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CIRS Newsletter | Spring 2012 | No. 12

Distinguished Lecture Series Peter Bergen on the Remaking of the Middle East

Peter Bergen delivered the 2011-2012 CIRS Faculty Distinguished Lecture.

On February 13, 2012, Peter Bergen Israel, sanctions against Iraq, as well as other delivered a lecture titled, “The Awakening: foreign policy critiques. Bin Laden described How Revolutionaries, Barack Obama, and the United States as weak and scarred from Ordinary Muslims are Remaking the Middle all of its past failed wars and pullouts from East.” In addition to being CNN’s security Vietnam, Beirut, and Mogadishu. This analyst, Bergen is a Schwartz Fellow at the analysis of a weak United States, Bergen New American Foundation and an adjunct said, was an important insight into why 9/11 lecturer in public policy at the Kennedy happened because it showed that Bin Laden School of Government at Harvard University. thought that he could pressure the United Bergen discussed five different but States into similarly pulling out of the Middle interrelated topics, which he listed as “Al East. It turned out, however, that “9/11 was Qaeda, terrorism, Afghanistan/Pakistan, a major strategic error for Al Qaeda because, the Arab Spring, and the influence of first of all, Al Qaeda—which of course President Obama on some of these issues.” means ‘the base in Arabic’—lost their base On the topics of Al Qaeda and terrorism, in Afghanistan,” he said. So, instead of the Bergen explained how he was one of the few United States being pressurized to exit the Westerners to have met the world’s most- Middle East, the reverse happened, and now, wanted man, Osama bin Laden, face to face as a result, the United States has increased its in 1997 in Eastern Afghanistan. During presence on the ground in several different that interview, Bin Laden declared war on countries of the Arab world. the United States because of its support for

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Spring 2012 | CIRS Newsletter 1 Director’s Welcome

Warm greetings from Doha. scrutinize the ways in which domestic political arrangements in the Over the past semester, CIRS Middle East are evolving, and how the authoritarian bargains are being has been engaging in productive challenged in the region by popular revolt. CIRS will probe some of research, publications, and the existing analytical assumptions and develop new understanding of public affairs programming. the drivers of change in the Middle East. Look out for a future CIRS We are extremely proud of the book on the topic in the coming year. For more information on the latest CIRS-produced edited working group held, please turn to page 4. volumes: Migrant Labour in Finally, we are conducting the second phase of the “Food Security the Persian Gulf, The Nuclear and Food Sovereignty in the Middle East” research initiative with Question in the Middle East, another Doha-based working group meeting. Last year, CIRS awarded and The Political Economy of the funds in support of empirically-based, original research projects on the Persian Gulf. All three books topic and the grant recipients have already made significant strides are published by Columbia towards completing their awarded projects. As with other research University Press/Hurst, and will initiatives, our goal is to fill in existing gaps in the literature and to be on shelves in April 2012. contribute original knowledge to this topic. These books are the result of As the 2011-2012 academic year draws to a close, I and the rest multi-year research initiatives in of the CIRS team look forward to hearing from you and seeing you which renowned scholars shared their original research towards these at one of our upcoming lectures. You may also keep abreast of CIRS CIRS-led research initiatives. You can read more about these edited activities by joining us on our Facebook and Twitter social media pages volumes and how to purchase them on page 3 of this newsletter. and by logging onto the CIRS website at: In addition, CIRS has recently published two new Occasional http://cirs.georgetown.edu. Papers: one on workforce nationalization in the GCC and another on transformations of regional governance within the Gulf region. Sincerely, We have also released a new Summary Report on the subject of “Nuclear Question in the Middle East,” which contains synopses of papers delivered at the working group meetings that we held at the Georgetown University in Qatar campus. For more information on our most recent publications, please refer to page 5 of this newsletter. With the events of the Arab Spring playing out in the background, Mehran Kamrava CIRS has put into action its newest research initiatives on “The Director of CIRS Evolving Ruling Bargain in the Middle East.” This project will Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar

About CIRS

The Center for International and Regional Studies at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar is guided by the principles of academic excellence, forward vision, and community engagement.

The Center’s mission revolves around five principal goals: • To facilitate the free flow of ideas and knowledge through • To provide a forum for scholarship and research on international publishing the products of its research, sponsoring conferences and regional affairs; and seminars, and holding workshops designed to explore the • To encourage in-depth examination and exchange of ideas; complexities of the twenty-first century; • To foster thoughtful dialogue among students, scholars, • To engage in outreach activities with a wide range of local, and practitioners of international affairs; regional, and international partners.

2 CIRS Newsletter | Spring 2012 Research and Scholarship Latest CIRS Books

Migrant Labour in the The Nuclear Question in Persian Gulf the Middle East Columbia University Press/Hurst, Columbia University Press/Hurst, April 2012 April 2012

“The Migrant Labor in the Gulf ” In early 2010, CIRS began research initiative is especially working on a research project significant in the current global on “The Nuclear Question in financial climate, and also given the Middle East.” Given the its size and significance in increased level of interest in relation to the GCC economies. nuclear energy worldwide, and CIRS undertook this research The Nuclear the particular implications for initiative in order to fill the QuesTioN iN The the region, this subject is one vacuum in the scholarship on Middle easT that required further scholarly Mehran KaMrava the conditions, composition, and Editor discussion and focus. Engaging overall significance of migrant with a number of academics labor throughout the Gulf experts, CIRS examined the region with new and original, previously unstudied aspects of migrant complexities and nuances of the subject, especially in relation to the labor in the Gulf region. tensions between nuclear energy and nuclear weapons. Migrant Labour in the Persian Gulf, edited by Mehran Kamrava The Nuclear Question in the Middle East, edited by CIRS Director and Zahra Babar, examines the multiple causes, processes, and Mehran Kamrava, is the first book to combine thematic and theoretical consequences of labor migration from the disciplinary perspectives discussions regarding nuclear weaponry and energy with case studies of sociology, anthropology, political science, and economics. It from across the Middle East. Beginning with the assumption that, in incorporates empirically grounded research to explore the diverse the current international environment, the energy and military aspects nature of migration and its effects on native communities, identifying of nuclear programs are becoming increasingly difficult to decouple, the functions of formal and informal binational and multinational this book comprehensively examines nuclear energy and security networks emerging from migration patterns over time. issues across the Middle East.

The Political Economy of the Persian Gulf Columbia University Press/Hurst, April 2012

The CIRS research project worked on individual country case studies. During working group on “The Political Economy meetings, the participants contributed their expertise, and began of the Gulf ” was launched in working on papers in their area specialties. The ultimate product of 2009. As with other CIRS this research project is a book The Political Economy of the Persian Gulf, research initiatives, after a edited by CIRS Director Mehran Kamrava. thorough review of existing Grasping the full extent of the political-economic situation literature on the topic, certain in the Persian Gulf, this book addresses key concerns such as the gaps were identified meriting future demography of the Gulf Cooperation Council; the feasibility further original research and of establishing a GCC monetary union; the effects of rentierism on scholarship. Select scholars were state autonomy; and the salient aspects of sovereign wealth funds and invited to participate in working models of Islamic banking. Contributors offer original, empirical and group meetings and to engage theoretical contributions to the study of the Persian Gulf ’s political in focused discussions on a economy. Each chapter is an in-depth work of scholarship that makes range of sub-topics. In addition a significant contribution to the field. to the thematic streams of scholarship that CIRS included For more information on how to purchase these books, please visit: in this project, several academics http://cirs.georgetown.edu/publications/books/

Spring 2012 | CIRS Newsletter 3 Research and Scholarship “The Evolving Ruling Bargain in the Middle East” Working Group Meeting

Members of “The Evolving Ruling Bargain in the Middle East”working group during the meeting.

CIRS held a two-day working group meeting on February 19-20, as part of the status quo and served as mechanisms of legitimation of 2012, on the topic “The Evolving Ruling Bargain in the Middle East.” the authoritarian state. The public protests that constitute the Arab Several scholars and experts on the Middle East were invited to the Spring are a means by which publics in Egypt, Libya, and Tunis, as Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) at Georgetown well as in other countries, voice their dissatisfaction with the status University’s Qatar campus to take part in the discussions. At the quo. These protests are unprecedented and reveal the existence of conclusion of the research initiative, the working group participants a whole generation of people who demand change and who are, in will contribute chapters towards a book on the subject. effect, the informal opposition. People have carved out a platform As a preliminary consideration before commencing presentations within which they are active agents of change who are able to negotiate and discussions, the participants questioned the terms of the debate questions of power, identity, jurisprudence, and accountability. Media and offered different analyses of what “ruling bargain” might mean in networks such as Al Jazeera, informal social media platforms, and different contexts as well as how this term differs from the notion of human communication networks more generally acted as catalysts for a “social contract.” There was consensus among the group that every transmitting ideas that have had far-reaching consequences and have state-society relationship is bound by an unwritten and informal inspired people all over the world to forge vibrant and creative political hegemonic understanding in the form of a social pact between the ruler cultures of resistance. and the ruled, whether authoritarian or otherwise. In many countries Other issues that were discussed during the meeting include the of the Arab world, this general understanding between state and public effect of the Arab Spring on the rise of Islamist parties such as the has been less of a “bargain” and more of a top-down “imposition” of Muslim Brotherhood; the effect of foreign influence on social unrest; governance. However, the participants acknowledged that whether in the active participation of women in the political arena; questions authoritarian or democratic countries, the terms of a social contract of constitutional reform; future international relations and foreign are in a state of constant flux and are negotiated on a daily basis either policies; and the emergence of new political parties and discourses through peaceful means or through violence, resistance, and uprisings. that have long been absent in many Middle Eastern countries. In The participants identified the necessary methodological threads addition, the scholars analyzed specific case-studies related to the that bring together the various issues as well as the general theoretical situations in Syria, Libya, Egypt, Bahrain, Iran, Yemen, and Tunis. tropes that will run throughout the project. A central theme that Although each country has its own set of complex political dynamics emerged was the nature of the relationship between the citizen and the dictating possible outcomes, the participants also discussed the reasons state in the Middle East and how this has been renegotiated through why people in Morocco and Algeria did not join in public protests. citizen action in recent years. For the first time in modern Arab history Towards the conclusion of the working group meeting the there have been demands for an alignment between the individual; participants cautioned about using the word “revolution” to describe the communal group whether gender-based, religious, ethnic, or tribal; the uprisings in the Middle East. Even though they agreed that civil society organizations; and government agencies. The participants tremendous changes have taken place, they questioned whether it was argued that it was always important to discuss the Arab Spring at the possible to completely eradicate ingrained patronage networks and level of the individual and how Mohamed Bouazizi’s spontaneous act whether these post-authoritarian regimes would actually transition of self-immolation resonated with millions of people across the region to democracies. A cloud of uncertainty still lingers over the fate of who shared similar grievances. all these countries and so, during these unpredictable times, it is Although there have always been formal opposition parties in important to ask “what happens next?” This question will be the focus many Middle East states in one form or another, these functioned of some of the chapters in the upcoming edited volume.

4 CIRS Newsletter | Spring 2012 Research and Scholarship Latest CIRS Publications

Transformations of Regional Workforce Nationalization Transformations of Regional Economic Governance in the Economic Governance in the in the Gulf Cooperation Gulf Cooperation Council Gulf Cooperation Council Council States Fred Lawson (2012) Kasim Randeree (2012) Fred Lawson

In the latest CIRS Occasional Kasim Randeree, Research Fellow Paper, Professor of Government at at the Said Business School, Mills College, Fred Lawson, argues University of Oxford, argues that most studies of regionalism in that in recent decades, the Gulf the Middle East fail to distinguish Cooperation Council (GCC) among divergent types of regional states have become reliant on formations, and make little effort to migrant workers to the extent chart the developmental trajectory that foreign inhabitants constitute © 2012 that regionalist projects display nearly one-third of the total GCC over time. population. Consequently, workforce This paper lays out a typology that can be used to elucidate crucial nationalization—the concept of reducing expatriate employment by differences across regional formations in the contemporary Arab bringing more citizens into the workplace—has become the human world, and also to highlight significant changes in the kind and level resource management strategy of all GCC countries. of governance that take place in any particular regionalist experiment. This paper is a first attempt to review all six GCC states’ The utility of the framework is demonstrated through an analysis of nationalization policies. It takes an exploratory-cum-constructivist the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). This regional formation has approach and argues that closer cooperation and unified policy undergone two major transformations since it took shape in 1981, and structures on nationalization are needed across all GCC countries. at the present time exhibits a substantially different form of economic A clear and unified policy in terms of structural reform across GCC regionalism from the one it boasted three decades ago. Four alternative countries needs to be collectively defined, although methods of explanations for shifts from one form of GCC regionalism to another implementation would need to be more tailored and distinctive from are outlined as an invitation to further investigation. one country to another.

االقتصاد السيايس ملنطقة الخليج The Nuclear Question in the Middle East Summary Report (2012) The Political Economy of the Gulf Summary Report (2012) In early 2010, CIRS began work on “The Nuclear Question in the The Arabic language “Political Middle East” research initiative. Economy of the Gulf ” Summary While the world community’s Report details research conducted attention may currently be drawn at the CIRS “Political Economy of to Iran’s nuclear program, the the Gulf ” working group meetings CIRS project aims to take a far held in Doha over the course of more comprehensive and expansive two years. During these meetings look at the issue across the region. the participants contributed their During working group meetings expertise, and began working on that took place in Doha, CIRS papers in their specialty areas. engaged with a number of academics and specialists who were invited The ultimate product of this research project is an edited book on to contribute individual chapters to a book on The Nuclear Question The Political Economy of the Persian Gulf (Columbia University Press/ in the Middle East, which is published in April 2012 by Columbia Hurst, 2012). Authors were able to work closely together for better University Press/Hurst (See page 3 of this Newsletter for more details). coherence and intellectual synergy of the volume. Each study is an This Summary Report highlights the participants’ discussions in-depth work of scholarship that is original, analytical, and makes a about balancing the need for civilian nuclear technology against the significant contribution to the field. concerns of weaponization programs. Among other issues discussed CIRS publishes Arabic language materials for distribution to our by the working group were matters related to global security, regional Arabic-speaking readership. The publications are in the form of origi- mistrust, the prestige of gaining nuclear capabilities, and the role of nal research conducted in the Arabic language as well as Arabic trans- NGOs and civil society groups in pressuring governments to abstain lations of existing research published by CIRS over the years. from nuclear energy initiatives.

Spring 2012 | CIRS Newsletter 5 Focused Discussion Ambassador Larocco on the Gulf Looking East

Ambassador James Larocco addressing the audience.

On February 26, 2012, CIRS hosted a Focused Discussion with mercantilist policy of securing economic interest because China has Ambassador James Larocco, Distinguished Professor and Director of to produce 20 million jobs every year.” Much of the US government’s the Near East South Asia Center at the National Defense University efforts in South Asia, Larocco said, have been established in order to in Washington, DC. The talk titled, “The Gulf Looking East: contain the growing influence of China, although this has never been Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Iran,” was supported by the United acknowledged as the official US stance. In the next few years, people States Embassy in Qatar. The Ambassador recounted his experiences will notice that US policy, as well as naval and military presence, will as a diplomat in the Middle East, saying that his interest in the Arab shift towards South Asia, he said. World began in the 1970s and that he has been a regular resident in the region for many years. Citing full academic freedom, Larocco gave his take on the Gulf ’s “the Indian Ocean is going to relationship with its neighbors “from Marrakesh to Bangladesh.” He explained to the audience how representing an academic research be the focus of either conflict center afforded him freedom from the official US diplomatic stance, or cooperation.” and that he was able to have frank conversations with Pakistani and Iranian authorities. Larocco described his role as that of an educator, rather than an emissary of the US government. Larocco concluded by saying that “the Middle East, for the The Ambassador described the Near East South Asia (NESA) most part in the United States, is a problem to be worked with and Center as an institution that “was deliberately created to try to bring to be endured, whereas South Asia and the Asia Pacific region are people together from this region to have serious dialogue, to create considered the future for the policy of the United States.” In addition, communities of influence, to eliminate misunderstandings, and to—as because of its strategic geographic location, roughly 50% of all world much as possible—open minds.” There are currently over 3,000 of trade passes through the Indian Ocean, and so this also increases the the center’s alumni in leadership positions all over the world, he said. challenges that will be faced in relation to maritime security. Because In fact, the alumni are so prevalent in politics, that they constituted the local institutions and infrastructure are inadequately equipped to members of both the government as well as the opposition in a recent deal with the myriad future challenges, including the increased threat political dispute in the Maldives. of maritime piracy, the Ambassador explained that “the Indian Ocean The current nexus of power in the Middle East, the Ambassador is going to be the focus of either conflict or cooperation.” said, includes Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Israel—all of which exert tremendous amounts of hard and soft power, and will continue to do Larocco joined the NESA Center as a distinguished professor in so. Pakistan and Afghanistan, Larocco said, are in extremely difficult August 2009, after serving more than 35 years as a diplomat. He held situations for which he did not see an immediate solution—although key leadership assignments related to the Near East region, including he suggested that Qatar’s diplomatic and economic efforts could play Director General of the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO), a leading role in the future of Pakistan. 2004-2009; Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Near Moving further east, the Ambassador said that he did not see East, 2001-2004; U.S. Ambassador to the State of Kuwait, 1997-2001 China as a military threat, but as a country that has grown powerful and Deputy Chief of Mission and Charge D’Affaires in Tel Aviv, through commerce. China’s expansion “is strictly based on its 1993-1996.

6 CIRS Newsletter | Spring 2012 Peter Bergen, continued from page 1

Bergen continued by saying that “the 9/11 attacks were a strategic failure not only because they didn’t achieve the goal that Bin Laden wanted, but also because they led eventually to the defeat of Al Qaeda, and, in fact, to the death recently of Bin Laden himself.”

“The idea of an Al Qaeda hospital or an Al Qaeda school is an oxymoron.”

“Al Qaeda was losing the war of ideas in the Muslim world,” Bergen argued, not because the United States and the West were winning, but because Al Qaeda was losing any support it ever had through its detrimental demands and actions. Because “Bin Laden never proposed a positive vision of the Middle East,” in terms of economic, Audience members during the Q&A session after the lecture. infrastructural, or developmental policies, he had nothing to offer Muslims but destruction, which is not an impressive prospect of future governance, Bergen explained. “The idea of able to transform themselves from absolute future problem that will surface, however, will an Al Qaeda hospital or an Al Qaeda school monarchies to constitutional ones, unlike be the withdrawal of United States financial is an oxymoron,” he said. dictatorships, which are by definition support and the subsequent economic crisis, The Arab Spring was an interesting absolute. Bergen warned. backdrop for understanding exactly how weak In conclusion, Bergen noted that and out of touch Al Qaeda was with Arab President Obama’s popularity in the Middle East has been in a steady state of decline, societies across the Muslim world, Bergen “Bin Laden’s foot argued. The fall of Arab regimes signaled stemming from, among other things, “the some of the most significant events in the soldiers and his ideas Obama Administration’s lack of real effort region in decades, and, yet, Bin Laden was were notably absent on the Israeli/Palestinian negotiations.” Many people thought of Obama as the “anti- silent on these issues, despite his penchant in the events of the for commenting on important world events war president,” but he surprised everyone by over the years. Thousands of people marched Arab Spring.” actually being very tough on national security through cities in Egypt, Tunis, and Libya, and has engaged the United States in a variety and yet none voiced any affiliations with of covert and actual wars all over the world. Al Qaeda’s anti-Western ideologies. “Bin Elsewhere in the surrounding region, Earlier in the day, Bergen was invited to Laden’s foot soldiers and his ideas were although there is a rapidly increasing the Georgetown University in Qatar campus, notably absent in the events of the Arab population and only 2% economic growth where he spoke informally with students, Spring.” in Pakistan, there are still some emerging faculty, and staff, and took questions about his Describing what he thought the future positives such as a strong independent media, experience as a journalist and author. governance of the Middle East will look judiciary, and civil society groups. Similarly, like, Bergen said that “the monarchies in in Afghanistan, there have been some For more than 15 years, Peter Bergen has the Middle East, for a variety of reasons, positive developments, especially in terms of traveled extensively throughout the Middle are going to be able to weather the Arab schooling, a decrease in infant mortality, an East to report on national security and the Spring fairly well.” This, he explained, is increase in GDP, better infrastructure, and Al Qaeda network. His work can be found in because monarchies, whether in the Middle a general consensus on the ground that the many prestigious publications including the East or elsewhere, have the benefit of being country is heading in the right direction. A New York Times and the Washington Post.

Spring 2012 | CIRS Newsletter 7 Monthly Dialogue Population and Political Control: Israel’s Policies towards the Palestinians

Ahmad H. Sa’di, Professor in the Department of Politics and Government at Ben-Gurion University of Negev, delivered a CIRS Monthly Dialogue on the topic “Population Management and Political Control: Israel’s Policies towards the Palestinians in the First Two Decades, 1948-1968.” Sa’di based his lecture on the results of investigations into historical and archival Israeli documents regarding the management of the Palestinian population.

“Jewish settlers who arrived before 1948 were placed at the top, while Palestinian ‘present absentees’ were relegated to the bottom.”

Israeli authorities and academics Ahmad Sa’di during his lecture on February 21, 2012. claim that Israel never conducted any form of systematic control of Palestinian populations. Yet, the documents that Sa’di Beside overt and coercive transfers and to the necessity of conducting independent analyzed rebuke this claim and list detailed ghettoization, other means of control included archival investigation that questions the descriptions of the extreme measures taken “insurmountable legal and practical hurdles dominant discourse relayed by Israel. He in order for Israeli authorities to control and in order to prevent the establishment of an argued that not only do these documents reduce the size of the Palestinian population organized political body to voice the opinions show what guided Israeli thinking in the during the early years of establishing the and concerns of the minority,” as well as early years of establishing the state, but also Israeli state. These “archival documents encouraging Arab students to study abroad the relevance of Israeli regulations to current could shed light and help clarify premises of and establishing Arabic-language media realities on the ground. “These tactics carry the policies, world views, dogmas, and what social networks that espoused Israeli ideology. fingerprints of Israeli diplomacy and aimed scientists call discourses,” he said. to absolve the Israeli State of liability for Sa’di recounted that Israel was established the actions of its agents,” Sa’di explained. He in 1948 through the occupation of 77.8% of “These tactics carry the cautioned that it is always important to point historical Palestine. In November 1948, Israel to the discrepancy between representation conducted a census aimed at presenting a legal fingerprints of Israeli and reality. This, he said, “should not be position to deny Palestinian refugees the right diplomacy and aimed to overlooked nor underestimated, particularly of return at the end of the war. “This census absolve the Israeli State of since Israel has always endeavored to present founded the political basis for a hierarchical the image of a democratic, enlightened, and order of citizenship rights and entitlements. liability for the actions of moral state.” Jewish settlers who arrived before 1948 were its agents.” placed at the top, while Palestinian ‘present Ahmad Sa’di received a Ph.D. degree in absentees’ were relegated to the bottom,” he sociology from the University of Manchester explained. Further, more nuanced, measures involved in 1991, followed by two years of service for a Sa’di argued that Israeli state policies the introduction of family planning and the Palestinian NGO. Sa’di has published over 38 focused on three issues that would comprise initiation of measures for the liberation of articles, in English, Arabic, Hebrew, German the basis of the state’s future strategy women—particularly the raising of their and Japanese, and most recently co-edited a regarding population surveillance and control educational standards. Israeli policymakers book of Palestinian memoirs entitled Nakba: and involved strategies toward decreasing the reached the conclusion that an increase in Palestine, 1948 and the Claims of Memory. His size of the Palestinian population; rearranging a woman’s education causes a decline in her areas of interest include political sociology, its spatial distribution; and subjecting it to fertility. social movements and political mobilization. a tight regime of control and surveillance. Sa’di concluded the lecture by pointing

8 CIRS Newsletter | Spring 2012 Spotlight on the Faculty Mari Luomi on Climate Politics and the Forthcoming UN Climate Conference in Doha

Mari Luomi is a 2011-2012 CIRS Post-Doctoral Fellow. She obtained her PhD in Middle Eastern Studies from Durham University and has recently authored a forthcoming book titled, The Gulf Monarchies and Climate Change; Abu Dhabi and Qatar in an Era of Natural Unsustainability. She tweets as @mariluomi.

The year 2012 will mark yet another milestone for the rising star of the Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. Gulf region. Starting on 26 November, tiny Qatar will host the annual The Arab League has so far failed to function as a representative conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate aggregate of its member states’ interests. It has often been shadowed by Change (UNFCCC). The largest international conference ever to have the highly vocal OPEC group, led by Saudi Arabia, which has largely been organized in Doha, the two-week event is expected to attract 10- focused on defending its future oil revenues from potential negative 15,000 registered participants, observers, and journalists. It will also be impacts of international mitigation. Due to its broader negotiating the first UNFCCC Conference of Parties (COP) taking place in an strategy, it has also gained an obstructionist’s reputation. oil-exporting country and in the Middle East. Having the 18th COP Since 2009, the UAE—now home to two major alternative energy in Doha will be significant on many levels. Although the image and initiatives and the International Renewable Energy Agency—has prestige opportunities may seem obvious, Qatar’s bet is far riskier than gravitated towards a more independent external climate policy and is the government originally calculated. In the following, I outline what engaging with new players across traditional reference groups. Qatar, the conference is expected to deliver for the global climate negotiating too, is only now beginning to formulate a strongly grounded national process and suggest how it could transform the regional agenda. policy. Saudi Arabia, left feeling increasingly lonely, has very recently The UNFCCC is the main global framework for multilateral replaced its long-term chief negotiator and given rhetorical signals climate change decision-making and action aimed at preventing of a more balanced policy to come. If Qatar is able to define a strong dangerous climate change and decreasing the need to adapt to national position that is aligned with its domestic interests, and if it its negative impacts. Currently, only 37 industrialized countries, manages to bridge the former divide between oil-exporters and the producing less than 30% of global CO2 emissions, have agreed rest of the world, a new regional climate leader will be born in COP18. to binding emission cut targets under the first period of the Kyoto For COP18 to be regarded a success for Qatar, a number of Protocol (2008-2012). The major industrialized emitter, the United challenges must be overcome. The logistics of accommodating and States (19%), has not ratified Kyoto. Among the core UNFCCC transporting 15,000 people must be impeccable. Security personnel principles is the historical responsibility of developed countries, but should be able to respect the climate civil society’s tradition of holding even if these cut their emissions to zero, this would not be enough to peaceful protests in the vicinity of the conference venue, and it should achieve a safe level. China alone already produces 24% of global CO2 not come as a surprise if some of these demonstrations are directed at emissions. Qatar’s domestic issues. The media should also be granted reasonable In COP18, industrialized countries must agree on their exact access to locations of interest. Qatar has many positive initiatives to targets in the second Kyoto period. The conference should also kick- showcase, but any “bad press” will be best received in a constructive start negotiations on the exact form of the new, all-inclusive climate manner. On the diplomatic side, Qatar needs to build domestic agreement, to be concluded by 2015. Important advancements are capacity and formulate its own, consensus-based negotiating position, therefore expected from this year’s conference. which will support its role as a fair and transparent host. To be seen as The Middle East and North Africa produce 8% of global CO2 seriously engaging in the process, the government will need to make a emissions and Qatar produces only 0.2%. Qatar, however, has mitigation-related pledge, against which its commitment to the cause the world’s highest per capita emissions and GDP. Qatar and its will be closely scrutinized. neighbors, therefore, face some international pressure to pledge new Climate change has finally arrived to the core of GCC policy commitments to the climate regime. Governments will need to make agendas. This COP will be of the Arab countries, GCC OPEC states, moral judgements regarding how much they are prepared to do now, and the world’s leading LNG exporter, Qatar. If a fossil fuel giant can for future generations. Of major near-term significance, however, is perceive the opportunities of the low-carbon economy and make a the on-going policy shift in three key GCC OPEC states: the United global climate conference a success, everything will be possible.

Spring 2012 | CIRS Newsletter 9 Focused Discussion David Dyment Lectures on A New Canadian-American Relationship

David Dyment, senior research associate at the Center on North American Politics and Society at Carleton University in Ottawa, gave a CIRS Focused Discussion on “A New Canadian-American Relationship. The lecture summarized the main arguments relayed in his book, Doing the Continental: A New Canadian-American Relationship (Dundurn, 2010). Dyment explained that the title of his book harked back to a song and dance routine that was popular in the 1930s called “Doing the Continental.” This, he said, was an apt metaphor for Canada’s relationship with the United States, which he described as a “rehabilitation project” that requires both sides to dance in time with each other by learning the necessary steps to conduct a smooth and mature partnership. “Part of what this book is about is our dance with the United States […] and so the twelve steps of ‘Doing the Continental’ are both a ‘rehabilitation program’ for someone who is perhaps recovering from an addiction—the David Dyment delivered a CIRS Focused Discussion on March 26, 2012. twelve steps to recovery—and also steps that would be involved in a dance,” he explained. must be managed carefully. “To this day, to recognize the many positive contributions when people think about how to engage towards the United States. The provision of “[Canada is] the largest the United States and Canada, they come 40% of the US imports of natural gas makes exporter of energy to the at it from two perspectives […] the left Canada more of a “moose” than a “mouse,” nationalist perspective—these are parties he said. “We are faced with a force of nature United States by far— who are not comfortable with the American in North America with this huge American more than Saudi Arabia.” political culture—and the right continentalist partner that we have to be wary of—which perspective that favors close political and trade is what the left nationalists would say—but relations with the United States,” he said. This which we can also benefit from so long as we Dyment argued that Canada has to highly polarized, ideological debate between tame that force in our national interest.” deal with two major issues on a daily basis: the left and the right means that Canadians In conclusion, Dyment argued that for managing its internal differences between normally fall into one or other category. In a new Canadian-American relationship to mainly French-speaking Quebec and the the interests if conducting research for the be forged, Canada must acknowledge its English-speaking rest of the country, as well book, however, Dyment said that he was able unique contribution as the basis for Canada’s as managing its relationship with its neighbor, to debunk some of the popular political myths engagement in the world. It is important to the United States. Acknowledging the many that are perpetuated daily on both sides of the ask “What can we do that the Americans different nationalities represented in the ideological divide. “Through empirical social can’t do?” and offer a particular set of skills audience, Dyment gave a basic overview of science,” he was able to clearly see the pros and comparative advantage. This will make why Canada’s relationship with the United and cons of both perspectives as he tested the Canada stronger internationally as well as give States is so important, including the 5,000 km merits of the contending schools of thought. it more clout with the US. Through this new border that runs between the two countries, “I realized this was a great opportunity to see appreciation of Canada’s value, “we can go the strong influence of US culture and media the relationship differently so that we wouldn’t into the world making a unique contribution on Canadian daily life, the long-standing further our contending national competing and be more helpful and more influential energy and trade relations between the two ideologies, but, rather, step back and ask how with our American allies,” he said. countries, and the increase in joint Canadian- […] can we best advance Canada’s national US intelligence and security efforts post 9/11. interest?” he said. Dyment has served as a senior policy With a population of 30 million in Canada, Dyment explained, is “the largest adviser in the Canadian Department of Canada compared to 300 million in the exporter of energy to the United States by Foreign Affairs and International Trade, United States, there are real fears on the far—more than Saudi Arabia.” Instead of and on the immediate staff of the Governor ground of being subsumed under North concentrating on some Canadians’ sense of General of Canada (the Queen’s vice-regal America. This, he said, is a relationship that vulnerability and fear of the US, it is important representative).

10 CIRS Newsletter | Spring 2012 Monthly Dialogue Anthony Appiah Lectures on Ideas of Cosmopolitanism

On January 23, Kwame Anthony Appiah, Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University, delivered the first CIRS Monthly Dialogue of 2012 titled, “Being a Citizen of the World Today.” Appiah’s lecture was centered on the question of global citizenship and how historical intellectual theories of “cosmopolitanism” have a bearing on how people live their lives in the contemporary world. Appiah pointed out that the etymology of the word “cosmopolitan” is derived from the Greek “kosmos” meaning “world” and “polites” meaning “citizen,” and so “cosmopolitanism” literally means a “citizen of the world.” Taking the audience on a journey back to ancient Greece, Appiah relayed how current understandings of cosmopolitanism are inherited from ancient Greek political philosophy. Anthony Appiah during his Monthly Dialogue lecture.

“Cosmopolitanism believes core of European enlightenment was based is worthwhile, because through conversation, that every human being on the idea of global concern for humanity, you learn from other people with different, matters and that we have without advocating a centralized world perhaps even incompatible, ideas from government. With the rise of Westphalian your own,” Appiah argued. As such, today’s a shared obligation for one ideology, the idea of the nation-state was globalization has made the ancient ideal of another.” consolidated through common cultural and cosmopolitanism even more relevant; an linguistic affiliations between the people of individual can reach millions of international a single geographical area. Although calls others through communication technologies Appiah recounted that Diogenes, for national unity and homogeneity are and through global media and economic a philosopher and founder of the Cynic always strong, Appiah noted that they are systems. movement, was the first known European to not all encompassing and there will always As a final thought, Appiah explained that ever look beyond the borders of the ancient be diverse groups of people living in a single cosmopolitanism is an empowering concept Greek Empire to claim that he was a citizen country. “Different communities are entitled and one that forms the basis of mutual respect of the world. Appiah explained that this to live according to different standards for oneself and for others. He concluded statement made by Diogenes is a metaphor because human beings can flourish in many that “if people were to manage their own for tolerance of otherness and does not different kinds of society and because there lives, which is what they are responsible for, necessarily mean that Diogenes favored a are so many values worth living by,” Appiah then they need the powers to do so. And the single world government, which is precisely said. closer the powers are to people, and to small what Alexander the Great was attempting to communities of people, the greater the control do at that time through his project of world they can have over the shaping of their lives.” conquest and domination. People can think “Different communities are of themselves as fellow citizens and can care Kwame Anthony Appiah joined the Princeton about the fate of their fellow human beings entitled to live according to faculty in 2002 as Laurance S. Rockefeller even if they are not members of a single different standards because University Professor of Philosophy and the political community. “Cosmopolitanism human beings can flourish University Center for Human Values. His believes that every human being matters current interests range over African and and that we have a shared obligation for one in many different kinds of African-American intellectual history and another,” he said. society.” literary studies, ethics and philosophy of Diogenes’ idea of cosmopolitanism mind and language; and he has also taught entered Western philosophical traditions regularly about African traditional religions. through the Stoics and has survived to this Professor Appiah was educated at Clare day through Christian and Islamic traditions Because cultural diversity is a condition College, Cambridge University, in England, that emphasize a spiritual affinity between of the world, “conversation across identities, where he took both B.A. and Ph.D. degrees all human beings. Similarly, the intellectual religions, races, ethnicities, and nationalities in the philosophy department.

Spring 2012 | CIRS Newsletter 11 Focused Discussion Shahla Haeri on Women and Political Leadership in Muslim Societies

Shahla Haeri, a cultural anthropologist at Boston University and a 2011-2012 CIRS Visiting Scholar, gave a Focused Discussion titled, “From Bilqis to Benazir: Women and Political Leadership in Muslim Societies” on February 26, 2012. Haeri’s current research interests revolve around examining Muslim women in positions of power, both past and present. Haeri began her talk by critiquing western media accounts of the Arab Spring that pondered the motivations compelling Muslim women to suddenly become active in politics. She pointed out that there was nothing sudden or unprecedented about Muslim women’s participation in the political domain as evidenced by the long and rich history of women in leadership roles. Haeri recounted the Judeo-Islamic story of the Queen of Sheba, also known as Bilqis, as one that is prominent in the Qur’an and favorably portrays the queen as a wise, intelligent, and caring ruler. The story of the Queen of Sheba Shahla Haeri is a 2011-2012 CIRS Visiting Scholar. shows that “the Queen’s gender is immaterial to her leadership and governance, and gender politics plays no role in this Qur’anic story.” of the Camel” against the reigning Caliph Ali. provides ample examples of fatal rivalries The story, however, has seldom played an By examining the many historical examples between the imperial fathers and coveting important role in modern Muslim feminist of Muslim women in positions of power, sons, little is said on the political implications discourse. “Given that this story permeates Haeri highlighted the religious ambivalence of the relationships between a patriarch and popular cultures and is explicitly specified regarding Muslim women leaders rather than his daughter, whom he may indeed favor over in the Qur’an, what has prevented Muslim a categorical condemnation. Predominant his sons who are in a structural position to women from appropriating the Queen’s patriarchal opposition, she argued, happens dislodge the patriarch from his position of model of leadership and actively participating within a socio-political sphere, rather than authority.” in the political life of their societies?” Haeri emanating primarily from the scripture. Haeri ended her discussion by noting that mused. popular views against women in leadership The answer to this question, she said, were/are often emanating from patriarchal can be found in the dynamics of an alleged “the Queen’s gender is and political discourse, and not necessarily hadith, or prophetic saying, and its patriarchal from religious or scriptural dictates. “Aware resonance in Muslim societies. The Prophet immaterial to her leadership of the hierarchy of the sources of authority is reported to have said “those who entrust and governance, and gender in Islam—that between the Qur’anic their affairs to women will never know politics plays no role in this revelations supporting women’s leadership prosperity.” In order to reconcile these and the alleged Prophetic hadith opposing two opposing narratives, Haeri proposed Qur’anic story.” it—religious authorities bide their time until juxtaposing the Qur’anic story that supports an opportune moment arises to challenge women’s political leadership with that of its the authority of a queen, a sultan, or a prime reported condemnation in the hadith in order All these women, although hailing from minister.” to determine the patriarchal and political different cultural traditions and historical machinations at work in undermining women periods, shared a distinguished genealogical Shahla Haeri is the author of Law of Desire: in leadership roles. pedigree and had support from their powerful Temporary Marriage, Mut’a, in Iran (1989, As examples of Muslim women in power, fathers or husbands. As Haeri explained, “the 2006 4th pt. Arabic Tr.13th printing 2010), Haeri offered Raziya Sultan, ruler of the patriarch’s support bestows power and prestige and No Shame for the Sun: Lives of Professional medieval Mamluk dynasty in India; Benazir on the daughter, facilitates her presence in the Pakistani women (2002/2004). She has Bhutto, the late Prime Minister of Pakistan public domain, and legitimates her political produced a short video documentary entitled, who was democratically elected as leader of authority and activities,” thus working to Mrs. President: Women and Political Leadership a highly conservative Muslim nation; and silence her detractors. Here lies what she has in Iran, focusing on six women presidential Ayesha, the Prophet’s wife, who led the “Battle called “paradox of patriarchy.” While “history contenders in Iran in 2001.

12 CIRS Newsletter | Spring 2012 Spotlight on the Faculty Reflections on SFS-Qatar’s Role in the Development of Qatar’s Knowledge Economy

John T. Crist is Director of Research at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar and Associate Director of Research at the Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS). He received his Ph.D. in interdisciplinary social science from the Program on the Analysis and Resolution of Conflicts (PARC) in the Maxwell School at Syracuse University (1998).

During the past year, Education City has been undergoing an impor- tion of documents related to Islamic bioethics, including issues rang- tant transformation about which readers of the CIRS Newsletter may ing from genetic research, environment and health, lifestyle diseases, not be aware. Under the direction of Her Highness Sheikha Mozah, and women’s and children’s health. Chair of Qatar Foundation, and in partnership with the campuses Alongside such QNRF-funded projects, there are several other key hosted in Education City, there has been a concerted effort to high- pillars of SFS-Qatar’s research culture. Since 2007, the Center for light, expand, and upgrade the research capacity and research produc- International and Regional Studies has perhaps been the main public tion across the campuses. This is the latest move in a long-term strat- face of SFS-Qatar’s research activity. Through working groups, fel- egy in Qatar to develop a knowledge economy and to establish itself as lowships, publications, and conference presentations, it has nurtured a a prominent global and regional hub for scientific research. global community of top quality scholars working on matters related Compared to the world’s oldest and largest research and develop- to the Gulf and broader Middle East. Yet beyond this, as one would ment economies (for instance, the U.S., Germany, China, and Japan), expect from a Georgetown University institution, the relatively small Qatar is a late entrant to the field. But with its enormous resources and SFS-Qatar faculty as a whole has authored a substantial amount of focused ambition, Qatar has established itself rapidly as an important high quality scholarship in a variety of disciplines—reflecting the di- supporter of basic and applied research in the oil and gas sector, medi- verse curriculum at SFS-Qatar. cal research, engineering and computing, among other areas. Apart Finally, student research on campus is a vital and thriving part of from the faculties in Education City, Qatar Foundation has built in SFS-Qatar’s research culture. Georgetown has had considerable suc- the past decade or so a substantial research infrastructure as part of cess with the Undergraduate Research Experience Program (UREP), a its national vision for jumpstarting a knowledge economy. Important QNRF grant program to support faculty mentoring of undergraduate elements of this infrastructure include the Qatar National Research research projects. This reflects a strong appreciation among faculty for Fund, Qatar Science and Technology Park, Sidra Medical and Re- the direct connections between classroom pedagogy and the research search Center, and three research institutes focused on areas consid- enterprise outside the classroom. The quality of Hoya student work ered key to Qatar’s future development (the Qatar Environmental and was acknowledged by Qatar Foundation at its recent Annual Research Energy Research Institute, the Qatar Biomedical Research Institute, Forum when Mashael Al-Hajri (SFSQ ’14) won the “Best Student and the Qatar Computing Research Institute). Research” award at the Qatar Foundation Annual Research Forum. In contrast, the social sciences and humanities have lagged behind A result of her summer internship at Msheireb Properties where she the hard sciences in this competition for resources. Georgetown Uni- worked as a research assistant on the Gulf Encyclopedia for Sustainable versity SFS-Qatar has led the pack in Education City for securing Urbanism (a project led by the Harvard University Graduate School of funding from QNRF in the social sciences and humanities. According Design, and involving SFS-Qatar’s Dr Rogaia Abu Sharaf ) Mashael to QNRF’s key performance indicators, Georgetown comes out on conducted an empirical study of urbanism in the Gulf, with special top among all EC institutions in the ratio of investment to scholarly emphasis on the fireeq (an indigenous urban settlement model). output. The projects that have been funded deploy the best research From his appointment in October, 2011, Dean Gerd Nonneman strategies to shed light on topics that are of vital importance to Qatar’s has taken up the challenge to re-examine SFS-Qatar’s structure and development plans. Abbas Al-Tonsi, Hana Zabarah, Amira El-Zein, priorities to answer the call to enhance SFS-Qatar’s research culture and Yehia Mohamed (Arabic language faculty at SFS-Qatar) received beyond the original mandate to deliver the SFS curriculum in Qa- a large grant to study the state of Arabic language instruction in Qa- tar. This has meant developing a coherent strategic plan—through a tari schools and to develop Arabic instructional materials for heritage broad consultative process—that among other things places scholarly learners. Alexis Antoniades (Assistant Professor, Economics) was research alongside teaching as an integral part of our mission in Doha. funded to examine the dynamics of inflation in Qatar and the Gulf, It has also meant providing new incentives to promote research out- price differentiation across the Gulf, and the projected economic con- put, such as research semesters for junior and senior faculty and course sequences of a common currency and common monetary authority in buy-outs for those who bring in research funding to the university. He the Gulf. Mehran Kamrava (Director, CIRS) and Katja Niethammer has also established a Director of Research at SFS-Qatar to support are tracking and analyzing Qatar’s and Saudi Arabia’s roles in regional and promote our research activities with key stakeholders and external diplomacy, mediation, and conflict resolution. Frieda Wiebe, the Di- partners. Steps like these help SFS-Qatar build our internal capacity rector of the SFS-Qatar Library, and Doris Goldstein, the Senior Li- to produce high-quality research and to seek out the kind of inter- brary Advisor for International Initiatives with the Kennedy Institute national collaboration that is a hallmark of any mature and vibrant of Ethics on main campus, are building an on-line and physical collec- research culture. Spring 2012 | CIRS Newsletter 13 Monthly Dialogue Walter Denny Examines Innovation in the Visual Arts of Islam

Walter B. Denny, Professor of Art History at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, gave a CIRS Monthly Dialogue lecture on “Innovation in the Visual Arts of Islam: New Ways of Looking at Islamic Art.” The lecture was a follow-up to a previous one Denny gave for CIRS at the “Innovation in Islam” conference that took place back in 2008. Subsequently, Denny contributed to the CIRS edited volume on Innovation in Islam: Traditions and Contributions, which was edited by Mehran Kamrava and published in 2011 by the University of California Press. Contextualizing the concept of “innovation,” Denny described the ways in which it is understood in relation to art. He argued that innovation does not relate solely to the contemporary, but is paradoxically a historical feature of creative endeavors in all artistic categories. “One of the things that has always fascinated me about the history of Islamic art is the way that the past is constantly used as an inspiration for the present and, of Walter Denny during his lecture on December 12, 2011. course, for the future,” he said. As an example, Denny said that the Mamluk style has been continually revived in the history of Egyptian Dynastic patronages in Ottoman and give the viewer a better sense of the work. The architecture, as has the Ottoman style been Persian art ensured that certain styles were ever new and sophisticated ways in which art reproduced in Turkey and elsewhere in the used in order to set their works apart from is being displayed, lighted, and categorized, former Ottoman Empire. Innovation in art others, or, as Denny explained, the use of all move toward the development of a new history is always based on something that particular motifs is in fact, a traditional form type of relationship between the work of art came before, and “there is no such thing as of “branding.” These are innovations that are and the viewer. total innovation. Innovation is always, to one created specifically for works of art to stand In conclusion, Denny said that the artist extent or another, incremental,” he explained. out in the marketplace, and to signal the is constantly in a state of transmutation In much of the Islamic art that Denny uniqueness of one culture or another. “The between the past and present, even at times examined, patterns and forms are not newly Ottoman Empire, consciously, as a matter of being accused of plagiarism when his or her designed, but are borrowings from previous state policy, adopted certain forms in its art,” work too closely resembles another’s. Yet, times, locales, and traditions that were either he said. Denny argued, much of what we consider to forcibly learned or subtly transferred as be works of art are in fact created by emulating cultures came into contact with one another what has come before. After surveying across the centuries. The geometric designs “There is no such thing several innovations in the history of Islamic that have come to define art-works of the art, he concluded that “we are beginning to Islamic world are in fact derived from previous as total innovation. look at Islamic art as we should have looked Roman traditions, Denny argued. This is not Innovation is always, at it all along—as a phenomenon; art that to say, however, that these works should not to one extent or another, reflects the totality of the human experience, be considered innovative. Each iteration of a from the human psyche, to human belief, to previous form is creating something new, and incremental.” patronage systems.” yet, it is something that must acknowledge its debt to a past formulation. Denny gave an Denny joined the faculty of the University example of how themes or motifs have been Not only is innovation a feature of art of Massachusetts-Amherst Art History transferred from one culture to another to itself, but, Denny argued, it is also an aspect Program in 1970. His primary field of produce entirely new meanings. In ancient of how art is viewed and how we conceive of research is the art and architecture of the China, for example, the dragon was used our relationship with artworks. Denny, Senior Islamic world, in particular the artistic as a powerful symbol of the cosmos, but Consultant in the Department of Islamic Art traditions of the Ottoman Turks, Islamic when used in Ottoman artworks, it lost this at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New carpets and textiles, and issues of economics meaning entirely and was instead used to York, described how displays at museums are and patronage in Islamic art. symbolize a fearsome creature. constantly updated over the years in order to

14 CIRS Newsletter | Spring 2012 The Season in Events

Peter Bergen (Center) converses with audience members. Audience at a CIRS Distinguished Lecture.

Anthony Appiah during his Monthly Dialogue lecture.

Ahmad Sa’di with audience members after the lecture.

Participants of “The Evolving Ruling Bargain in the Middle East” working group. Audience members peruse CIRS publications at a Monthly Dialogue Lecture.

Spring 2012 | CIRS Newsletter 15 CIRS Staff Directory Call for Papers

Mehran Kamrava, Director Georgetown University’s Center for International and Regional Studies [email protected] (CIRS) is pleased to announce a call for contributions to its publication series. CIRS publishes original research in a broad range of issues related Zahra Babar, Assistant Director for Research [email protected] to the Gulf region in the areas of international relations, political science, economics, and Islamic studies. Other topics of current significance also John T. Crist, Associate Director of Research will be considered. [email protected] Michael Driessen, Post-Doctoral Fellow Papers should be a maximum of 10,000 words and cannot have been pre- [email protected] viously published or under consideration for publication elsewhere. Pa- Donia Hashem, Publications Intern pers must adhere to the Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition) and all [email protected] transliterations must adhere to the International Journal of Middle East Mari Luomi, Post-Doctoral Fellow Studies. All submissions are subject to a double-blind review process. Any [email protected] copyright concerns are the full responsibility of the author. Please submit manuscripts to [email protected]. Inquiries about publications Dianna Manalastas, Research Intern [email protected] or other related questions may be directed to Suzi Mirgani, Manager and Editor for CIRS Publications at [email protected]. Suzi Mirgani, Manager and Editor for CIRS Publications [email protected] Nadia Talpur, CIRS Coordinator Post-Doctoral Fellowship [email protected] Georgetown University’s Center for International and Regional Studies Maha Uraidi, GU-Q Events Manager (CIRS) awards Post-Doctoral Fellowships. The fellowship supports a re- [email protected] cent Ph.D. recipient in any discipline working on the area of the Middle Flora Whitney, Finance and Budget Analyst East with priority given to those working on the Gulf. The Fellowship is [email protected] for a period of one academic year. Compensation, benefits and other terms of employment are highly competitive.

CIRS Advisory Board Interested candidates should visit the website for more information: http://cirs.georgetown.edu/research/fellowships/114126.html Dr. Osama Abi-Mershed, Director, Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown University Visiting Scholar/Researcher Dr. Sheikha Abdulla Al-Misnad, President, Qatar University Georgetown University’s Center for International and Regional Studies Mr. Barton Cahir, President and General Manager, ExxonMobil (CIRS) awards nonresidential Visiting Scholar Fellowships. The position is Qatar open to scholars in all disciplines working on any area of the Middle East, Dr. Stanley N. Katz, Director, Center for Arts and Cultural Policy with priority given to those working on the Gulf. This position is ideal for Studies, Princeton University mid- and senior-level academics. Compensation, benefits and other terms of employment are highly competitive. Dr. Rami Khouri, Director, The Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs, American University of Beirut Interested candidates should visit the website for more information: Dr. Carol Lancaster, Dean, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown http://cirs.georgetown.edu/research/fellowships/114127.html University Sir Tim Lankester, Chairman of the Council, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London University Dr. Gary Sick, Research Scholar, School of International and Pub- lic Affairs, Columbia University

CIRS Newsletter ISSN 2072-6961 © 2012 Center for International and Regional Studies Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar Education City, Qatar Foundation P.O. Box 23689 Doha, State of Qatar

For event inquiries: [email protected] For research and publications inquiries: [email protected] http://cirs.georgetown.edu | Tel +974 4457 8400 | Fax +974 4457 8401

Unless otherwise noted, all articles written by Suzi Mirgani, Manager and Editor for CIRS Publications.

16 CIRS Newsletter | Spring 2012