International Relations of the Gulf Working Group II

On January 8-9, 2009, CIRS convened the second International Relations of the Gulf working group session. This meeting was part of a year-long research initiative that began with the first working group meeting in June 2008 and which focused on analyzing several key aspects of the International Relations of the Gulf from different angles. CIRS invited a core group of distinguished Gulf studies scholars to Doha to attend the working group meetings and to contribute individual chapters towards a book entitled The International Politics of the Persian Gulf (Syracuse University Press, 2011). The book covers topics such as the history of Gulf Shaikhdoms, Gulf security strategies, and political reform in the region. Concomitantly, CIRS also invited several other experts in the field to act as discussants and to give critical consultation and enrich the topics under examination. 

This book breaks new ground and will contribute greatly to the literature on the international relations of the Middle East in general and the Gulf in particular. It will be of great interest to academics and scholars specializing in the Gulf and the Middle East, as well as practitioners and policy-makers, students, and interested readers.  

Participants in the International Relations of the Gulf Working Group: 

• Mohammed Ayoob, Michigan State University 
• Daniel Byman, Georgetown University 
• Gregory Gause, University of Vermont 
• N. Janardhan, Political Analyst, Gulf-Asia Affairs, UAE 
• Mehran Kamrava, Georgetown University in Qatar
• Rami Khouri, American University of Beirut 
• Joseph Kostiner, Tel Aviv University 
• Fred Lawson, Mills College 
• Katja Niethammer, Georgetown University in Qatar 
• Gerd Nonneman, University of Exeter 
• James Onley, University of Exeter 
• J. E. Peterson, University of Arizona 
• Lawrence Potter, Columbia University 
• Paul Salem, Carnegie Middle East Center 
• Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, London School of Economics and Political Science 
• Robert Wirsing, Georgetown University in Qatar
• Steven Wright, Qatar University 
• Obaid Younossi, RAND-Qatar Policy Institute   

Summary by Suzi Mirgani, CIRS Publications Coordinator