• Edward Djerejian on U.S. Policy Toward the Arab & Muslim World

    Drawing on his career of experience as a diplomat, former U.S. ambassador to Syria and Israel, Edward Djerejian, offered his insights and analysis of current foreign policy challenges facing the United States in the Middle East and South Asia to a full house at the Diplomatic Club in Doha on March 17, 2009. Ambassador Djerejian,…

  • Mark Farha Lectures on Lebanon as the Mirror of Arab Politics

    On April 7, 2009, Mark Farha, Visiting Assistant Professor at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar, was invited by CIRS to give the April Monthly Dialogue on the subject of “Lebanon as the Mirror of Arab Politics.”  Farha began by noting that the “sheer number of civil society organizations, the amount of political activism,…

  • Nabil Fahmy on US Arab Relations in a Changing World

    Former Egyptian Ambassador to the United States Nabil Fahmy gave his analysis and insight into the foreign policy challenges facing the United States and the Arab world in a speech at the Diplomatic Club in Doha on April 29, 2009. Fahmy stressed the inter-connectedness of the challenges facing the region and suggested that developments on…

  • Comparative Ethics of War

    on May 3–4, 2009, the "Comparative Ethics of War" working group meeting was co-sponsored by the Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) and the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO). The meeting, which took place in Doha, is part of a larger research initiative undertaken by PRIO. The research group met twice previously, in Stresa, Italy in…

  • James Onley on Britain’s Local Representatives in the Gulf

    James Onley, the 2008–2009 CIRS Senior Fellow and Director of the Gulf Studies program at the University of Exeter, delivered the May Monthly Dialogue lecture entitled “Agents of Empire: Britain’s Local Representatives in the Gulf, 1750s–1950s” on May 4, 2009. Onley began by explaining that the lecture was part of a larger study he conducted towards a book he authored entitled The…

  • Migrant Labor in the Gulf Working Group I

    On May 16–17, 2009, CIRS convened the first of its working group meetings with its research grant program dedicated to the study of migrant labor issues in the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council. The working group was comprised of twenty international and local participants from a variety of disciplines, including anthropology, political science, sociology, and…

  • Presidential Elections in Iran by Mehrzad Boroujerdi

    Boroujerdi noted that the active participation, involvement and energy seen in the Iranian public throughout this election and following it, is unprecedented in post-revolutionary Iran. It is a clear indication that the will for a more participatory political system is extremely strong and alive in the Iranian state.

  • Alexis Antoniades on the Future Global Economy

    Resuming its annual Public Affairs Programming series after the summer break, CIRS kicked off the 2009-2010 academic year with a Monthly Dialogue lecture by Alexis Antoniades, professor of economics at the Georgetown…

  • Robert Wirsing on the Af-Pak Misadventure

    Robert Wirsing, Visiting Professor of International Relations at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar, delivered the October CIRS Monthly Dialogue on the topic of “The Af-Pak Misadventure: Where is…

  • CIRS and GRC Al-Jisr Project

    On October 11–14, 2009, the Al-Jisr working group participants were invited to Doha by CIRS and the Gulf Research Center (GRC) to conduct the project’s second meeting. Supported by the…