter Dobias, Sarah Babbit, Suzanne Waldman, Rex Brynen, David Connell, Francesco Qualizza, Zoe Fajber,Alex Karasick, Use of Intermediate Force Capability Game Series: Information Operations and Information Warfare (U). Defence Research and Development Canada, 2022. DRDC-RDDC-2022-N337 (NATO UNCLASSIFIED/CAN PROTECTED A).
  • . Washington, DC: Atlantic Council, September 2016.
  • Building a Better Relationship: Palestinian Refugees, Lebanon, and the Role of the International Community,Ottawa: International Development Research Centre, 2009.
  • ,Chatham House Briefing Paper, June 2008.
  • . Chatham House, June 2008.
  • “.” Paper presented to the Metropolis Interconference Seminar on Immigrants and Homeland, Dubrovnik, Croatia, 9-11 May 2002.
  • Aid Effectiveness in the West Bank and Gaza. Washington DC: World Bank, June 2000. (principal author).,,,,,,
  • "." Workshop Report, IDRC/PRRN, July 1999.

Online Materials (selection)

  • "," Strategic Studies Unit, Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, 24 February 2023.
  • "," PAXsims, 15 January 2023.
  • "," with Ben Taylor, Public Health Ontario,31 May 2022.
  • "," PAXsims, 11 November 2020.
  • "," PAXsims, 30 June 2019.
  • ," PAXsims, 20 June 2019,
  • "," PAXsims, 10 October 2017.
  • "," PAXsims, 7 October 2017.
  • "," PAXsims, 9 September 2017.
  • "," PAXsims, 4 June 2016.
  • ","PAXsims, 5 March 2016.
  • ","PAXsims.
  • "l,"PAXsims, 8 March 2015.
  • ","Palestinian Refugee ResearchNet, 8 August 2014.
  • ","Palestinian Refugee ResearchNet, 30 July 2014.
  • ","PAXsims, 17 March 2014.
  • ","PAXsims, 23 February 2014.
  • ","PAXsims, 29 September 2013.
  • ",”CNN Global Public Square, 23 January 2012.
  • ","Palestinian Refugee ResearchNet, 26 January 2011.
  • ","PAXsims, 19 June 2010.

See also:

  • —a web resource on the use of simulations for teaching and training with regard to fragile and conflict-affected countries.
Courses: 
Group: 
Professor
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