On January 7-8, 2014, CIRS held its inaugural Social Currents in the Maghreb Working Group in Washington D.C. While much of the mainstream media and recent scholarship on the Maghreb has focused on the political and security dimensions of the region, participants gathered over two days to discuss the social changes and fluxes in contemporary Morocco, Libya, Tunisia,…
R. Seetharaman, Group Chief Executive Officer of Doha Bank, delivered the first CIRS Monthly Dialogue of 2014 with a lecture on “Sustainable Development for Economies and Corporations” on January 20, 2014. Drawing on his experience as the head of a major financial institution, he explained how, as a result of the global financial crisis, economic systems…
Omran Al-Kuwari, co-founder and CEO of GreenGulf, delivered a CIRS Focused Discussion lecture on “The Paradox of Renewable Energy in Qatar” on February 12, 2014. The talk was centered on the drivers of investing in renewable energy in the context of Qatar, and how these have been radically transformed over recent years. The Gulf is seen as a single…
On February 15-16, 2014, Regional and international experts gathered for the inaugural meeting of the CIRS "Transitional Justice in the Middle East" research initiative. While much of the scholarship on transitional justice has been conducted in other regions of the globe, recent political transitions in the region have invigorated studies on the manifestation and application of transitional justice…
Matt Buehler, the 2013-2014 Postdoctoral Fellow at CIRS, delivered aMonthly Dialogue lecture on“Why did the Arab Spring miss the Maghreb? Continuity through Co-optation in Morocco and Mauritania,” on February 17, 2014. The talk summarized the results of in-depth fieldwork undertaken in Morocco and Mauritania, where Buehler conducted over 100 interviews with politicians and policymakers. The central question…
On March 15, 16 2014, The final working group of CIRS’ research project Arab Migrant Communities in the GCC was held in Doha. Grant recipients of this research grant cycle gathered with an additional cohort of migration experts and scholars to discuss their research findings and to solicit feedback on their draft paper submissions. The topics investigated ranged…
Seyed Mohammad Hossein Adeli is the Secretary General of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF). A career diplomat, Dr. Adeli has served as Iran’s ambassador to Japan, Canada, and the United Kingdom. His previous positions also include Governor of the Central Bank of Iran, Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic and Energy Affairs, and Advisor to President of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Upon retiring from the diplomatic corps, he founded the Ravand Institute for Economic and International Studies, which is today one of Iran’s premier research and consulting firms. Dr. Adeli holds two PhD degrees, one in business administration and the other in economics.
CIRS supported the publication of Karl Widerquist and Grant S.McCall’s book Prehistoric Myths in Modern Political Philosophy (Oxford University Press/Edinburgh University Press, 2017).
On April 12-13, 2014, CIRS held the final Working Group of "The Evolution of Gulf Global Cities" research initiative. Academics from various disciplinary backgrounds as well as architects, urban planners and designers gathered for the second meeting to discuss their research findings and papers around the theme of Gulf cities. The topics discussed ranged in their geographic…
Mohamed Zayani, Associate Professor at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar, delivered a CIRS Focused Discussion lecture on “Networked Arab Publics and Contention in the Digital Age” on April 15, 2014. The talk was based on Zayani’s ongoing book project, which analyzes the changing relationship between media and politics in the Arab world, especially as…
Sam Bahour, Managing Partner at Applied Information Management (AIM), Director at the Arab Islamic Bank and a policy adviser to the Al-Shabaka Palestinian Policy Network, delivered a CIRS Monthly Dialogue lecture on “New Paradigms for a Palestine in Perpetual Limbo,” on April 21, 2014, which centered on the persisting nature of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Bahour explained that it…
Gary Wasserman has fashioned a career in teaching, political consulting and writing. Previously he taught graduate students at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Nanjing, China. He received his Ph.D. with Distinction from Columbia University. He recently wrote Politics in Action: Cases in Modern American Government (2012), and Pearson is publishing the 15th edition of his text, The Basics of American Politics (2015). His MOOC, "The Game of American Politics", is available online this spring.